In a sweeping investigation of the music of megachurches and political rallies, a journalist asks: How did songs beloved by white evangelicals become the soundtrack of Christian supremacy's war on democracy? Praise and worship music often fits hand-in-glove with Christian Trumpism, and in this unsettling account, journalist Rick Pidcock asks: How did songs like "How Great Is Our God" become anthems of rallies for the regime? How do lyrics like "Praise is the water my enemies drown in" shape the people who sing them? Singing with others creates a powerful sense of belonging and transcendence. So what happens when the music of one movement becomes the soundtrack of another? Pidcock, who led worship in evangelical churches for twenty years, uncovers how worship gatherings blur into political rallies and vice versa. He takes us to worship gatherings on the National Mall, to charismatic concerts around the country, and into the early days of contemporary Christian music itself. He looks at the racism, misogyny, apocalypticism, and individualism that underwrite the songs, and at the ways children are being indoctrinated by the lyrics of silly songs with disturbing undertones. He uncovers a worship culture increasingly controlled by a set of powerbrokers and looks at how algorithms define the worship repertoire. Celebrity worship leaders like Sean Feucht and worship collectives like Bethel Music and Hillsong are crafting worship experiences that strengthen the power of those at the top, dehumanize those below, and wage war against people who won't submit. The same songs sung at your local megachurch this Sunday--about power and punishment, floods and flames, pain and praise--now mark many political gatherings. As praise and worship music sands down the edges between Christianity and politics, Pidcock asks: Where are songs of conquest and spiritual warfare taking us?
Rick Pidcock is a journalist and weekly contributor for Baptist News Global whose work has been featured by the American Academy of Religion, BioLogos, Patheos, the Center for Christogenesis, the Bucks County Beacon, and Real Clear Religion. He is the host of BNG's Highest Power: Church + State podcast. Prior to becoming a journalist, he led worship for twenty years. Pidcock has a master of arts degree in worship from Northern Seminary and is an at-home parent of five children. He and his family live in South Carolina.
Chapter 1 Soundtrack of an Insurrection Chapter 2 The Worship Oligarchy Chapter 3 It's On Chapter 4 White Noise Chapter 5 Barbies and Kens Chapter 6 What the Children Sing Chapter 7 The End Is Near Chapter 8 Bend the Knee Chapter 9 Sunday, Bloody Sunday Chapter 10 Gangsters of America Acknowledgments Notes
"Blending sharp analysis, in-depth reporting, and insights gleaned as a former worship leader, Pidcock offers a fascinating insider's guide to the music industry aimed at white evangelical audiences. Along the way he explores the idea of worship music as political warfare, deftly showing how its power dynamics of authority and submission help sacralize the drive to a theocratic and autocratic order." --KATHERINE STEWART, author of The Power Worshippers and Money, Lies, and God "With a worship leader's insights and a journalist's shrewdness, Rick Pidcock peels back the appealing facade of the evangelical worship music industrial complex. In the process, he exposes some of the foundational infrastructure for the authoritarian turn in modern American Christianity." --MATTHEW D. TAYLOR, author of The Violent Take It by Force and Defying Tyrants "Those who've deconstructed their faith know there's a point at which we make a full turn and examine our complicity. Weapons of Worship is the work of a brave and honest worship leader turned journalist willing to critique the system he participated in and to explain how and why evangelical music is weaponized." --TIA LEVINGS, New York Times bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife and I Belong to Me "Pidcock's experience as a worship leader and journalist enables him to give us a clear picture of the power and influence of white evangelical music to fuel Christian nationalism in both subtle and overt ways. . . . Pastors, laypeople, and educators will find this book illuminating, and hopefully, it will propel us all to think seriously about what it means to worship God with music." --DENNIS EDWARDS, dean of North Park Seminary and author of Might from the Margins "Pidcock demonstrates that contemporary worship music has become a weapon in the culture wars as he traces a web of connections between people, institutions, and songs. Weapons of Worship is a provocative and compelling exploration of the ways some of today's most-loved songs of faith and their powerful associations can be used to divide rather than edify." --KELSEY KRAMER MCGINNIS, worship correspondent for Christianity Today and lecturer at Grand View University "Be forewarned, reader: Like you, I matured as an evangelical Christian through the songs Rick Pidcock writes about. But the story he tells about these weapons of worship is disturbing. Like you, I can't unhear the songs that made me. This book can help us all sing different ones." --MATTHEW BOEDY, professor of rhetoric and composition at University of North Georgia and author of The Seven Mountains Mandate "One of the greatest joys of my career has been meeting and publishing Rick Pidcock. His voice is what we need in this time. He brings the background to interpret Christian nationalism and male hierarchy to a larger audience. He's a frontline war correspondent in the battle for America's soul." --MARK WINGFIELD, executive director of Baptist News Global "Now more than ever, this is the book we need to understand how the worship music of evangelicalism is being used to infuse transcendent fervor into authoritarian politics and to fuel an anti-democratic movement toward theocracy." --CHRISTA BROWN, author of Baptistland "The truth Pidcock shines a light on throughout this book will set us all free--if we let it. You will never see the contemporary Christian music industry or its music in the same way again after reading this book." --Fr. Joash P. Thomas, public theologian and author of The Justice of Jesus
