However, Cooper said, “they know that Christians are so wimpy and weak…they know that Christians are then going to somehow feel intimidated by them and not know how to act.”
Cooper believes that the Christian music industry should recognize that Webb and the others are being the aggressors in the situation and said that he feels “like the industry has set the groundwork to make people feel like they can bully us because we are so wimpy and weak,” which in turn makes Christians “apologetic about what we believe,” something he believes is an “absurdity.”
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Cooper was unable to attend the Dove Awards this year but said that if had he been there and seen Webb and company, he would have “ignored them” like the Apostle Paul instructs Christians to do in 1 Corinthians 5. If they weren’t claiming to be Christians, then it would a totally different story, Cooper said, sharing that he would have compassionate, gospel conversations with them.
“When you’re dealing with people who claim the name of Christ, who then refuse to stop these patterns of behavior that the Bible condemns, then we have responsibility not to associate with these people. So I would just ignore them,” Cooper said.
He added, “If there was clarity in the Christian music industry about what it truly meant to be a follower of Jesus, I think that people wouldn’t feel comfortable to come and express queer joy. I think they would be like, ‘This isn’t for us.’” Cooper said that he believes people “are sensing that the tide is is turning and it’s turning towards compromise.”
“Those who still hold to biblical sexual ethics are getting more afraid to say something because they feel bullied, and they feel like the minority,” Cooper said. “And they’re not sure what’s gonna happen if they do, and they’re not sure if there’s going to be anyone in Christian music that has their back.”
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The veteran rocker of 26 years urged Christians never to take anything people like Webb, Flamy Grant, and Semler say seriously “because they are delusional and they hate the truth. They are moral relativists. They don’t believe that there’s such thing as absolute morality.”
Cooper went on to say that the Christian music industry is a reflection of the church and that he never thought he’d see one of the “most famous mega pastors in the nation, basically just become queer-affirming—or to some degree is— or be so unclear on the issue it appears to most that he is.”
“I never thought I would ever see a Christian artist much less a Christian pastor march with Black Lives Matter (BLM) but not condemn the actual violence that was happening, and then criticized Christians who did condemn it,” Cooper continued.
