Billie Eilish is an eighteen-year-old American singer and songwriter. Earlier this year, she became the youngest ever to win the four main Grammy categories—Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year—in the same year.
In a new episode of her podcast, me & dad radio, she opened up to her father about her past faith and how it has impacted her views of religion today. “I don’t know if any of you know—I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it. When I was little, when I was a little kid, I was super religious for no damn reason,” she said. “My family never was religious. I didn’t know anyone that was religious. And for some reason, as a little girl, I just was incredibly religious.”
She continued: “And then at one point, I don’t know what happened. It just completely went away.” Now, she says, “I’ve loved the idea of other beliefs. And I think people with closed minds, people like me from a couple years ago—I think that’s very pathetic to have a closed mind. It’s very lame.”
Eilish described her current place: “I don’t, not believe and I don’t do believe. I’m in a very neutral position. I’m open to every belief pretty much.” She added that she loves “the idea that there’s a God. So why not? How would I know? I’m not going to say I know I don’t, nobody knows.”
As I note below, Billie Eilish’s beliefs are important not just because of her cultural influence but because she speaks for so many people. I would like to respond to her in a way that I hope is helpful to you as you engage with the people you know who share her beliefs.
In addition, I have long championed the belief that we should not say about people what we are not willing to say to them (cf. Matthew 18:15).
In that spirit, I’ll share with you the letter I emailed to her this morning.
My letter to Billie Eilish
Billie,
I am a Christian minister and writer in Dallas, Texas. I read about your comments on religion in your latest podcast and wanted to thank you for your honesty in saying what so many people think.
You said that to be religious is to have a “closed mind” and that we should be “neutral” about belief in God since “nobody knows” whether God is real. Growing up, I felt the same way.
My father was very religious when he was a young man, but when he enlisted in the Army during World War II, he experienced such horrible atrocities that he never attended church again. As a result, I grew up, like you, in a home with no religious practices at all.
Click here to read more.
SOURCE: Christian Post, Jim Denison
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