{"id":3956,"date":"2011-08-23T10:44:51","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T14:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gospelsoundcheck\/?p=3956"},"modified":"2011-08-23T10:50:30","modified_gmt":"2011-08-23T14:50:30","slug":"katy-perry-prays-for-israel-and-feels-the-backlash-so-lets-pray-for-katy-perry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gospelsoundcheck\/2011\/08\/katy-perry-prays-for-israel-and-feels-the-backlash-so-lets-pray-for-katy-perry.html","title":{"rendered":"Katy Perry prays for Israel and feels the backlash – so let’s pray for Katy Perry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Katy Perry is in the news again – not for her music, but for a tweet she posted asking fans to pray for Israel.<\/p>\n

Apparently, to fans at least,\u00a0that request was worse than the horror Christians felt when she sang that she kissed a girl and liked it. Here are some responses, posted at The Blaze:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

People, can we please leave the poor girl alone?<\/p>\n

Three years ago, when I first started blogging at Beliefnet – three years,<\/em> people! – I wrote about Katy Perry’s Christian album<\/a>. It’s still the most read post every day on this blog.<\/p>\n

Sure, it was news then, because “I Kissed A Girl” was climbing the charts. Plus, I needed to start the blog off with some page views so I could get paid.\u00a0 But\u00a0I was interested mostly because I was curious about what defined Christian music, a Christian artist, and the Christian music industry.<\/p>\n

Readers were more interested in whether or not Katy Perry was really a Christian and in praying that\u00a0she\u00a0return to God. Whatever that means. Since unless\u00a0we actually know her, we don’t know that she ever left God.<\/p>\n

And now this week, her tweet to pray for Israel has pulled her into a political quagmire. Glenn Beck was even\u00a0talking about her on the radio this morning and covering her tweets on The Blaze<\/a>. I’m sure that’s not publicity she was looking for.<\/p>\n

Why is it that when we say we’re praying for someone, people feel the need to take sides? We want people to pray the way we want them to – pray\u00a0that someone adopt the lifestyle we want them to life or support the political party we support.<\/p>\n

Why can’t we simply pray that God reveals himself to people and that his will be done in their lives? Who are we to put political or social addendums on our prayers that reflect our own personal agendas?<\/p>\n

And why do\u00a0people even care who Katy Perry is praying for, anyway? We’re so celebrity obsessed that we’ll talk all day about who some pop singer is praying for. How about if we prayed ourselves? That might be energy better spent.<\/p>\n

Hey, I know. Today, let’s pray for Katy Perry! (Let’s see how long it takes for someone to post that they’re praying she returns to God.)<\/p>\n

And because my job as a blogger here is to increase page views, God help me, here are links to some other posts that might be of interest:<\/p>\n