Joshua Bassett told MTV last month that the question he’s most often asked by fans is, “Are you okay?” His supporters are doubling down on the inquiry recently, as the young LGBTQ+ star has entered a sudden phase of devout religious fervor.
The actor, who came out publicly in 2021, has been posting vague Christian messages on Twitter and Instagram since January. Today, he took things to a new level with a video of his freshly performed baptism.
Bassett embraced his faith in front of the hundreds of congregants present:
There are plenty of LGBTQ+ Christians in the world, so this wouldn’t be the cause for concern many fans are taking it as were it not for Bethel Church’s history with the LGBTQ+ community.
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Bethel has been publicly protested for years for openly promoting the incredibly dangerous practice of conversion therapy.
With the suddenness of Bassett’s turn into devout religion — he was just touring his totally secular music in December before returning to family for the holidays — some fans were already suspecting he may have been subjected to some form of conversion. His newfound association with Bethel is only serving to heighten their concern.
Related:
Joshua Bassett’s fans are all asking the same thing: is he okay?
Joshua Bassett’s new devoutly evangelical messaging has some worried about the young LGBTQ+ actor.
Following fan reactions, Bassett has clarified that he hadn’t examined the church closer before getting baptized there and posting about it to his millions of followers.
In the comments of his baptism video on Instagram, he writes, “I visited this church and happened to get baptized here — I was unaware of some of their policies and beliefs, and do not endorse all of them. My heart is for Christ and Christ alone!”
Under the “Beliefs” tab on Bethel Church’s website is a full page devoted to their “Beliefs on Biblical Sexuality“. In addition to things like a full section titled “Male and Female Are Fundamental and Essential Distinctions”, the church states that they are “often at odds over pieces of legislation” with the LGBTQ+ community.
It goes on to describe intersex people as “anomalies” with “disorders” that are the only exceptions from the “chromosomal reality” that sexuality should be limited to procreation between one male and one female.
Related:
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A growing number of gay Christian millennials are embracing what is being called the “Side B” movement.
The general consensus among Bassett’s supporters is acknowledgement of the many hardships he’s seen in recent years and fear that this church may be preying on him in a vulnerable time in his life.
Fans are also expressing concern for any young LGBTQ+ people who began to look up to him following his coming out:
I really hope Joshua Bassett failed to do a background check and was moved by the music or something because this megachurch is considered extreme even by other Christians pic.twitter.com/BDWObjoRmW
— Ke’mani (@violetkyber) February 13, 2023
Subsequent to all of this, Bassett wrote on Twitter, “The gospel is GOOD NEWS for all willing to love and obey Him who keeps your heart beating.”
Even if he doesn’t continue forward with Bethel, it seems like he’s locked into this new phase of his life for the foreseeable future.
FreddieW
“There are plenty of LGBTQ+ Christians in the world”
Not according to the churches I attended the first 40 years of my life. And really, I can’t see the value in any gay person identifying as Christian. Life is too short for that battle.
wikidBSTN
Simply not accurate. There are plenty of Christian churches that openly support and advocate for LGBTQ rights. There are even individual Catholic parishes that do the same despite the hierarchy’s disapproval.
Don’t let your government make you a second-class citizen – and don’t let some religious bigots (no matter how powerful) divorce you from your desire to commune with God.
FreddieW
@wikidBSTN
Yes, there are plenty of churches that spend inordinate amounts of time trying to convince homosexuals that the Bible doesn’t really say what it says. So you can waste your life in a conservative church pretending you aren’t gay, or you can waste your life in a liberal church pretending the Christian religion isn’t homophobic. Or you can ditch religion, live by the golden rule, seek worthy companionship, be happy with yourself and be good to others.
Joshooeerr
It amazes me how some gay guys will go through any kind of convoluted ethical justifications to defend supporting an organisation and a religion that is fundamentally homophobic. It really makes no difference if you’re local priest/pastor is “accepting” or your parish/breakaway sect is LGBT friendly when the overall structure and teachings of the church are still actively harming LGBT people – contributing to their mental anguish, provoking suicides, etc. If only they applied half the mental gymnastics necessary to the justification to honestly assessing the actual beliefs and teachings of their cult. And they are all cults.
PubicHairus
Hear, hear, Freddiecakes!
Thad
^ Oh, but there are. Sorry you didn’t experience them.
Go to any Pride parade or festival. Look past the few protestors (really? in 2023?) and you’ll find gay-affirming Christian groups of many stripes.
Somebody get Joshua to them! Especially to gay Christian musicians like Semler (who is quite popular among young Christians). Or Jason & DeMarco, who have been making music for years.
FreddieW
I spent 40 years as a conservative Christian and tried gay-affirming churches when I came out. So I’ve experienced conservative nonsense and liberal nonsense. You are welcome to it. All of it.
ScottOnEarth
The guy was baptized. So what? I can’t imagine caring about this in any way. People who are ‘concerned’ seriously need to look at their priorities.
dbmcvey
He was baptized into an anti-gay church that promotes “conversion therapy.” Sorry that doesn’t concern you.
Prax07
No clue whonhe is, but when a sudden bout of religion freakness cones on it’s usually because of a close groomer. Someone he trusts has groomed him. Which doesn’t surprise me when ut comes to religious nutjobs.
Mattster
Can we please stop with using the term “groomer”? It’s re-igniting a destructive (and inaccurate) myth that has been used to bash gays (and gay men in particular) for about 80 years. I thought it had finally been killed off by the year 2000 and now it’s back, seemingly worse than ever.
Josh in OR
Amen. The only groomers we need to fear are the far right ones, grooming their kids into mass murderers and Fox News guests…
Vince
Same here and I too agree. The only groomers I’ve ever known are the religious nutjobs. They take advantage of weak minded people through brainwashing.
mastik8
This is a career move for him. He couldn’t care less about Christianity beyond the earning potential.
Vince
Well, there is the thing of no one here even knowing who the f*ck he even is till today. Lol
inbama
Bethel’s biology, as quoted, isn’t incorrect; what’s wrong is using that biology to invalidate the many ways humans can live and love.
For instance, the article says the church website “goes on to describe intersex people as ‘anomalies with disorders’” as if this were an error.
Well, the .018% of the population we casually call “intersex” actually suffer from one of some 40 DSDs – defined as “differences” or “disorders” of sexual development. Exactly what do the editors of Queerty who wrote this article think they are?
LeBlevsez
Your comprehension is as muddled as your commentary. This Queerty article cited the church’s beliefs on sexuality, not biology.
Their opinion on sexuality should be troublesome to you. “[S]exuality should be limited to procreation between one male and one female.” Well, “limited to procreation” isn’t biology, its dogma. “Between one male and one female”? Okay, true for some folks. Is it true for you?
Your statistic (.018%) is only for the single rarest expression of DSD. (And stick with ‘difference’ since ‘disorder’ is misleading.) The number of people who aren’t either strictly XX or XY is more like 1.25%. You might have known this and be attempting to lie. Or maybe you’re not lying and simply didn’t understand. We’ve already established your lack of comprehension.
inbama
@LeBlevez
I’m sorry you were unable to understand my very first sentence, unable to honestly answer the question I asked, and instead resorted to attacks on my character and reading comprehension.
Go trouble someone else.
Donston
He was never really “proudly out”. And whenever he talked about his queerness publicly he connected it to shame, trauma and abuse. Like a lot of people with queer dimensions who go down the extremely religious or Conservative route, he seems to be potentially struggling with a variety of things: past traumas, mental health, family pressures, queer insecurities, gay resentments, fluidity, not comprehending the gender, sexual, affection, romantic, emotion, commitment spectrum. Now, he seems to be looking for approval from hyper masc Christian men and hoping Jesus will give him some peace of mind. Good luck to him. But this is why hyping up people “coming out” (especially younger people) shouldn’t really be a thing. You never really know anyone’s dimensions, journeys, mental state, motivations. I will say if he’s truly not anti-gay and pro conversion therapy, as a public figure he should do research on whatever churches he associates with.
eireapparent
Megachurches are the Big Box Stores of Christianity with their generic Live laugh love approach. They’re as ubiquitous as Starbucks and likely as spiritually fulfilling, I imagine. This guy sounds like so many attention seekers in the entertainment world: emotionally and psychologically unsteady. I say let the train wreck commence and then do a reality show about.
Diplomat
If you seperate Jesus away from the evil God Yahweh, the false punishing hell hound of the Christian faith, then you’ve got somethin to work with. The biblical “I and my father are one” is as false as the day is long. Jesus would never declare that monster as one with him. Hopefully Joshua sees that though I’m doubtful.
Diplomat
Phillipeans 4:7:
“God is peace that surpasseth all Understanding”.
If you exact this knowledge you are good to go.
ZzBomb
Insipid nonsensical dribble is what that is.
UlfRaynor
In the book of Isaiah, God says he is the creator of all that is evil.
dbmcvey
Pulling quotes out of the Bible isn’t a great route because I can always bring up the pro-slavery ones or Ezekial 23:20.
still_onthemark
“My heart is for Christ and Christ alone!”
Some of those Jesus pictures in church are pretty hot but if you’re beating off to a guy who lived 2,000 years ago, that’s a serious psychological problem.
Bengali
Except there’s no such thing as god, christ and the buybull is a fairy tale book. amazes me that people make a career out of preaching these falsehoods and live their lives by these manufactured doctrines.
I don’t mock my religious friends for their beliefs…well, not until they look at me with fascination when I tell them I live a very happy life w/o believing in the notion of the sky fairy. The second any attempts at indoctrination happen off comes my filter and i tear into them. The friends that remain with me after these encounters are my lifetime friends whom I know I can trust and don’t waste their time on ridiculous fairy tales or judgement from some stupid higher power. You want to live under a higher power? Good. Then get stoned often. that’s the only spiritual place i need.
Josh in OR
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Christ is great! No notes!
He spoke clearly and plainly about the importance of compassion, community, humility, sacrifice, and service.
He made very clear what He thought of hypocrites, backbiters, those who profit off of faith, those who take advantage of the weak or suffering, racists, misogynists (could He have been more clear when he told a dude ‘If thine eye offends, pluck it out’ when asked about the temptations of a woman’s dress?) and the excessively wealthy.
Meanwhile, CHRISTIANS are the worst freaking people on earth!
They’ll excuse genocide as ‘God’s will’.
Slavery as ‘a necessary evil to win the savages to Christ!’
Kidnapping and brainwashing indigenous children into hating their culture, people and language as ‘successfully witnessing to the most vulnerable!’
They will countenance torture, rape and murder if the victim is who they consider a sinful unperson.
They will happily profit off of mass murder and warfare.
They will call greed good, and excuse their pastor having a nicer car, nicer house, better schools for his kids, etc as ‘gods blessings’ and not the pastor funneling tithes to enrich himself…
They will, like stalking predators, latch onto people going through trauma to increase their ranks and gain clout, not out of genuine concern for the well-being of the new convert.
Gandhi was 100% right when he opined, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians.”
UlfRaynor
LOL, Jesus also said for slaves to submit to their masters, and to serve them obediently, even if their master abuses and beats them.
Josh in OR
Because he was just a guy, preaching to a culture in which ‘slaves’ were nothing at all like American chattel slaves, despite what American Christians tried to say and started a war over…
ZzBomb
Anyone foolish enough to allow themselves to be duped and conned by religion deserve the path they go down. Religion is for suckers who can’t think properly.
Vince
As Jesse Ventura famously said. Religion is for weak minded people and I truly believe that.
dbmcvey
He was indoctrinated from a young age. Give him time.
dougie
That’s how mega churches and celebrities do a baptism – make a show of it. As a gay Christian myself, I deplore turning a sacred ritual such as baptism into a spectacle with a cheering crowd, theater lights, the works.
UlfRaynor
Jesus said such people are hypocrites.
Then again, it’s been a heated debate for decades whether Jesus actually existed, so take that with a grain of salt.
Rambeaux
Gandhi had his good points, but there were problems with his Hindu beliefs also.
There was that practice of “suttee” (tossing the living wives on the cremation pyre of the dead, burning husband).
There was also that cringy thing that he did, sleeping naked with his naked nieces to “test” his commitment to chastity.
See. No one is pure and perfect.
GayEGO
The Bible was written by people who thought the world was flat, science proved it was round/global. Science also proved we gays are a part of normal civilization!
Bengali
I find it funny that the buybull condemns promiscuity yet so many lgbtq people I know and all those I don’t know seem fine being christians and having frequent random, unprotected sexual encounters. If their god was that powerful, why can’t their sexual addictions be cured? They seem to think they are better than those of us who refuse to believe w/o factual document of god’s existence. “Yes, I have frequent unprotected sex but as a christian i am forgiven.” Seriously that’s just some of the garbage they spew.
dbmcvey
I feel sorry for this kid. It’s hard to shake off religious indoctrination. It’s really abusive and they get to you from birth on.
guezwhoitis
Why is anyone worried about this bland, vacuous white man? He has the privilege of having people worry about his mental state because he joins a Bigoted Church. I’m not too fond of it, I don’t support the individual or the establishment. STOP GIVING THESE MEDIOCRE MEN and credence.
Donston
It’s mostly his young fans. And they only truly care about him because he’s a skinny, pretty white twink. It’s okay to both acknowledge someone’s privilege and also acknowledge that someone perhaps has some mental health issues, queer issues, and general insecurities they’re struggling. You can do both. But I will admit all this “concern” wouldn’t be a thing if he wasn’t a white pretty boy who has been linked with female pop stars.
johnny15
Pssst. God’s not real.
Jon in Canada
Religion is a chosen mental illness. It is both a delusional* and psychotic* mindset coupled with numerous neuroses. While it may offer some comfort to those unable to live in reality, the fact remains it is merely the act of being an adult with an imaginary friend.
*Refer to DSM for specifics.
DBMC
When people are raised in a religion from birth, or from a young age, it’s not a choice. Brainwashing from an early age can really mess with your perceptions.
toddlicious
Christianity and religion are bad. Period.
tommyboy5023
Vince-This is the twit that inspired the entire Olivia Rodrigo album last year. That whole love triangle had better have happened or I want the monetary equivalent of 10k radio plays of Drivers License.
Consider This
He just “happened” to get baptized there? Is that how it works?
James
HE IS NOTHING BUT A LOSER.
scotty
i wonder who his accountabil-abuddy is?