Everything We Know About Taylor Swift's Religious Views
Throughout her nearly two decades of releasing music, Taylor Swift has often employed religious imagery in her work. In "Our Song," from her eponymous 2006 album, she sings about saying "Amen" and asking God to play her and her love interest's song again. Swift still makes religious references in her lyrics more than a decade later. "Each night I pray to you / Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too," she wrote in 2019's "Soon You'll Get Better."
Swift has titled a 2012 song "Holy Ground" and a 2019 one "False God." The 14-time Grammy Award winner seems to have no issues using religious symbolism in her craft. But outside her writing, Swift spent most of her career shying away from controversial topics, religion included, preferring to maintain an apolitical public persona. "I don't talk about politics because it might influence other people. And I don't think that I know enough yet in life to be telling people who to vote for," she told Time in 2012.
That started to change in 2018 when Swift endorsed the Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen ahead of the Tennessee Senate race. "In the past, I've been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now," she wrote on Instagram. As she's become more vocal about politics, she has also let on a bit more about her religious views.
Taylor Swift is a Christian, but disagrees with its politics
Despite hailing from Pennsylvania, Taylor Swift was raised in a Christian household in Nashville, smack in the middle of the Bible Belt. As she revealed in the 2020 documentary "Miss Americana," that's a background she continues to identify with. "I'm a Christian," she said. However, the context was political and not religious, though the two are connected. Swift explained her reasoning for declaring her support for Phil Bredesen in his (ultimately unsuccessful) effort to beat Marsha Blackburn.
Visibly emotional, Swift criticized Blackburn's use of religion to push forward a political agenda that seeks to erode people's human rights. "I can't see another commercial and see her disguising these policies behind the words 'Tennessee Christian values. Those aren't Tennessee Christian values ... That's not what we stand for," she argued. Aside from this clip, Swift has said little else about her relationship with religion. But some of her songs suggest she feels disheartened by the way Christianity has been corrupted and politicized.
In the 2007 song "Christmas Must Be Something More," Swift reflects on the myriad ways Christmas has lost its meaning amid society's consumerism. "The day holds something special / Something holy, not superficial / So here's to Jesus Christ who saved our lives," the lyrics read. It's been pointed out that Swift strayed from her usual neutral stance with this song, which was more religious than any of her others at the time.
Taylor Swift embraces liberal social stances
In her transition from an apolitical to an opinionated persona, Taylor Swift has revealed some of the causes dear to her heart. In the Instagram post in which she came out against Marsha Blackburn, Swift included the policies she most disagreed with. "She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry," she wrote.
Later, Swift also showed she believes that access to safe abortion should be protected under the law. "I'm absolutely terrified that this is where we are — that after so many decades of people fighting for women's rights to their own bodies, today's decision has stripped us of that," she tweeted in June 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Despite her conservative upbringing, Swift's stance on social issues has drawn her to Democratic candidates.
Following her support of now-President Joe Biden in 2020, his campaign team is pursuing her endorsement again. In light of her influence, right-wing influencers have disseminated conspiracy theories claiming Swift has been employed by the Pentagon to sway the elections. The theory gained enough traction that the Department of Defense had to respond. "Taylor Swift is not part of a DOD psychological operation. Period," a spokesperson told Forbes in February 2024.