To Christians Slamming Lauren Daigle for Saying She’s Not a “Christian Artist”

You may or may not have heard the news by now that Lauren Daigle recently came out in a radio interview saying she doesn’t particularly identify as a “Christian artist” anymore.

In a segment earlier this month with 104.3 MYFM, the interviewer asked her the following series of questions:

“What do you call yourself? What do you name yourself? Do you call yourself still a Christian artist even in the mainstream, or what do you call yourself?”

“I feel like those labels get put on you by other people,” she replied. “I was reading articles, I read them here in there, and one of them said Christian artist and the other ones said just artist. But I think part of me is just an artist because it encompasses everything. That’s kind of how I see myself.”

Once the below YouTube video of her comment was released, along with a full 20-minute interview that avoided any mention of “Jesus” or “God,” Christians were quick to slam the singer for shedding her Christian identity.

“Shame on you Daigle,” “SELL OUT,” and “deceiver” were just a few among many negative comments spewed out online.

“Lauren Daigle is NOT about Jesus… she is obviously about herself. She does not represent Christ-followers,” wrote one YouTube user.

…While other comments got even more heated.

“Daigle……… You didn’t even give God the Glory for blessing you with a wonderful voice! You didn’t once mention the name of our Lord JESUS CHRIST!,” added another disturbed commenter. “Shame on YOU Daigle. May our Lord Jesus Christ lead you back onto the right path because clearly you have gone astray….. REPENT.”

After recently giving a controversial response about whether or not homosexuality is a sin in saying “I can’t say one way or the other,” Daigle’s appeal with a certain segment of her Christian audience has gone downhill.

[irp posts=”75177″ name=”“Shut Up”: John Crist Slams Some Truth About Lauren Daigle’s Comments on Homosexuality”]

Admittedly, when I first heard the news about Daigle’s homosexuality comments and her perhaps dropping her “Christian artist” title, I did question her approach and wondered if her mainstream popularity could be sucking her away from her roots or her courage to speak Truth.

However, a bigger piece of me questioned if Christians’ responses to her responses are one of the reasons a lot of people don’t like Christians.

Much of the commentary led me to ponder Matthew 7:1-3

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

In John 24, Jesus also said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with a righteous judgment.”

And I can’t help but wonder, are the Christians judging Lauren Daigle seeing with eyes of the Spirit or eyes of the flesh?

From what I can tell, we’re seeing with our human eyes and listening with our human ears, yet proclaiming judgment as though we are God almighty, and as though we don’t have planks in our own eyes.

Maybe you’re disappointed in some of her answers, maybe you stop listening to her music, or maybe you pray for her, but since when were we called to name-call and throw fiery darts at sisters in Christ, or anyone for that manner?

Yes, righteous judgment and encouraging Christ followers to boldly share Truth is a very good thing, but to what degree is character shaming and degrading someone doing anything?

Who are we to say that Lauren Daigle is a “deceiver” and a “shame” to the Christian name?

If we turn against our own, how likely are non-Christians to desire to join our ‘exclusive club’?

If I’m being honest, yes I would like to see Lauren Daigle unashamedly pronounce Truth to non-believers and hang on to the Christian name — and I would like to “think” I would do the same… but the reality is, I’m not her. And I don’t have the pressure of being asked very polarizing questions on an extremely public platform. Nor do you.

I can only IMAGINE how difficult it must be to segue into the secular realm where many people have a very disdainful view toward Christians because we’re perceived as judgmental and ‘holier than thou.’

In our collective shaming of Lauren Daigle, aren’t we making their point? How does that make us different than the Pharisees?

Have you ever been in a people-pleasing situation where you simply don’t know the right answer to give because you know one thing to be undeniably true, but you ALSO know [to relay] that in explicit terms will lose the affection and trust of the person you’re speaking to? Imagine being put in that position — but over and over and OVER again…and in front of millions.

To say the pressure might get to you is probably an understatement.

In saying this, I’m not advocating for all of Lauren Daigle’s actions or words, but merely posing there may be more going on behind the scenes than we realize, and there has been a lot left “unsaid” that we are putting in her mouth.

Yes, Daigle stated “I think part of me is just an artist,” but did she explicitly say she’s no longer Christian nor trying to spread the Gospel to the unchurched? No.

I don’t know your job title, but whether you’re an engineer, teacher, CEO, or plumber, do you reference yourself as “Christian” before your title? Do you say, “Hi nice to meet you. I’m a ‘Christian’ engineer.’ ” My guess is probably not.

So while fans are used to labeling and categorizing singers into certain groups (as Daigle mentioned), maybe she would rather identify as an “artist” and SHOW people that she’s “Christian,” unlike her critics.

And as Christians, I pray that we become quicker to also show our “Christian” title through mercy and grace, rather than first throwing stones.