{"id":5532,"date":"2024-09-11T12:55:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T16:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=5532"},"modified":"2024-09-11T12:55:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T16:55:39","slug":"skillets-john-cooper-warns-that-godlessness-is-ramping-up-teen-mental-health-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/09\/skillets-john-cooper-warns-that-godlessness-is-ramping-up-teen-mental-health-crisis.html","title":{"rendered":"Skillet\u2019s John Cooper Warns that Godlessness is Ramping Up Teen Mental Health Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adobe Stock | Inset: ThePanhead \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the outside, Skillet\u2019s John Cooper doesn\u2019t look like the typical Christian singer trying to bring hope. His clothing is typically pretty dark and leather, he\u2019s covered in tattoos, and his music sounds pretty edgy. Yet his music and podcast, \u201cCooper Stuff\u201d have had a major impact addressing cultural issues facing America today. One particular issue that concerns Cooper is the growing mental health crisis in America, especially amongst teens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of people suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts and who think that they don’t matter is so overwhelming to me. It just breaks my heart. That’s one of the things I really, really care deeply about, is people that are struggling with suicidal thoughts and mental health — those kinds of things,\u201d he told Crosswalk<\/em><\/a>. He believes that the country\u2019s growing godlessness is to blame. \u201cI believe it’s a result of a society who has just thrown God away [and] who has said, ‘We don’t believe in God. There’s nothing but the material world. There’s nothing but the way I feel.’ And if there is no God, they really find it hard to find a reason to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s own music, very different from the hymns you\u2019ll hear in church or the poppy Christian songs that are aired on most Christian radio stations, wants to be its own \u201crevolution\u201d against the darkness. \u201cThe song \u2018Revolution\u2019 is speaking specifically to that depression, that angst, the fact that people feel that there’s nothing left to live for. And so the chorus of the song says, ‘Sing a revolution song. We’ve got the fire of hope in our hearts, march to the beat of love.’ We have to tell people about the hope we found in Christ,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Skillet has found a lot of success in both secular and Christian circles, with the band forming nearly thirty years ago. Cooper\u2019s wife, Corey, is also part of the band and the two of them have to navigate the culture as their own children grow up. \u201cBecause we’re living in a time where to even say that you believe in God \u2026 you really won’t be taken seriously, especially if you’re talking about terms of academia, or if you’re in a college course. My daughter’s in college, and so if she even says, ‘Well, yeah, but what about the existence of a higher power?’ — she’s laughed at because, really, the university now is one of just stark materialism,\u201d he warned. His song \u201cUnpopular\u201d focuses on what it means to be a Christian in a culture that looks down on it. \u201cAnd so this song is going, ‘Hey, if it’s unpopular to say that you believe in Jesus Christ, then today’s a good day to be unpopular.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the outside, Skillet\u2019s John Cooper doesn\u2019t look like the typical Christian singer trying to bring hope. His clothing is typically pretty dark and leather, he\u2019s covered in tattoos, and his music sounds pretty edgy. Yet his music and podcast, \u201cCooper Stuff\u201d have had a major impact addressing cultural issues facing America today. One particular…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":5535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity","category-mental-health"],"yoast_head":"\nSkillet\u2019s John Cooper Warns that Godlessness is Ramping Up Teen Mental Health Crisis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/09\/skillets-john-cooper-warns-that-godlessness-is-ramping-up-teen-mental-health-crisis.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Skillet\u2019s John Cooper Warns that Godlessness is Ramping Up Teen Mental Health Crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From the outside, Skillet\u2019s John Cooper doesn\u2019t look like the typical Christian singer trying to bring hope. 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