Oprah recently found herself in the middle of a controversy involving gospel singer BeBe Winans and his ex-wife Debbie. About ten months ago BeBe Winans was arrested on domestic abuse charges for allegedly shoving Debbie to the ground. While Oprah has been very vocal about the domestic abuse case involving Rhianna and Chris Brown, many are calling the talk show host a hypocrite for allowing BeBe to promote his new album on her show and perform one of the songs from the album. BeBe was scheduled to also appear on Oprah as a judge in her Karaoke Challenge, but has since been banned from the Oprah Show. He will not be allowed to appear on the program until the issue is resolved.

But an article on Beliefnet brings up a good point– what about the hypocrisy of Christians who continue to purchase BeBe’s album. The album still holds the #1 spot on the Gospel album charts. It’s also #5 on the R&B/Hip Hop chart and #24 on the Billboard Top 200.

It’s pretty obvious that we as Christians may not want to spend our money on albums containing explicit content or x-rated movies. But what about spending your money to support a Christian artist accused of beating his wife? Our dollars and the way we spend them says a lot about who we are– and perhaps Christians often forget that. We may still buy a knock-off handbag and forget that the money supports terrorism. We may buy clothing without stopping to think about whether it was made in a sweat shop at the hands of little kids.

So how does it work– do we forgive BeBe for his mistakes and continue to buy his albums, but refuse to buy secular albums by artists who are sinners too? Do we as Christians think enough about how we spend our money and what that says about us?