The Tragedy of Jennifer Sooter

This music video is about the dangers of the belief in demons in Christian Nationalism. It's part of the Country Music Against Christian Nationalism series. The song is also included in the Stop Christian Nationalism podcast episode about the tragedy of Jennifer Sooter.

Donald Trump bragged about the endorsement of Christian Nationalist preacher Tom Sooter as part of the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition. What the Trump campaign didn't tell people about is Tom Sooter's work as a Baptist fundamentalist exorcist.

Tom Sooter convinced his wife that their daughter, Jenny Sooter, was possessed by demons. She was only allowed to spend the night away from her parents for one night in her life - to visit her grandparents. Tom and Mary Lee Sooter kept their daughter from leaving home even after she became a young adult. She had no job. She didn’t go to college. She only went to church.

When Jennifer Sooter was 24 years old, she wrote a letter to her parents, telling them that she was leaving their home and their church.

In response, Mary Lee Sooter got the gun that the Sooters kept in the church parsonage. She shot Jennifer Sooter in the head several times, then turned the gun on herself and committed suicide.

The lyrics of this song, Your Daughter Is Not A Demon:

She does not behave the way you think she should.

The decisions she’s made are not always good.

That doesn't make her evil.

She needs no exorcism.

She is not serving the Devil.

She just needs you to listen.

Your daughter is not a demon.

She's a young woman.

She needs her freedom.

Her life is her life.

Your daughter is not a demon.

And if you love her, accept her as she is.

She is beautiful.