I was struck by recent news of the death of Ted Turner, who died at age 87.
Turner was an odd individual, in his mannerisms, his speech (he was dubbed “The Mouth of the South”), his silly if not outrageous opinions, his clownishness (often intended), and his litany of contradictions. The latter included his support of a one-child policy for everyone but himself (he had five kids) and, above all, him being a filthy rich capitalist who seemed to hate capitalism and called himself a “socialist at heart.” He was a leftist who made wads of cash from his media empire, creating cable stations as incredibly influential as CNN as well as the likes of TNT, TBS, and his single best creation, TCM. All of them bear the Turner name: Turner Network Television, Turner Broadcasting System, and Turner Classic Movies.
Turner was an innovator, an entrepreneur, a free-market pioneer. But he trashed pretty much everything not on his left. Even weirder, he was a southerner. You expected him to be a conservative, or at least not wholly antagonistic to conservative values. But not Ted. He often didn’t make sense.
To many of us, the single most troubling part of the Turner persona was his aggressive, obnoxious atheism. It was so aggressive that it even led to his split with his wife, Jane Fonda. That is, Jane’s pursuit of Christianity created a permanent rift with Ted.
I don’t think I’m betraying confidence when I share that I first learned about this from a wonderful former Grove City College student who was very close to both Ted and Jane. What I’m sharing was eventually fully disclosed by Jane and can be largely found online regardless. I don’t think the student would mind, especially given Ted’s passing. To the contrary, I imagine she would want these details shared on Jane.
Specifically, I had been informed in the late 1990s that Jane Fonda was seriously considering the Christian faith. How serious? She was reading the Bible and C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, a masterpiece of apologetics. I’ve long said that if you want to draw someone to the Christian faith, start them with the New Testament and Lewis’ Mere Christianity. Apparently, Jane was on that track, with both books literally at her bedside.
When I was informed that Jane was reading these profound works, I was stunned, incredulous. I didn’t believe it. But amazingly, it was true. In fact, the whole world got word when it was soon revealed that, wow, hallelujah, “Hanoi Jane” Fonda is a Christian!, a lengthy process that took place during her 10-year marriage to Ted.
It was a moment for great rejoicing, for Jane and for most everyone. But not for Ted Turner.
Jane had to hide her interest in Christianity from her atheist husband. The fact that she did really bothered Ted. But Jane conceded that she had to do so because Ted was so argumentative and aggressive that he would have hounded her relentlessly about her investigation into this “superstition.”
Jane was right to be cautious around Captain Outrageous. He had once denounced Christianity as being for “losers.”
And when the pair eventually got divorced very shortly after her announced conversion, it was reported that Jane’s blessed conversion was a culprit. You can Google that and read different things, but Ted at one point conceded that although it wasn’t necessarily Jane’s conversion that directly led to the split, the fact that she concealed her process of conversion was a betrayal of his trust that helped prompt the divorce. In his 2008 memoir, Turner would say that the divorce “wasn’t because she had become Christian,” but he was “upset” that she didn’t talk to him about it. It was a factor.
Meanwhile, Jane sought to grow in her faith, whereas Ted continued on his path. Ted would publicly say, “Jane wants me to become a saint…. But I’m not.”
That was for sure. We all should aspire to be saints—that’s the pilgrim’s progress. Despite Jane’s many flaws, she was seeking the right direction—a direction that Ted had no interest in.
Ultimately, Ted passed without Jane—without a loving wife at his side as caretaker until death did them part. He passed with the brutal loneliness of dementia. But he was not totally alone. God gives each of us a guardian angel, whether we want or believe in one or not. That’s not some silly, childish superstition. We’re His children, and that’s a gift.
More than that, God offers Himself, if we choose to accept Him. That’s a free gift offered not to losers but to those who want to be winners.
Late Grove City College President Charles MacKenzie was an expert on Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician known for his “Pascal’s Wager.” Pascal argued that the rational choice for the skeptic was to choose to die believing in God rather than disbelieving, given that the reward for belief was eternal bliss, whereas rejection of God was total separation and eternal damnation.
Ted Turner fancied himself an intellectual and prided himself on his intelligence. Whether Turner turned to God in his final moments of solitude is something that only he and God know. I hope that he did. I bet Jane Fonda also hopes he did.