February 17, 2022
John Cooper, lead singer of the Christian rock band Skillet, recently made comments that it’s time to “declare war” on the deconstruction movement. Exvangelicals and people who are currently deconstructing their faith have taken offense to this, as they usually do when Christians and Christian leaders criticize deconstruction.
The most recent example before this was when Joshua Ryan Butler wrote an article for The Gospel Coalition titled 4 Causes of Deconstruction. To read my take on this article, you can do so here: My Response to The Gospel Coalition’s “4 Causes of Deconstruction” Article
I don’t get nearly as upset as others do whenever prominent Christians speak about deconstruction. Why? Because I’m of the opinion that the more these prominent Christians talk about it, the more Christians who’ve never heard of it will finally discover that they actually have the option to question their faith. Perhaps they’ll go digging to find out what Mr. Cooper was ranting about on stage at the Winter Jam concert where he made the remarks, discover some positive and supportive communities, and finally begin their journey of deconstruction.
But as usual, it’s helpful to take a closer look at the comments made by Mr. Cooper because, as with most Christians who speak against deconstruction, it’s clear that he doesn’t fully understand what it is, even though he thinks he does.
A Bit About John Cooper
I don’t know John Cooper personally, but from my observation of his public persona, Mr. Cooper is a Type-A, high energy, assertive, self-assured, confident, masculine man. He is teeming with masculine energy. I have a strong feeling that if he heard me describe him as such, he’d agree and thank me for the compliment. And to be clear, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that personality type. In many ways, it describes me as well.
But understanding that helps see where he’s coming from in the comments he made. Of course someone with his demeanor would think the solution was to “declare war.”
No, Mr. Cooper most likely does not mean that he and thousands of other Christian men need to take up literal arms against deconstructing people and go shoot them in a battle. But this kind of aggressive terminology is what resonates with him. Although he’s not advocating going into actual battle, he still views himself as fighting a war—probably a war for the “culture.” Christians always like to point out how damaging “culture” is to their way of life and belief systems.
For more of my thoughts on this, read my article Christian Men and War: Preoccupied with Conflict, Violence, and Aggression.
John Cooper Actually Makes A Good Point
Mr. Cooper also had this to say during his rant:
“Why are you so sad? Why are you killing yourselves at the highest rate in American history? Why are more young people depressed than ever in American history? More young people are on medication. More young people are full of anxiety.”
These are some serious issues he raises. However, he tries to connect these issues to deconstruction. He implies that people who suffer from the things he listed do so because they have not put their faith in Jesus Christ, or because they have stopped having faith in Jesus.
And that just isn’t true at all. It’s a very half-baked, black-and-white view of a very complex and complicated world. People who never believed in Christianity (or any religion) for a single day of their lives also suffer from mental health challenges. Mental health issues can stem from a variety of sources that have nothing to do with Christianity and believing in Jesus:
- They can come from financial issues.
- They can come from family issues.
- They can come from loneliness.
- They can come from relationship issues.
- They can come from feeling like you’ve lost your purpose in life.
As has been covered both on this blog, my book, and in many other faith deconstruction communities on and offline, a lifetime spent in fundamentalist Christianity can, and has been responsible for many of the negative mental health effects that Mr. Cooper is so passionate about. Yet he chooses to ignore this, as do many who openly criticize the deconstruction movement.
In Mr. Cooper’s worldview, believing in and accepting Jesus Christ as your lord and savior will put a band-aid over all of the things listed above, as if God was just letting you suffer and waiting for you to put your faith in him before waving his magical wand and making everything right.
But as many people who were once Christian—and now are no longer—can attest to, God does not work that way. Being a Christian seems to have very little bearing on improving the quality of your life. In fact, it is most often the opposite—being a Christian usually decreases the quality of your life in a very sharp way.
I believe there is an element of fear at play here.
While I said earlier that I suspect Mr. Cooper would agree with my assessment of him and his personality, I predict he would vehemently disagree with my next one: that there’s an element of fear behind his anti-deconstruction stance.
Fear is a very powerful force in religion. I’ve written about it before here: Fear Makes Religion Powerful
One negative component of unchecked, highly masculine energy is a refusal to admit fear, or to not acknowledge it. And when people are in a state of fear, they react in certain ways that are usually not optimal, effective, or even appropriate, whether they are consciously aware of their fear or not.
What do I think Mr. Cooper is afraid of? The same thing that I think most prominent and celebrity Christians are afraid of: Christianity’s declining influence.
Mr. Cooper drops some clues about this. After the night of the concert where he made his remarks, he went on to clarify his comments. From The Roys Report:
“At the shows, I list many forces or ideologies that are lying to young people including Hollywood, social media, influencers—and I then include some ‘formerly Christian’ pastors/influencers who have left the faith and now are trying to encourage our young people to also leave the faith,” Cooper wrote. “It’s clear at the concert that I am speaking about those particular people who are attempting to lead others astray.”
Mr. Cooper has a particular chip on his shoulder toward his ex-colleagues that were once prominent Christian musicians who have publicly left the faith. These are people who were once just like him who are now loudly declaring how (and why) they no longer believe in God or consider themselves a Christian.
Imagine you were once in a tight-knit club with a bunch of people who thought and believed just like you. Then you watch over the years as one by one these other people drop out. You stick to your guns, but you quickly see that pretty soon, you just might be the only one left. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you have to at some point question whether you are the one who’s got it wrong.
Younger generations just aren’t buying in anymore. Older generations are deconstructing and leaving. And although there’s still some religion tied up in politics (there likely always will be) it’s less pronounced these days than it was, say, fifteen years ago when the Republicans were in office. John Cooper is not dumb. He sees the rapidly-eroding shoreline on his desert island that is Christianity in the west. Pretty soon there will be hardly anywhere left to go.
This has more implications than that of his livelihood as a Christian musician. He, like most Christians, holds his religion to be paramount in terms of his identity. He needs Christianity to still exist, to be relevant, and to even be dominant in the larger culture. But these days, it just isn’t.
And the Church’s decline is its own fault. The Church has just done far too much harm to too many people for far too long. People are sick of it. They want out, they’re getting out, and they’re never looking back.
Conclusion
Deconstruction has far-reaching implications for both the Church and Christian culture as a whole, and Mr. Cooper fears this. When you really think about it, it makes sense that he needs to “declare war” on the movement. Looking back into the real wars of history, anytime someone declared war on someone else, there was an element of fear involved.
As ex-Christians, how should we react when prominent Christians like Mr. Cooper come out and say ridiculous things about declaring war? In my opinion, there shouldn’t be much of a reaction at all. Why? Because how can we expect people like Mr. Cooper to say or believe anything else? Everything he said is completely in line with what we’ve come to expect from him and others like him by now. Why continue to care?
Deconstruction is already hard enough without getting angry every time some Christian has something nasty to say. As usual, my reaction to this was to shrug and be grateful that he stirred up some drama because it will only increase awareness of deconstruction as a whole.