Federal Judge Orders Chris Tomlin to Stop Adding Choruses to Hymns-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
A federal judge ordered Chris Tomlin to stop adding choruses to perfectly good hymns.
The Truth:
A website that publishes Christian satire is behind false reports that a federal judge ordered popular Christian musician Chris Tomlin to stop altering hymns by adding catchy lines and hooks.
The story appeared at The Babylon Bee under the headline, “Federal Judge Orders Chris Tomlin To Stop Adding Choruses To Perfectly Good Hymns,” on July 18, 2017. The report states that a federal judge ordered the CCM artist to immediately cease and desist from adding “catchy choruses” to perfectly good hymns:
The order bars Tomlin from modifying, altering, deleting, or adding any lyrics of songs originally published in church hymnals before 1959.
Tomlin burst out weeping as the verdict was read.
“What am I supposed to do now? This is my entire livelihood!” he cried out. “I just came up with a really snappy chorus for the Doxology too. That would have made millions!”
A similar order forcing Hillsong to stop writing songs about hurricanes was handed down last year.
The story was widely circulated on social media, and many readers believed it to be true. But The Babylon Bee disclaimer states that the site is “your trusted source for Christian news satire.” We’ve covered numerous stories appearing at the site that were later mistaken for factual reports.