Charles Taylor converts to Judaism

Madonna was bad enough, but this is really beyond the pale.

Former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, currently imprisoned at the Hague awaiting trial for war crimes in Sierra Leone, has apparently decided to convert to Judaisim, one of his wives tells BBC radio (my transcript):

Q. So he’s now a practicing Jew?

A. He’s now a Jew. He’s practicing Judaism. 

Q. Tells us about that? What led him to that?

A. Because of the difficulties, he always wanted to know God in a very diffent and special way. From a very small boy — because we talk about his childhood a whole lot — he asked himself questions about Christianity. Too many questions about why certain things happened. And why, this one and that one. Just too many question in Christianity and the whole thing about Christ because he does believe in Christ. When he got to the Hague, he got to know that he really, really wanted to be a Jew. Wanted to convert to Judaism. And that…

Q. Does that mean he has rejected Christianity then? Because that’s quite a radical departure.

A. No, no, no he hasn’t rejected Christianity. He has always been a Christian. He just decided to become a Jew. He wants to follow the two religions.

Least. Welcome. Convert. Ever.

I also can’t help wondering if he got this idea from George Bluth on Arrested Development.

(Hat tip: Shelby Grossman via Chris Blattman)

MICHAEL KOOREN/AFP/Getty Images