Kat Von D surprised a lot of fans a couple weeks ago (ones who hadn’t been keeping up with the changes she’d been making anyway) with a video of her baptism.
Yes, that Kat Von D from LA Ink not only moved to Indiana, citing a distaste for California politics, she also went full Christian, renouncing any occult interest. And this month, Spooky Season no less, she got herself born again.
After over a week of responses, the tattoo artist returned to Instagram to talk about the reaction to her big life change. She said there was “an overwhelmingly beautiful amount of positivity and love” both online and in person. But there was also a fair bit of hate. She said:
“I know that a majority of my fans and my followers are not Christian and so I know that it’s a turn off to a lot of people.”
But it wasn’t her longtime fans that were the most cruel and close-minded! She said she experienced “this other side of the response that was just so awful” — from Christians! She mused in a video on Sunday:
“You would think all the hate would be coming from people who are against religion or against Christianity. It was really the Christians who were the worst. It was really sad to see this critical display of judgment from Christians… because that isn’t Christ-like to judge people or judge people’s journey.”
It may not be “Christ-like” but in our experience it absolutely is Christian-like. The US is full of fundamentalists who have made their entire existence about judging others, be it members of the LGBT community, other races and cultures, political opponents, rock music. Sorry, but that is absolutely out there — and we’re frankly surprised she’s surprised to get hit with it! But she was! She continued:
“You would think most Christians would be happy for you when you come to this point in your life, especially when you get baptized. It was one of the most important days of my life. It’s strange that these handful of negative, critical Christians would come after me in such a public way as well.”
She says many just assumed she could not be honest, that she must be doing all this as “a PR stunt.” Many, she said, decided just from looking at her goth style, makeup, and tattoos that she couldn’t be a real Christian:
“I think it’s really insane we live in a time where people still judge a book by its cover. I wasn’t aware that there’s a uniform you’re supposed to wear once you give your heart to Jesus. I will say there is a certain aesthetic that is a stereotypical aesthetic for the Christian community and that is not me. I don’t dress like that. At the same time, I would never judge you for how you look, so why would you judge me? What part of this is considered demonic or is it just because you have a perceived notion if people wear black clothes or style their hair a certain way or have tattoos … that to me is like the silliest thing you can say.”
And yet… Like we said, we’re surprised she’s surprised. It’s almost like she hasn’t met a heck of a lot of Christians out there. Maybe she’s been lucky, but that’s all too real. Heck, there are parts of this country where tattoos are still illegal thanks to blue laws.
Kat continued:
“The way that some of those comments were phrased were so awful and cruel, I wonder what your life looks like. Do you only hang out with people who look and think like you? That sounds like a very close minded life to live.”
We mean… agreed. See the full mind-boggled video (below):
A post shared by Kat Von D (@thekatvond)
Have YOU found Christians to be open-minded and non-judgmental? Or the opposite? Let us know in the comments (below)!
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