If you're wondering the end goal of the deconstruction movement in the church, then look no further than former worship leader new collab with a drag queen. Webb was part of a wave of 90s Christian rock stars – including Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan and DC Talk’s Kevin Max – who became disillusioned with the rightwing culture of CCM and began writing songs questioning that institution, going through a process commonly referred to in the exvangelical world as “deconstruction”, wherein a Christian unpacks the political, cultural and theological rhetoric they’ve been fed throughout their lives and discards what doesn’t ring true any more (which, for some, is all of it). ![]() What would be suicide for one person could be a revolution for those who follow.” “But no one wants to be the first to take that step. “There are a lot of people in Christian music who want this,” says Grant’s collaborator, Derek Webb, former songwriter for the popular Christian rock band Caedmon’s Call, speaking of LGBTQ+ acceptance in Christian music. But thanks to shifts in how music charts are calculated, along with a movement of confessional songs from those scarred by evangelical childhoods and questioning such teachings (whose work is still categorized as “Christian music” on iTunes), the entire genre is being turned on its head. This tactic boomeranged last week when Feucht’s attacks on Flamy Grant had a similar effect on the drag queen’s fans, who flooded iTunes and purchased the album and the song Good Day, a combination queer anthem and Christian worship song.įor generations, contemporary Christian music (CCM) was an isolated corner of the music industry that expected its performers to remain on the right side of the culture wars (with mixed results). A marketing whiz of the Christian right, Feucht hosted large gatherings of Christian worshipers during the Covid lockdown, successfully galvanizing audiences around perceived threats to their religious freedom, from critical race theory to Covid restrictions. Grant’s star was already on the rise when Feucht, a failed Republican congressional candidate and one of Trump’s most powerful evangelical allies, tweeted about the drag queen. Photograph: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images “I’ve been called groomer and pedophile a lot,” says Flamy Grant of the harassment they’ve faced following their chart success – the album, Bible Belt Baby, hit No 1 on 27 July and remained there for nine days.Īmy Grant on The Tonight Show in 1997. The rising phenomenon of Flamy Grant and other exvangelical musicians is not only driven by the backlash to the Christian right, but exists within a tradition of queer Christian songwriters wrestling against their industry’s institutionalized homophobia. ![]() Shortly after telling Flamy Grant “hardly anyone listens or cares what you do”, Feucht accidentally inspired the growing movement of “exvangelicals” – those who have left the Christian right – whose love for Grant’s music (and disdain for Maga persecution of drag performers) drove their album and song to the No 1 spot. He probably didn’t mean for his remarks to make the drag queen a superstar – but that’s exactly what they did. ![]() Sean Feucht, a failed Republican congressional candidate and one of Trump’s most powerful evangelical allies, called Flamy’s collaboration with a Christian rock star a harbinger of “the last days”. Now, Flamy has earned a No 1 hit on the iTunes Christian music chart – thanks in part to a prominent evangelical provocateur.
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