Gospel legend Yolanda Adams is stirring conversation across the faith community after sharing a candid, wide-ranging reflection on God’s nature.
Her take on the touchy subject during a recent livestream breaks from traditional gendered language and calls out hypocrisy within the church.
In a newly surfaced clip, Adams rejects the idea that God is confined to human categories.
“I don’t think that God is this small entity that people are trying to make him or her or it,” she said. “He is spirit… We are of the mind of calling things gender-wise because that’s how we grew up.”
Her point wasn’t to redefine doctrine, but to challenge the limits people place on God—and on those who claim to follow Him. Adams argued that if God truly created all things, then diversity itself is divine.
“God is a God of variety. God is a God of diversity,” she said, pointing to the millions of species and natural expressions around us as evidence of a Creator who embraces difference, not rejects it.
From there, her message turned personal — and pointed.
“I can tell how much your God loves by the people you hate,” she said. “If God is love… how come you hate the person He in love created?”
The Grammy-winning singer didn’t name names, but her words were clearly aimed at Christians who weaponize faith against marginalized groups or hide behind scripture to justify exclusion. She called that mindset “antithetical” to who God is.
“If you believe God is God of all — but only in your skin color — that’s antithetical to who He is,” Adams added. “All knowing, all loving, all seeing, all doing.”
Her comments come at a time when American Christianity is wrestling with generational shifts: younger believers are more inclusive, more questioning of rigid doctrine, and more willing to challenge long-held traditions around gender, sexuality, and race.
Adams, who has spent three decades shaping modern gospel music, has a unique cultural influence — and her framing of God as beyond gender is pushing that conversation further into the mainstream.
For some believers, her message will feel liberating; for others, provocative.
“Indeed, God is a powerful spirit that transcends human understanding,” one person commented.
However, in sharp rebuttal, another commenter took a swipe at the singer, stating that Scripture proves not everyone who appears to be a believer truly belongs to God, citing verses about the separation of the righteous and the wicked. The commenter, who is was clearly not happy with the ‘She’ and ‘it’ attribution for God, insists that God is Father—not “she” or “it”—and criticizes Yolanda Adams for using gender-neutral language about God. Using passages from 1 John, Matthew 13, and the Lord’s Prayer, they emphasize that true believers uphold God’s identity and do not “bend” scripture to fit modern narratives. They warn that God will ultimately reveal who is genuine and who is false, insisting that Christians must defend the “Holy Word” without compromise. Another commenter adds that the world will face destruction and that Jesus came not to bring peace but a sword.
But Adams’ central point is unmistakable: any faith built on hate, exclusion, or hierarchy isn’t reflecting God — it’s reflecting the person holding it.
As debates continue, Adams leaves her audience with a challenge that cuts through the noise:
If God is love, what does your treatment of others say about the God you believe in?
