Jonathan Merritt - On Faith and Culture
Culture

Is The Christian Music Industry Flipping on LGBT Issues?

Does it matter if the lyrics you sing to worship God were written by someone with whom you have deep theological disagreements? 

Christian rock star Vicky Beeching forced her fans to confront this question last week when she toldThe Independent that she is a lesbian. Her songs are among the most commonly sung in North American churches. But many within her Christian fan base believe gay sex and marriage are sinful.

Beeching has shared harrowing stories of struggling to shirk her sexuality. She even recounts participating in a traumatic exorcism at a Christian youth camp. Nineteen years after the failed attempt to purge the gay-ness from her spirit, Beeching chose to just be open and honest about who she believes she is.

“Old habits die hard,” Beeching told me via email. “I’m finally free from guilt and shame, but it’s been a very long road to get here.”

Beeching isn’t the first major faith-filled musician to come out of the closet or change his or her views. Many in the Christian music industry — like their book publishing counterparts — appear to be slowly and quietly shifting on the issue of gay marriage. This is a formative moment when many Christians are reconsidering the traditional understanding of sexuality and marriage. And popular leaders within the Christian music industry could accelerate a broader swing.

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August 21, 2014by Jonathan
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Culture

Jennifer Knapp makes case for being ‘gay and Christian’ in new book

Four years ago, when musician Jennifer Knapp declared to the world that she was in a lesbian relationship, conservative Christians around the country released a collective gasp. They had traveled from far and wide to hear her sing and purchased more than one million of Knapp’s albums. But the Grammy-nominated musician’s revelation tested their loyalty.

At the time, Knapp had already been on a seven-year professional hiatus and declared she was not interested in being a poster girl for the gay Christian community. Neither did she feel equipped.

“I’m in no way capable of leading a charge for some kind of activist movement,” Knapp bluntly told “Christianity Today” in 2010, adding, “I’m not capable of getting into the theological argument as to whether or not we should or shouldn’t allow homosexuals within our church.”

But her sense of readiness has apparently changed. Simon and Schuster is preparing to release a book by Knapp in October titled, “Facing the Music: Discovering Real Life, Real Love, and Real Faith.”

According to the publisher’s website, Knapp is “now an advocate for LGBT issues in the church” whose memoir tells the story “of her troubled childhood, the love of music that pulled her through, her dramatic conversion to Christianity, her rise to stardom, her abrupt departure from Christian Contemporary Music, her years of trying to come to terms with her sexual orientation, and her return to music.”

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May 27, 2014by Jonathan
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