Actor and comedian Rob Schneider says his newfound faith has brought him peace in life and may impact his comedy career going forward -- including the language he uses.
The Saturday Night Live legend announced in an Oct. 31 social media post that he had converted to Catholicism and believes that “Christ intends for all of us to be free.” Schneider added, “His gift of ultimate and unlimited forgiveness is indeed the gift for all humanity.”
Schneider told Christian Headlines he is open to God’s will for his future.
“What I want to do is just put an openness to God and go, ‘Well, however, You see me. However, You want to continue to use me, I'm open to it,’” Schneider told Christian Headlines. “I don't know if I'm going to do the same stuff I've done. I don't know what I'm going to do moving forward. … I just don't know if I'd use the same words or foul language again. I think there's a more eloquent way to express yourself than I have.
“I mean, my priest has been very forgiving of all the terrible words I've used,” he said, smiling.
Schneider has found a home in family content in recent months, voicing the father in Bentkey’s new animated series Chip Chilla and portraying the father in the family movie Daddy Daughter Trip. Schneider also voices the principal in the new Netflix animated movie Leo.
Schneider and his wife have young children.
“It's come home to roost in the sense that there's no movies that I've ever made that my wife will let my kids see,” he said. “So they have no idea what I really do for a living. … And so I said, 'Well, I better start making some movies that they can see.’”
Chip Chilla follows the charming story of a chinchilla family -- mom, dad, and their two kids -- who learn about America. In the first episode, the family recreates the Apollo 11 moon landing with makeshift props.
“It's teaching American children that, hey, this is an incredible country -- how we got here, it was because of the people who were here before us, and they did some incredible things,” Schneider said of the Bentkey series. “[America] has been a bastion of freedom and an example of freedom for the world. And I think that it's high time that there is an entertainment project that celebrates America.”
The U.S., he said, is “an incredible experiment in humanity.”
“Is it perfect? No, but the aim is not for perfection [but] to try to make a better place.”
Bentkey is a children’s streaming platform owned by The Daily Wire. Schneider supports it.
“I think it's important to have an alternative to … Hollywood's immoral monopoly,” Schneider said. “... There seems to be in show business in general an indoctrination into an ideology that most Americans find very loony.”
Meanwhile, Schneider says his faith and his age -- he’s 60 -- have led him to change his outlook on life. In a separate social media post on Oct. 31, he wrote, “At 60, you realize the very real fragility of life and temporariness of it all. A humbling knowledge that there is indeed a time limit for all things and that God’s design, though perfect, is precious far beyond its brevity.”
Schneider told Christian Headlines he realizes there is a “purposefulness” in life.
“I think it is a test for us,” he said of life.
He’s finding purpose in Christianity, which he describes as a faith that teaches forgiveness and love.
"Christianity, as opposed to other religions, is, ‘Love your enemy, love others.’ If you get down to break down what that religion is about, I mean, it's a pretty beautiful thing,” he said.
That faith is impacting his career choices, he said.
“It's kind of beautiful that I have something new in my life and that there's a struggle, and we're meant to struggle, and we're meant to have a challenge. And so I don't know what's going to happen.”
Photo Courtesy: Instagram/@iamrobschneider/
Video Courtesy: Bentkey via YouTube
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.