Grammy-Nominated Bluegrass Singer Rhonda Vincent Stands Up to Heckling Atheist Who Made Abomination of Gospel Song 'How Great Thou Art'
Grammy-nominated bluegrass singer Rhonda Vincent, who was deemed the "new queen of bluegrass" by The Wall Street Journal in 2000, shared in a recent interview how she stood up to an atheist who made a mockery of her gospel music.
The 52-year-old Vincent sat down for an interview with The Blaze over the weekend and shared a time when she and her band were touring in Canada and her faith and integrity were put to the test by a trying atheist who obnoxiously made a mockery of a gospel song that she was singing, a song that she had held so sacred in her heart.
"The most challenging time that I ever had with my faith, we played up in Canada at a folk festival, I think it was the Calgary Folk Festival or Edmonton Folk Festival. They put us on a stage on a Sunday morning with four other artists and we would alternate. To me, it was a Sunday morning service. I did a gospel song, then the next group did one, and the next group did one." Vincent explained. "Then a guy came up and he was an atheist. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. He started making fun of us."
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Although Vincenct prides herself on maintaining a wholesome personality and acting as a role model for others, she said that it was clear the atheist man was mocking the gospel music just to see if he could provoke a not-so-pleasant reaction from Vincent or a member of Vincent's band.
"He started, he took a gospel song, I was just never so mortified, he took one of our standard gospel songs, my great-grandmother would have just flipped, he went and sang lyrics to the gospel song that is so sacred to us and took them and made an abomination of the song," Vincent said. "I can't remember which one it was, I think it was 'How Great Thou Art,' but he took that opportunity to make fun. [He was heckling us] in song."
Although she was so upset that she could barely contain herself on stage, Vincent said she just had to dig deep and pray to God to keep her calm and prevent her from responding in a negative manner. She continued with the show simply by playing "Amazing Grace."
"I think for my last one, I chose 'Amazing Grace.' We just did a gospel song everytime and all we can do is not lash out and not stoop to his level and do something in a negative way. He was trying, at every turn, to get us to react and to do something negative," Vincent said. "I really had to take a deep breath and start praying and saying, 'How do I handle this?' I had never been challenged like that and say, 'Can I stand up and represent my faith and my God? Can I do that?' We did that, but it was an amazingly disheartening situation.
"I was so mad," Vincent continued. "I respect [atheist] beliefs or whatever, but he was just downright mean."
