Michael Tait and Christian Rock

Race, Gender and the Abrasive and Exclusionary Politics of Christian Nationalism!

People.com

Some of you are probably aware that Christian music legend Michael Tait , whose hit song “God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion)” became a symbolic tune for Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, has been accused of sexually assaulting three men, two of whom believed the rock star drugged them more than two decades ago according to a months-long investigation. Additionally, four other men have made similar claims that Tait, a founding member of DC Talk and later a frontman for Newsboys, engaged in inappropriate behavior, unwanted touching and acts of sexual aggression. For his part, Tait posted a “confession” on social media in which he “disputes some details” but conceded that the substance of such scurrilous allegations and drug use contained in a recent investigative report were “largely true.”

DC Talk was one of the most popular and successful acts in the history of the genre better known as CCM (contemporary Christian music). In fact, the hip-hop-inflected pop group’s most popular album, 1995’s Jesus Freak, was certified triple-platinum and spent 79 weeks on the Billboard 200. The band eventually went on hiatus in 2001, with Tait and fellow members Kevin Max and Toby Mac all pursuing alternative solo careers.

Such sordid revelations against entertainers are hardly unusual. Louis C. K., Sean Combs, Russell Brand, Bill Cosby, and others spring to mind. The difference in this instance is that Michael Tait had unabashedly aligned himself with conservative politicians or activists over the years. You know — the people who denounce such “sinful and vile acts” as unworthy of God. Back in 2019, he was one of numerous well-known evangelical figures who signed an authored letter denouncing an op-ed in the prominent Christianity Today magazine for advocating for then President Trump’s impeachment. Down the road, he stood on-stage next to Trump at a rally encouraging evangelical support. Eventually, Tait posted a video last year attempting to persuade his supporters to vote for Trump.

Recent charges about Tait’s behavior dramatically conflict with the highly austere, sanitized public persona he stealthily and shrewdly cultivated for decades. Tait has sold more than 18 million albums, with songs encouraging young Christians to refrain from drugs, alcohol, and sex and to embrace heterosexual norms. Such messages aside, the reality appears to be that, according to people that various news sources interviewed, Tait’s alleged drug use and wayward and untoward behavior were the “biggest open secret in Christian music!” Go figure.

A reporter for The Guardian (US edition) interviewed more than two dozen individuals in the Christian music industry; the majority stated they had been aware of such rumors that Tait had engaged in abusive behavior michael-tait-sexual-assault-allegations. Each of these young men grew up in evangelical churches where Tait’s music was central in their youth groups, summer camps, and mission trips as well as other aspects of their lives. Having taken Tait’s message as gospel, they were naive about sex and drugs throughout their youth. As can be imagined, these youth were mesmerized when they eventually met their childhood idol but rapidly saw their image of him as a role model/paragon of Christian virtues disintegrate as he led them on a sordid and harrowing journey of musical deviance.

Young and occasionally gullible male musicians say that Tait the star supposedly targeted them by dangling the possibility of career or other lucrative options, then abruptly ceased all contact once it was evident that they would not offer him sexual favors. Several of his victims recited that Tait would allegedly invite them to parties at his house in Nashville, encouraging them to drink alcohol and partake in drugs before making sexual advances. Manipulative, troubling, and disturbing to be sure.

A larger question to consider from this unfortunate drama is why a person like Michael Tait and those often viewed as the “other” would find themselves so comfortably at home in and pledge allegiance to a movement such as Christian nationalism that tends to deride, degrade, denigrate, and disparage many things he represents — Black, gay, etc.?

To be sure, Christian nationalism is not an ideology where an individual’s belief system defines their political values. Human beings can certainly hold divergent opinions as they relate to arguments around racial politics, immigration, religious freedom, reproductive rights, or any other issue of political conflict. Indeed, Christians routinely spar among one another on such issues. Debate and diversity of viewpoints are often beneficial to both the debaters and the larger society. What distinguishes Christian nationalism is not religious participation in politics but the myopic perception that Christian primacy and theology must saturate virtually every aspect of our society.

The movement ties to a visceral sense that the church’s well-being and survival depend on the outcome of any given political race. Christian nationalism’s supporters have little if any compunction about attempting to impose their personal value system upon others. Such beliefs often manifest themselves through linear ideology, a specific identity, and unbridled passion. As can be imagined, if Christian nationalism were successful in becoming the norm, it would abolish our current constitution and fragment our democracy.

Frankly, it appears that Michael Tait, like a segment of LGBTQIA+, non-Whites, women, and people of historically marginalized groups, aligns himself with reductive, reactionary movements out of severe denial or what psychologists refer to as Stockholm syndrome, a psychological response where victims of a traumatic event, such as kidnapping or abuse, develop positive feelings or emotional attachment to their captors or abusers.

While some of these individuals latch on to such movements due to their perverse opportunism, many others, I am inclined to believe, do so for psychological reasons. Regardless of Mr. Tait’s reasons or motives, the fact is that he now finds himself in the middle of a tawdry, tortuous, craven, revelatory high-profile saga. Perhaps such a trying moment will enable him to engage in deep rumination and self-reflection as well as confront his private demons that have been publcially exposed to the larger world. May God be with him at this most challenging time.

Elwood Watson Ph.D. is a professor of history, Black Studies, and Gender and Sexuality Studies at East Tennessee State University. He is a cultural critic, syndicated columnist, and author of the books,: Talkin’ To You, Bro!: Liberate Yourself from the Confusing, Ambiguous Messages of Contemporary Masculinity (Lasting Impact Press, 2021) and Keepin’ It Real: Essays on Race in Contemporary America. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/K/bo40060337.html (University of Chicago Press 2019)