John Cooper, the lead vocalist and bassist of the Grammy-nominated Christian rock group SKILLET, has shared his perspective on the recent controversy surrounding the Dove Awards
The controversy emerged last month when some Christian musicians made a statement by appearing at the awards ceremony dressed in unconventional attire.
At the October 17th Christian music awards event, Derek Webb, a former member of CAEDMON’S CALL and singer-songwriter, made a notable appearance in a dress. He was joined by Semler, an openly queer Christian artist, and Flamy Grant, a drag queen. Webb even took to social media to post a picture of the trio with the caption, “54th annual Dove Awards, here we come.”
In a new talk with One America News Network, SKILLET‘s John Cooper commented: “Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is this: we know that God promises if we repent, cry out to God, he will heal our land. The bad news is, as everybody knows, America really is on the verge of destruction. And I believe that that destruction is because the Christian church ain’t acting like the Christian church.
“So I’ve been ringing this bell in Christian music for a long time,” the SKILLET frontman continued. “There is a lot of compromise in Christian music, just like there’s a lot of compromise in Christianity in general. But I wanna be very, very fair. I don’t think that the Doves actually hosted them. I don’t think they invited them. I don’t think they approved of it. I think it’s just tickets — anybody can get tickets and come. So I wanna say that about the Doves.
The SKILLET singer continued: “I don’t think that’s what’s going on. However, the industry is not doing a good job on clarity on what is it that we are willing to say is okay and what we are willing to say that’s actually not okay and it’s time for us to kind of separate ways. And I say that ’cause as we speak, some of the biggest Christian worship singers in the world, as we speak, have posted things that are publicly pro-choice. They’ve publicized candidates who are pro-choice, pro-abortion, sexual stuff on socials.
“We’ve seen lots of confusing and/or affirming stances on LGBT from worship leaders, pro-BLM people, things like that. In my new book, I even give a few names. One of the ones I found the most egregious is a worship singer who chastised Christians for calling, quote-unquote, Lia Thomas, who is a trans-identifying, biological male swimmer, he said, ‘If you call him a man, you are being hateful. God is going to judge you for this.’
“So what you’re dealing with right now is the fact that a lot of Christian musicians, the industry, are so very confused about what the Bible says,” the SKILLET frontman added. “And I just wanna say to that worship artist, actually, you’re the one being hateful by confusing the world. You’re the one being hateful by rejecting God’s created order and calling something that is righteous wickedness and wickedness something that is righteous. Isaiah warns us of this. ‘Woe to those who trade good for evil and evil for good.’ We have a lot of work we need to do in the industry.”
Shortly after the awards show, Webb posted a video defending his wardrobe choice, saying: “As a cis, straight, white man, I walk into a room like that and any room with an incredible amount of advantage and privilege. If I’m attending as an ally of friends and colleagues, I should do everything possible to surrender that privilege at the door.”
Webb continued: “If the way you look at my loved ones isn’t the way you’re looking at me, I’m not truly standing with them.”
SKILLET‘s latest studio album, “Dominion”, arrived back in January 2022 via Atlantic.
The SKILLET singer’s second book, “Wimpy, Weak And Woke”, is set to will be released on November 14.
