Gospel singer Kirk Franklin wants to make God a 'cultural star'

American gospel singer and choir conductor Kirk Franklin has once again shared his goal for his latest album, Losing My Religion, which was released last year.

In an interview with NPR's Michel Martin, Franklin, 46, explained what he means when he said he wants to make God a 'cultural star.'

Martin first asked the gospel singer about certain lines in his song, one of which is "I'm losing my religion, Thank God / Helping you lose yours is my job."

Franklin said that most people want to understand God in the form of religion when it is not the way to know more about him. He added that people also try to understand God using an academic, scientific or literal approach.

The musician elaborated that even during his twenties when he released the song "Revolution," he was getting tired of people and the Church always talking about religion.

Regarding the "losing my religion" line, Kirk said that religion only makes things worse for people, because they cannot see the actual simplicity of things: God made man, man rejected God, and God won't stop chasing man until He wins him back.

"Rules (in religion) without relationship leads to rebellion. So, what I want to be able to do is to not let rules be the premise that drives us to God because rules will never drive us to God - rules will drive us away from God," said Franklin. 

"My job on Earth, the reason why Kirk is created is to make God famous. I just want God to be well-known. And I think it's created a dialogue — I think it's opened up a conversation, and people have started to talk about what religion is to them." 

In addition to the premise of his songs in his latest album, Kirk Franklin also mentioned that he wants to write songs about Jesus that have a 'horizontal' perspective, that a common person can relate to and understand.