{"id":42305,"date":"2025-01-14T08:38:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T13:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=42305"},"modified":"2025-01-14T08:38:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T13:38:30","slug":"christians-torch-imagine-being-played-at-jimmy-carters-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/01\/christians-torch-imagine-being-played-at-jimmy-carters-funeral.html","title":{"rendered":"Christians Torch \u201cImagine\u201d Being Played at Jimmy Carter\u2019s Funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_42293\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42293\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/01\/carter-funeral_credit-CBS-News-YouTube.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-42293\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/01\/carter-funeral_credit-CBS-News-YouTube.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42293\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CBS News \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>January 9 was a solemn day for former president Jimmy Carter\u2019s Washington National Cathedral funeral service. Yet for some, the moment was marked with controversy over one of the songs played to honor the former president. Garth Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, friends of Carter, performed their own rendition of John Lennon\u2019s \u201cImagine\u201d during the service. The pair also sang the song for Rosalynn Carter\u2019s funeral in 2023, with the song reportedly being one of Jimmy Carter\u2019s favorites.<\/p>\n<p>Yet critics pointed out that some of the song\u2019s lyrics were out of place for a church. The song\u2019s opening lines state, \u201cImagine there&#8217;s no heaven \/ It&#8217;s easy if you try \/ No Hell below us \/ Above us, only sky.\u201d Carter was a self-professed born-again Christian who credited his faith for his humanitarian work after his presidency, particularly his work with Habitat for Humanity, although he was criticized for saying \u201cJesus would approve of gay marriage,\u201d in 2018. Lennon, too, had an ambivalent relationship with faith, having been raised in church but being against organized religion in his later years. He received a huge amount of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/this-day-in-history\/john-lennon-sparks-his-first-major-controversy\">criticism<\/a> for stating the Beatles were \u201cmore popular than Jesus,\u201d for which he later apologized after the comments led to a boycott. During his apology, he gave his view of God, saying, \u201cI\u2019m not anti-God, anti-Christ or anti-religion. I was not saying we are greater or better. I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Social media erupted over the song\u2019s use, with media personality Erick Erickson <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EWErickson\/status\/1877395103997645039\">writing<\/a>, \u201cHaving Joe Biden lecture us about what a strong Christian Jimmy Carter was before the crowd sits through \u2018Imagine\u2019 with the lyrics \u2018Imagine there&#8217;s no heaven \/It&#8217;s easy if you try\u2019 makes me question the authenticity of the assertion.\u201d Another <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MarkJGrice\/status\/1877476734406132020\">user responded<\/a> to his post, writing, \u201cEverything about that is just upside down. Add Garth and Trisha, who also profess to be Christians singing it&#8230; and it is something even the Simpsons couldn&#8217;t have imagined&#8230;\u201d Many called the presence of the song at a church \u201cinappropriate.\u201d \u201cPlaying those lyrics at any Christian service is very wrong,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BillBrockm88268\/status\/1877397459510395194\">wrote another user<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 9 was a solemn day for former president Jimmy Carter\u2019s Washington National Cathedral funeral service. Yet for some, the moment was marked with controversy over one of the songs played to honor the former president. Garth Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, friends of Carter, performed their own rendition of John Lennon\u2019s \u201cImagine\u201d during&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":42293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Christians Torch \u201cImagine\u201d Being Played at Jimmy Carter\u2019s Funeral<\/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\/idolchatter\/2025\/01\/christians-torch-imagine-being-played-at-jimmy-carters-funeral.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christians Torch \u201cImagine\u201d Being Played at Jimmy Carter\u2019s Funeral\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January 9 was a solemn day for former president Jimmy Carter\u2019s Washington National Cathedral funeral service. Yet for some, the moment was marked with controversy over one of the songs played to honor the former president. 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Yet for some, the moment was marked with controversy over one of the songs played to honor the former president. 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