Skillet’s John Cooper Explains Why He’s So Outspoken About His Christian Faith
Skillet vocalist and bassist John Cooper has never hidden his Christian beliefs, but the musician has become even more outspoken about his faith in recent years. Cooper, whose new book Awake and Alive to Truth is out now, recently dug into why he's so candid about Christianity.
Speaking to Alisa Childers (formerly of Christian pop group ZOEgirl) earlier this month, the Skillet bandleader explained how a recent trend among believers — "deconstruction," an ideology that has some worshippers abandoning particular tenets — has moved him to be increasingly direct.
Watch the complete interview down toward the bottom of this post.
Regarding his outspokenness, Cooper categorized it as a reaction to "the shock of the last decade about the lack of people speaking up. In other words, when you're in a Christian band, what most people think is, I want to make art for Christ, I want to glorify Christ. Maybe we write worship songs, or we write songs that people could worship to, that could encourage their faith, or for evangelism. But we don't see ourselves as … pastors. We're not, like, elders, typically."
That said, the Skillet member has still grown more pastoral over the years. That's because of his conviction that many church leaders aren't combatting the confusion that's often sowed by prominent Christian voices in public, such as speakers, politicians and online influencers.
"When you [start] in 2010, 2012, '13, '14," Cooper continued, "I'm like, Where are the voices of the pastors? Why aren't they coming out against the insane ideologies that we're hearing in politics, on social media — the thinkers, intelligentsia? And now, pastors are saying the weirdest stuff."
Indeed, as the Skillet singer put it, the rise of social media and the fast pace of digital information has many modern Christians following a religion unlike the one in which he places his faith.
"That's what happened to me," Cooper reiterated. "I was like, OK, what's going on in Christianity? Why are so many people falling away from their faith? And they have a nice word for it, which is called 'deconstruction.' Why are they 'nicely' falling away from their faith?"
He added, "We have a generation that is … 'deconstructing' to a degree that they don't believe anything they've been told. Yet, they don't know anything about anything. So, it's like, how can you deconstruct something that you don't know enough information about? … We need to go back to old wisdom, not what some 20-year-old thinks 'cause they're pretty."
Cooper's Awake and Alive to Truth: Finding Truth in the Chaos of a Relativistic World is available for purchase via the musician's website. Skillet's most recent album, Victorious, came out in 2019.
Skillet's John Cooper Talks to The Alisa Childers Podcast – Jan. 10, 2021