It’s Monday, and I’m finding myself writing about two cultural factors I never thought I’d write about in the same column. Bear with me for just a moment, and you’ll get an idea of how bizarre our world is getting when these two things merge.
On one hand, there’s The Gospel Coalition (TGC). There was a time when Christians could look to TGC for theologically (and often politically) conservative wisdom. That’s still often the case, but like so many other evangelical outlets, TGC has compromised with the world, whether publishing woke articles on racial issues or compromising at times on sexual ethics.
And then there’s the cultural juggernaut that is Taylor Swift. If you’re a Swiftie, good for you — there’s no judgment here except that there’s something about her most passionate fans that borders on cultishness. A Christian might even call it idolatry.
That’s where these two disparate cultural components came together recently, and it wasn’t pretty. On Thursday, TGC published an article entitled “7 Things Christians Can Learn from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.” The piece didn’t stay on the site long, but here’s an archive link.
“I saw one of Taylor’s Chicago shows this summer, and the spiritual connections were vast,” writes the author in the article’s introductory section. “Consider seven things Christians can learn from the Eras Tour and from what makes Taylor’s shows so moving.”
Bear in mind that this article isn’t from a teenage girl; nope, a dude named Blake Glosson wrote it. Later on in the piece, Glosson writes dreck like, “It’s hard to explain what I felt when I woke up the morning after seeing Taylor Swift. The best way I can describe it is sad joy.” Sorry, Blake, but your man card has been revoked.
Protestia went so far as to call it TGC’s “worst and gayest article in years,” while Not the Bee’s Harris Rigby wrote, “This is making me rethink everything. I might even have to rethink the whole trans issue because if ever there was a woman trapped in a man’s body this is it.” I’ll be somewhat more charitable, but it’s definitely one of the silliest things I’ve ever read in a mainstream Christian publication.
Related: America’s Largest Evangelical Magazine Continues to Drift to the Left
The comparisons between Swift and God border on blasphemy, even as Glosson makes note that Swifties’ impersonal interaction with a pop star who is pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ (and thus against God’s creation order) pales in comparison to a personal relationship with the God of the universe.
Under Glosson’s first point, “We were created to be seen and known,” he writes, “Part of what makes Taylor’s music so powerful is that it leaves many saying, ‘She gets me.’ Many feel her lyrics perfectly encapsulate their emotions and experiences and even help them understand themselves.”
“The Eras Tour allows fans to draw near to the one person who seems to really know them. Of course, Taylor doesn’t know 99.9 percent of her fans—only foolish ones would think otherwise,” he adds. “Still, the joy Swifties feel in Taylor’s presence—perhaps even catching a glance from Taylor herself—reflects the joy of drawing near to the only One who knows and loves us perfectly.”
Glosson tries to tie in Swifties wearing shimmering dresses like their idol and complimenting each other with “I love your dress!” — what straight dude notices these things? — to the Apostle Paul’s encouragement to believers to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). Stuff like this goes on and on for seven points where he makes weak comparisons between the experience of a Taylor Swift show and worshiping God.
Bless his heart, Glosson tries to bring his readers to the truth in his conclusion, writing that “no created being—including Taylor Swift—deserves worshipful praise. Worshiping a creature rather than the Creator will inevitably ruin us (cf. Jonah 2:8; Rom. 1:25). Yet there’s One for whom our souls were created to worship (cf. Col. 1:16). Worshiping him alone leads to true and eternal life.”
All of that is well and good — and true — but Glosson spends hundreds of words holding up Swift as nearly an object of worship. Words and phrases like “enthralled,” “profound feeling of belonging,” and “more beautiful than I imagined” come too close to comfort to worship, even when Glosson reminds his readers that loving Taylor Swift pales in comparison to loving Jesus Christ.
TGC was wise enough to take this embarrassing article down after mere hours. However, the forever-ness of the internet isn’t sparing Glosson and TGC any humiliation.
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