SKILLET's JOHN COOPER Weighs In On The Epidemic Of 'Fatherlessness'

In a new interview with the "Christian Music Guys" podcast, John Cooper, the frontman and bassist for the Grammy-nominated Christian rock band SKILLET, has weighed in on the argument by some conservative politicians and media pundits that the epidemic of fatherlessness is a greater social problem in America than systemic racism.

The 48-year-old musician, who is promoting his second book, "Wimpy, Weak And Woke", said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "One of the things the woke are always yelling about is racial disparities. I care deeply about racial disparities. The woke narrative says if there are any disparities between whites and blacks or whites and brown people, or however it goes down, then it has to be oppression; it has to be racism. That's the only reason. And in my [new] book, I say, no, I don't believe that woke narrative. I think a better, more rational approach is to look at the Bible. How does the Bible tell us to thrive? One man and one woman come together in a marital union and covenant for life. They have kids and together they raise their children. And then you see the blessing of God come."

He continued: "If you just look at the statistics, the amount of fatherlessness, if you break it up into racial groups, the amount of fatherlessness coincides with economics and material outcomes. In other words, what I'm trying to say is this, the number one most economically privileged group is Asian Americans. They're the number one most economically privileged group and they have the least fatherlessness. Number two is white people. They're the number two most economically privileged, and they have the second least amount of fatherlessness. Next is brown people and last is black people. So it goes up. I think Asians have something like nine percent fatherlessness. Well, there's no way that white people are ever going to make as much money and have as good of outcomes, educational and whatnot, as Asian people, because we have a 30 percent fatherlessness rate. You can't buck against the kingdom of God. That is a rational argument and it makes so much more sense and it is in line with the scriptures. And that's how I think that we have to handle the world."

In recent years, talk radio host and writer Larry Elder, who has made waves as an outspoken black conservative, has said that the biggest problem facing the black community in America is not systemic racism. "[The number one problem] is the large number of kids entering the world without a father married to a mother," Elder said during a March 2022 talk. "Everything else pales in comparison."

In various interviews over the years, Cooper has said that he "always had faith in God" and that his mother was a "Jesus fanatic." He also claimed that he was willing to put his career on the line to take a stand for Christ.

In 2021, Cooper was asked by the "Undaunted.Life: A Man's Podcast" what he would say to someone who says that Satan works through rock music, and thus Christians shouldn't play rock music. He responded: "I would say Satan can work through just about anything. I would say that music is created not by the Devil; [it is] created by the Lord. All things were created by God. So instead of thinking that the Devil owns a genre of music, I would say capture that music and bring it back into subjection under the lordship of Christ."

As for what he would say to someone who says it is sinful for Christians to have tattoos, Cooper said: "I understand why Christians think that, because of the Old Testament. I would say it probably takes a little bit of a longer explanation of Old Testament law and what it meant. But a short version would be there are some things in the Old Testament that were a picture of something in the New Testament. There are some things that are not pictures, like murder — we don't murder, we don't steal, so and so forth. Dietary restrictions, things like that, were a picture of something.

"Here's what God wanted: God wants to make his people set apart and holy unto his name," he continued. "And I don't think that God does that any longer from the way that we look; he does that now because of Christ's work on the cross, his resurrection, and he sanctifies us, which sets us apart from the sinner and the pagan."

SKILLET's latest album, "Dominion", was released in January 2022 via Atlantic.

"Wimpy, Weak And Woke" will be released on November 14.

John's debut book, "Awake & Alive To Truth", has had over 10 printings and won the Book Impact Award at the 2021 K-Love Fan Awards. His podcast, "Cooper Stuff", continues to grow rapidly as well with over four million downloads and more than two million YouTube views.

John Cooper press photo courtesy of The Media Collective