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Late former President Jimmy Carter John Lennon’s 1971 hit “Imagine” was reportedly his favorite tune. But its use as a song at his state funeral caused a storm on social media with critics saying it was unsuitable for use in a memorial service in a Christian church.
On Thursday, fellow Georgia native Trisha Yearwood and her husband, Garth Brooks, performed the tune during Carter’s funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral. A year earlier, Brooks and Yearwood also performed it at a memorial service for former First Lady Rosalyn Carter. According to reports, the country star couple previously worked with Carter on several Habitat for Humanity home projects.
Later on Thursday, social media erupted, questioning the song’s performance given that lyrical rejection of religion.
“Imagine there’s no heaven / It’s easy if you try / There’s no hell below us / Above us, only the sky,” reads the first line.
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Former President Jimmy Carter. (Emma Woodhead/Fox Digital)
At X, several observers, including leading conservative figures, questioned the use of the song, while others disagreed.
“The fact that Joe Biden lectured us about what a strong Christian Jimmy Carter was before the crowd sang ‘Imagine’ with the words ‘Imagine there’s no heaven / It’s easy if you try’ makes me question the validity of that statement.” , said commentator Eric Erickson, who also served on the Macon City Council in Carter’s home state.
“Imagine there is no heaven – sung to someone who is a devout Southern Baptist,” added one X user.
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“I don’t think Jimmy would appreciate the ‘no religion’ part,” said another.
Self-proclaimed “Trumpocrat” Steve Carlson, a perennial Minnesota Democratic candidate currently running for governor in 2026, wrote that it was “insulting” for “Imagine” to be played at Carter’s funeral.
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“Why should Christians sing this at a funeral? To imagine that there is no heaven and no Christianity at a Christian funeral is really dark,” said Molly Z. Hemingway, editor of The Federalist and a frequent contributor to Fox’s “All-Star Group.” News Special Report with Brett Baier.
A prominent member of the Catholic clergy also weighed in on X, saying he was “shocked” by the performance.
“Under the lofty vault of what I believe is still a Christian church, they reverently spoke: ‘Imagine there is no heaven; it is easy if you try’ and ‘imagine there is no country; it’s not hard to do. There is nothing to kill or die for, and no religion either.’ “The vested ministers sat patiently while the hymn to atheistic humanism was sung,” said Bishop Robert Barron, prelate Catholic Archdiocese Winona-Rochester, MN.
“It was not only an insult to memory a sincerely believing Christian but also an indicator of the spinelessness of too much established religion in our country,” the bishop said.
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Jim Geraghty of The National Review said that the fact that the song “Imagine” invites the listener to imagine the absence of heaven is an “actual concession” that it exists, in an apparent defense of the performance.
“Otherwise, there would be no need to ask us to provide otherwise,” Geraghty said.
Lennon himself had a complex view of Christianity and organized religion, but especially corresponded with Christian preachers such as Oral Roberts.
“I was brought up a Christian, and only now do I understand some of the things that Christ said in those parables,” Lennon was also quoted as saying. “God is the concept by which we measure our own pain.”
