Kevin Max of the Christian Band “DC Talk” Now Says He’s an “Exvangelical”

After forming at Liberty University in 1987, the band dc Talk became a rarity: a Christian band that got well-deserved mainstream attention.

One of its three members was Kevin Max Smith, who later pursued a lengthy solo career after the band went on hiatus.

And now Kevin Max has joined a growing number of well-known Christians who can no longer, in good conscience, call themselves evangelical. A few days ago, he made this very blunt admission:

He said that he still follows a “Universal Christ” — but that’s a far cry from anything resembling organized religion, much less Christian culture. In fact, his current views wouldn’t be welcome in many evangelical churches these days. (Especially the “pro-Jesus” bit.)

The Christian Post notes that Max was talking about this personal journey back in December, but the language he used at the time was much more vague:

In an interview in December with Decent Christian Talk podcast, Max explained where he is on his journey in deconstructing.

“I like to call it deconstruction, reconstruction,” he said. “Any person that’s really changing every day, which we do, you’re going to deconstruct or you’re going to reconstruct. So it’s a combination of both of those things,” he said.

“I’ve been deconstructing for decades. I’ve always been progressing, as you can say, and then sometimes I regress. But I think where I’m at right now is I’ve really gone on a journey to find out what I truly believe in by reading a lot, thinking a lot, keeping my eyes and ears open.”

Uh-oh. Reading, thinking, keeping his eyes open. All of that’s very bad news in a religion that basically requires faith and obedience. That said, “exvangelical” is not synonymous with “atheist.” It’s possible to reject what Christianity has become in the evangelical tradition without rejecting all the religious beliefs associated with it.

But when a popular musician — who was as steeped in Christian culture as anyone could be — announces that he wants no part of that world anymore, you can bet there are many more Christians without a platform who are going through the same journey… and possibly going even further by ditching those religious beliefs entirely.

In case anyone’s interested, Max is now working with an indie rock band called Sad Astronauts. Their first album will be coming out this summer. If this glimpse at his lyrics are an indication of what’s to come, that album is bound to be interesting:

It’s ok to be estranged
From everything that you were taught
And it’s ok
To unpack all the hopeless baggage that you bought

…

And it’s ok for you to lose
The shame from all the churches abuse
And it’s ok
For them to see
You don’t believe in man’s inerrancy

(via Protestia. Image via KevinMax.com)