Is Justin Bieber a Born Again Christian

Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin get in at the Los Angeles premiere of "Justin Bieber: Seasons," Monday, January. 27, 2020. Bieber'southward organized religion and his willingness to talk almost information technology is closely monitored by his followers.

Hashemite kingdom of jordan Strauss, Invision via Associated Press

Table salt LAKE CITY — I don't follow Justin Bieber on Instagram, Twitter or TikTok. I oasis't sought out his music in at least ii years.

But it still feels like everywhere I turn I see tweets highlighting his religious journeying or pictures of him with pastors. Why do so many people intendance nearly Bieber's organized religion?

The answer, according to religion scholars, is that Bieber, like Kanye West or Chris Pratt, is a Christian glory, someone who attends church in between photo shoots and reddish rug events. Christians are thrilled to call him i of their ain.

"Bieber, Pratt and Kanye W are very much part of an A-list crowd. They seem to make Christianity cool and relevant," said Laura Turner, a Christian writer and journalist.

In other words, glory practitioners seem good for Christianity'southward brand. People presume star ability fuels new conversions, leading secular fans into church, said Turner, who has covered the allure of celebrity Christians for Vox.

"When Christians see people with huge platforms extolling the virtues of evangelical Christianity, they go really excited," she said.

That's been the case for decades, according to Richard Flory, the senior managing director of research and evaluation at the University of Southern California Center for Religion and Civic Culture. Even before the ascension of social media, pastors were shining a spotlight on the nigh famous members of their flocks.

"This has been role of evangelicalism for a long time," he said.

Christians believe celebrities give them "cultural legitimacy," which is particularly valuable at a time when organized religion in the U.S. is on the pass up, Flory said. Pew Research Heart recently reported that the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian dropped from 77% to 65% over the past 10 years.

"Churches tin apply celebrities to burnish their brand," he said.

Simply do Christian celebrities really make practiced missionaries? Turner, Flory and other religion experts have their doubts.

"I've never interviewed anybody who said I go to this church because so-and-and then goes there," Flory said.

Few immature people accept access to the same type of glamorous Christian megachurches that most celebrities attend, Turner said. And it's sort of a stretch to imagine "Beliebers" walking into their local Methodist or Presbyterian church building only because their favorite singer posted on Instagram about how much he loves God.

Even if someone does melody into livestreams of worship services at Hillsong, Zoe or other churches Bieber's been known to attend, they're not borer into the well-nigh meaningful parts of religious feel, Turner said.

"You're at that place in the sense that you lot're seeing worship happening, but you lot're not actually there physically seeing what's going on with other people. You're non getting the sense of community that church is really meant to give to people," she said.

Rather than care for Christian celebrities like they're superior evangelists, we should remember of them like people who prepare the way for future missionaries, said Trevin Wax, the senior vice president of theology and communications at LifeWay Christian Resources. Celebrities can open up people'south minds to the idea of attending church, but they rarely get them through the door.

"A celebrity open about practicing aspects of Buddhism, for example, makes that religious option more plausible in the eyes of his fans," he said.

But celebrating famous people for having this event on their fans still rubs Wax the wrong way. People of organized religion are supposed to exist OK with being misunderstood or disliked, not obsess over people who brand attention church seem cool.

"Jesus talked a lot about how unpopular his followers would be if they followed him faithfully," Wax said. "We don't like thinking about that side of our religion, naturally, but it's something nosotros take to take seriously."

He added, "Christianity isn't about existence cool."

Wax isn't calling for a ban on articles almost celebrities and religion. He just wants Christians to be sure to pay attention to less famous members of their religious communities, besides.

"I would encourage Christians to not treat celebrity conversions as fundamentally different than the stories of other people who come to faith."

Every person in your church has an interesting story to tell, Turner said. It's easy to forget that when you're busy tracking Bieber'south latest Instagram posts.

"In every church, there are and so many different life stories. We're non talking enough well-nigh those," she said.

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Source: https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2020/2/25/21147239/justin-bieber-christian-celebrity-hillsong-church-kanye-west-chris-pratt

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