Stryper frontman Michael Sweet has come to the defense of a controversial new law in Louisiana.
House Bill 71, which was signed by the governor in June, requires every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments, a decision critics argue goes against the separation of church and state. Sweet isn’t one of them.
“Just about everything else is allowed in schools right now,” he said during a recent conversation with The Metal Voice. “Children basically pledging allegiance to a rainbow flag. You know, that’s OK, that’s perfectly acceptable. I mean so why can’t the Ten Commandments be in there? Why can’t the Bible be in there?”
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Sweet has never been shy about his religious beliefs as Stryper became one of the most successful Christian metal bands in history. He admitted that he’d “have to research and read up on” the law before fully endorsing it, but insisted his opinion was more about a perceived double standard.
“If we’re going to allow everything else [in the classroom], then you have to allow everything else, or not,” he explained.
‘We’re Not the Stryper of ‘86’
Elsewhere in the conversation, Sweet discussed Stryper’s upcoming album, When We Were Kings, noting that the band continues to evolve.
“We’re not the Stryper of ‘86. We never will be ever again and we’re not ashamed of that,” he said. “We’re a new band. Now this is Stryper 2024 and hopefully everyone’s still on board and there’s new people coming on board now with the new sound. There’s little bits of modern music in there you can hear the little things here and there but not too much. We’re not a modern rock band we don’t want to be, but we want to step into 2024 and not sound like 1986 again. “
When We Were Kings will be released on Sept. 13.