Christian singers John Cooper, of Skillet and the CooperStuff podcast, and Alisa Childers of ZOEgirl collaborated on a podcast mashup in which they discuss Matthew West's song "Modest is Hottest," the "purity culture," and the "anti-purity culture movement."
After receiving negative feedback for his satirical "Modest is Hottest" song and video, Matthew West removed it from his YouTube account and other music platforms.
The progressives Christians on Twitter, according to Childers, have accused West's song of being a grooming narrative, designed to persuade women that they are sex objects and that they exist only for the approval, pleasure, and entertainment of men.
Last month, Oklahoma pastor Jeremy Coleman posted a spoof of West's song on TikTok in which he expressed his criticisms. His approach to raising young girls is to empower them to warn off creeps when they encounter them, rather than to place the burden of dressing modestly on their shoulders in order for men to respect them.
Another intriguing remark mentioned by Cooper came from a commenter who said that daughters should not be sexualized and preached on, but that it is better to preach to boys or men who believe they have the right to sexualize and preach on women.
Given this, both Childers and Cooper believe that the outrage over what was intended to be a satirical song was fueled by a woke mob. Furthermore, Cooper said that approximately ten years ago, any father, devout or not, would not want his daughters to look like Cardi B on Tik Tok.
Childers chimed in, claiming that West's song about his daughters' clothes and the purity culture was not widely criticized, as some newspapers suggested, but that there are just extremely loud voices from progressive Christians on Twitter and on YouTube.
The ZOEgirl singer also saw a rising antagonism against purity culture, and that today's society is becoming profoundly fundamentalist and "utterly incapable of nuance." So, in defense of purity culture, she said that it's reasonable to teach daughters to dress modestly for a variety of reasons other than what it would do to males, while also helping them realize that they are not responsible for men's thoughts in the same way that men are.
She emphasized that although there are valid critiques of purity culture, the concept of purity is a biblical standard, citing the apostle Paul's admonition to Timothy to be an example of purity to the older Christians and not to allow anybody to look down on him because he was young.
"The Bible is going to get all up in your business," she said, "regarding how you talk, what you wear, how you conduct yourself."
"Part of being a Christian is that we have the Bible as our authority, not the woke mob," she added.
Concerning West, Childers said that she was likewise saddened when he removed his "Modest is Hottest" video and how he was widely misunderstood. She used it as a learning opportunity for people to interpret others in the "most charitable light possible," as she says she does whenever she criticizes progressive Christianity.
As for Cooper, he said that sometimes, people get so smart that they also become stupid based on the fact that even inexperienced Bible readers would grasp what "purity" means when they read it.
Throughout their conversation, the two singers discussed conservative and progressive cultures, as well as their influence on shaping society. Their conclusion was the same as Pastor Shane Idleman's in his short video urging Matthew West to repost the "Modest is Hottest" music video. That is, biblical truth should not be apologized for, and that the gospel will always "smell" either like death to some or pleasant to others.
Listen to John Cooper and Alisa Childers sound off on progressive Christians' comments on Matthew West's song, their opinions on how purity culture affected how Christians look at modesty, and why they think West's song is not an attack on women below:
