Is Tom Hanks Jewish ?

Just in case you wonder: "Is Tom Hanks Jewish?", the truth is that Hanks is not Jewish.  






Tom Hanks was raised primarily in Catholicism then Mormonism.  He finally converted to "born again" Christianity and Greek Orthodoxy.

In detail, Tom Hanks had something of an unorthodox childhood as his mother left home when he was just five years old. His father, an itinerant cook, took his kids from place to place in search of work and Tom found himself coping with a new stepmother. Although his real mother brought him up a Roman Catholic, his stepmother introduced him to Mormonism.

Hanks' stepmother commented that Tom's dad, Amos, was deeply suspicious of religion in any form and was hostile to her interest in Mormonism.







"It was funny because the kids enjoyed going to church. But after we had split up, Mr Hanks and I were at a friend's wedding and Tom ran up to me and said: "Mum, mum, guess what? I'm not a Mormon anymore. Now I am a darned old Catholic," she was quoted as saying.

Then Hanks moved in with an aunt, who was a member of the Nazarene Church. At high school he was friendly with Jewish students but got involved with born-again Christians. He took it so seriously that for four years he led a mid-week Bible study group.


In 1998 Hanks revealed to George magazine: "The major religion I was exposed to in the first 10 years of my life was Catholicism. My stepmother became a Mormon. My aunt, whom I lived with for a long time, was a Nazarene, which is kind of ultra-super Methodist, and in high school all my friends were Jews". 

"For years I went to Wednesday night Bible studies with my church group. So I had this peripatetic overview of various faiths, and the one thing I got from that was the intellectual pursuit involved. There was a lot of great stuff to think about. What were the four spiritual laws? Are you post-tribulationist of a pre-tribulationist?" Hanks added.

When Hanks got married with the actress Rita Wilson, whom she met while working on the 1988 film "Volunteers", he joined the Greek Orthodox Church.


Source: The Church of England Newspaper, June 24, 2004



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