John Cooper is best known as the lead singer for the Christian hard rock band Skillet. Cooper also has a podcast, Cooper Stuff, on which he discusses his religious and political views. On a recent episode, Cooper spoke bluntly about what he sees as a failure among Christians pastors and cultural icons to take seriously the need to defend the preborn from the violence of abortion.
In the episode, Cooper analyzed the issue of abortion from several angles: Biblical teaching, current events, and the Christian view of government. Introducing the episode, Cooper wrote that he was “remind[ing]our leaders and influencers about the basics” about the need to defend Life. He also sought to explain “the push to nuance the abortion issue” as a way to advance what Cooper called the “liberal agenda.”
On the episode, Cooper said, “I do think that we should get back to realizing how much of an evil it is that we don’t defend the innocent.” He continued, “It’s so bizarre to have the very same people talking about justice, talking about restorative justice, talking about racial justice, economic justice, environmental justice, but those same people won’t fight for the justice of the unborn….” As Cooper stated many times throughout the episode, there is no person as defenseless and innocent as the preborn child. The violent destruction of this person is the most pressing social issue of our time.
Cooper addressed the claim by some Christians that God cares about the needs of the mother and therefore is not concerned with the sin of abortion. Cooper asked, “So does God care about the needs of the baby? Yes. Does God care about the needs of the mom? Yes. Does God view that as an equal justice when the mom is getting ready — and I’m sorry if I’m offending anybody if I say it too harshly — but when the mom is getting ready to commit murder against the innocent baby who cannot defend itself…?” He continued, “In that moment, do you think that God is just as concerned about the needs of the mother or is God more concerned about the innocent unborn child that has never done anything wrong?”
Cooper pointed out that Pro-Lifers are on the frontlines of helping mothers in crisis. He said, “Pro-life organizations give lots of help to moms… The only people that say that pro-life people don’t care about the needs of the mother are liberal people.” Crisis pregnancy centers address the needs of both the mother and the baby, providing a way forward that does not involve killing. Why, then, do anti-Life “liberal people” think that Pro-Lifers don’t care about mothers? Cooper explained, “they believe that because they believe that if a woman does not have bodily autonomy — that she doesn’t have the right to have an abortion — then they believe you are literally ripping [their]rights away… treating [them]like less than an individual…. If taxes don’t pay for those abortions, then [they believe]it actually is economic injustice….”
Demonstrating how blatant the betrayal of the preborn has become, Cooper provided an example of self-described Christians discussing “crotch Christianity,” being concerned with sexual morality and abortion. Cooper was stunned that so-called Christians would downplay the atrocity of abortion this way. He noted that each year, 800,000 preborn babies are killed in abortion. “800,000 babies a year… it’s ‘Crotch Christianity,’ guys,” Cooper said sarcastically. “You should care about everything in the world, guys… why are you so worried… when there are people with no health insurance…? That’s what they’re saying.”
Cooper continued, “I think a nation that takes the most innocent, most vulnerable people in the whole world — which is the unborn — and just says, ‘You can do whatever you want to in the name of bodily autonomy. We’re gonna show women how much we love ‘em by allowing them to commit genocide against the unborn’ — now, that might get you destruction,” referring to God’s judgement.
In addition to these topics, Cooper also discussed the anti-Life push to “normalize” abortion and “celebrate” the killing of the preborn. He noted that Christians should not be duped into cooperating with people who have no intention of ever working to end abortion. Cooper then discussed the importance of the Supreme Court and the nation’s laws in addressing the injustice and defending Life, calling on Christian leaders to speak the truth in defense of the preborn.
Cooper’s honesty and strong Pro-Life arguments are rare in the music industry, even, as he notes, among Christian musicians. The issue of abortion is one of life-and-death, good-and-evil. Christians cannot participate in or cooperate with the killing of innocent and defenseless human beings. As courageous Christians are now saying, this means that Christians cannot support the anti-Life movement with their votes.
There is nothing stopping churches from standing for Life; now we must start asking why they refuse.