What bothers you and why?
Okay, I need to get this off my chest because it seriously grinds my gears.
I was talking to a friend recently about how I didn’t even realize certain bands I loved growing up—like Relient K or LeCrae or even Flyleaf—were Christian bands at the time. I just liked the music. Looking back now, it totally makes sense why my mom was cool with me blasting them in the car. The messages were pretty wholesome, and yeah, if you actually listen to the lyrics, they’re literally singing about God.
So I’m chatting with this other friend (he’s a bit older than me), and he casually mentions how he went to one of their concerts back in the day but got annoyed because they paused the show to pray or talk about Jesus. And I just had to stop him there.
Like… what were you expecting?
These artists aren’t hiding who they are. They’re Christian musicians. They write and perform music from that lens. If you bought the album, if you bought the concert ticket, if you’ve ever listened to the lyrics, it’s not a secret.
You can’t be mad that a Christian band had a Christian moment in their show. That’s like going to a punk rock show and being mad it got loud or chaotic. It comes with the territory. These artists aren’t trying to trick you—they’re just being who they are. And that includes talking about their faith, especially in the middle of something as personal and intimate as a live concert.
And then there’s this argument: “Well, most of their fans aren’t even Christian.”
Okay, and? How would you know that? Just because you’re not Christian doesn’t mean that nobody else in the crowd is. And even if the fan base is mixed, it doesn’t mean the artist should water themselves down or silence parts of who they are to make someone else more comfortable. That’s not authenticity—that’s performance. And ironically, for artists rooted in faith, performing in a way that hides their beliefs goes against everything they stand for.
It’s like this: I wouldn’t go to a Kanye concert today expecting College Dropout-era vibes. I know who Kanye is now. If I made the choice to show up, I’d be doing so knowing exactly what I’m walking into. I don’t get to demand he go back in time or act differently just because that version of him made me more comfortable.
So if a Christian artist stops to pray during a show or share a testimony between songs, that’s not them forcing religion on anyone—it’s them being consistent with who they’ve always said they are. And honestly, you don’t have to like it. Skip the song. Don’t go to the concert. But don’t act surprised. Don’t act offended when someone expresses something they’ve never once hidden.
It’s not about agreeing with everything. It’s about letting people be who they are—especially when they’re not pretending to be anything else.
