THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM‘s Brian Fallon released a statement on Dustin Kensrue’s (THRICE) beeing under fire after religious comments he made about his future.
Dustin called towards worship music and recently released the following statement:
For the past few years, I have felt a growing burden and calling to invest more and more of my time and efforts towards worship music. This seemed strange at first, since I donโt actually listen to any worship music and have never been very much of fan of most the music sung in churches. But God slowly began to show me that he had specifically gifted and uniquely trained me to enter into this fray and fight to make a difference. Despite apparently having told my wife at one point that I would never be a worship leader, a year or so again, I felt called to start leading worship at my home church and soon began to. When Mars Hill was going to plant in Orange County with my good friend and former Thrice manager Nick Bogardus as the lead pastor, I knew that I was supposed to sign on and serve there.ย
Go here to read more.
Brian commented:
I guess Iโm gonna have to change this blogโs name to โSticking Up For People.comโ
So Mr. Duston Kensrue feels led by The Lord to leave Thrice and play worship music.
Awesome. I love that heโs doing that.
I understand some Thrice fans might be bummed that they broke up, but bands do that from time to time and it happens. You have to keep in mind that itโs not your band. These people have lives that are more important than the thing they do that we love and admire. Real life happens to people in the spotlight.The thing that drives me crazy is that all of the people who post ridiculousness about all these musicians and love to comment on everything but never actually go and do anything themselves. Most of you have never taken a stance in your life like some of these people do. (yea, Laura Jane comes to mindโฆI dare you to come forward like that.) You all just sit there and post on the internet uneducated quips about how Dustinโs a Christian so that somehow = racist, sexist, homophobe? (I wonder what Teppei thinks of Dustinโs obligatory Christian racism being heโs Japanese and all?) The guy wants to praise his Lord, whateverโฆ how does that affect you? Even Fat Mike agrees with โHappy Guyโ check that out. And how did Christians become racist, sexist, homophobes? Whatโs a Christian to you? FOX News anchors? Awesome. Well thought out, those people are class acts. Ask my wife all about sexism (def: discrimination or devaluation based on a personโs sex) and how our household is runโฆ I tell you what, this Christianโs house is a womanโs world! And homophobia (def: a person who fears or hates homosexuals)? Great. Why donโt you ask anyone whoโs gay who knows Dustin about how poorly heโs treated them? I bet you donโt get the response you were looking for. Do you even know what these words mean before you go tossing them around peopleโs necks?
Bono, which whatever you think about him, once said something really greatโฆ โDonโt judge a band by itโs audience.โ Take that a step further and you go into humanity, donโt judge a group of people by one small percentage. Are all Muslums terrorists because a few insane people used the religion for their twisted ideas? No. Were all German people Nazis? Absolutely not. Itโs a dangerous game youโre playing by being the very thing you speak out against. Bob Dylan has a great quote Iโd love to have posted above the White Houseโs doorsโฆ he saidโฆ
โIn a soldierโs stance I aimed my hand at the Mongrel dogs who teach.
Fearing not that Iโd become my enemy in the instant that I preach.โThink about it for one second. Iโm all about people posting their thoughts on forums and expressing themselves freely. But itโs just silly now, and I truly believe itโs dangerous.
If we, as open-minded music fans become closed off to anything outside our realm of thought, then who will be left to be open? Where will we be free to express ourselves?I donโt think we all have to agreeโฆ how many bands love Fugazi yet sell t shirts? I do.
But we do have to have open discussions. We do have to be able to express our thoughts
and not fear chastisement from our peers. We should be educating each other, and helping each other not throwing around unwarranted insults and slander. Leave that
to the politicians.I canโt spell, I canโt form a proper sentence, and punctuation is a lost cause on me, but
I love you guys and girls, and guys who used to be girls and girls who used to be dinosaurs, and every other one of you. And I love that Dustin sings about Jesus. And if God bought him a house, good for him. Long live Frank Turner.
