Skillet lead singer and devout Christian John Cooper has reported getting death threats over a book he published last year in which he criticized “woke” ideology.
In an interview with pro-life activist Abby Johnson on her “Politely Rude” podcast, which was posted online last week, Cooper discussed his bookWimpy, Weak, & Woke: How truth can save America from utopian destruction.
“I had no idea how mad the title of this book was going to make people,” Cooper told Johnson. “I have never received so much hate and death threats. … I was just like, ‘Are you serious?’”
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When Johnson asked for more details about what is making people so angry about the book and its title, Cooper suggested that it’s a fusion of “ignorance” and a belief in “moral superiority,” which the singer dubbed “really frightening.”
“People are always looking at every single interaction in life through this view of who is being hurt in this, who is being marginalized, who is being oppressed somehow because their voice isn’t being heard loudly enough,” he said.
“What becomes morally right is just making sure that the underdog is no longer the underdog,” he added. “So, I think people see the book title, Wimpy, Weak & Woke, they don’t know what it means, they’re making assumptions, they’re just mad that you’re calling something woke.”
Cooper recounted going onto social media and offering the first chapter of his book for free on Audible so that people could understand what definition of “woke” he is using.
Cooper clarified that “caring about the poor and hating racism is not being woke,” adding that he believed many of the negative comments came because “people really don’t want to learn, they just want to emote.”
Additionally, Cooper said woke ideology “redefines what actual tolerance is” and “has created people who cannot hear another opinion without freaking out.”
Released last November, Wimpy, Weak & Woke is Cooper’s effort to document the philosophical roots and ideas at the heart of modern progressive ideology, commonly labeled as a “woke” worldview.
In an interview with The Christian Post last year, Cooper defined woke ideology as “basically PC culture on steroids through a lens of Neo-Marxism.”
“If you’re a Christian, you’re supposed to care for the poor. You are supposed to help the poor; you are supposed to hate racism. You are supposed to hate actual sexism, not made-up sexism and made-up racism. So, you’re supposed to hate these things and fight for justice,” Cooper said.
“What wokeness does is it redefines who is oppressed through a lens of group identity and outcomes. The way it’s coming into Christian theology is so absolutely nefarious, and it is actually ruining theology.”
