I’m sure we all know by now that Dolly Parton died recently, at the age of 80. The news is sad, of course, but it is good that she had a long life and accomplished many things.

She was very famous, and successful, mostly as a singer and also as an actress. In American celebrity culture, including Hollywood, she was not known to be promiscuous. Wealthy, attractive celebrities are commonly known to have affairs.

On the other side, celebrities are sometimes known to have religious convictions and beliefs. I am writing as a Christian and I know that a few famous celebrities are, or were, sincere Christians. Talking about their beliefs could damage their careers and possibly cost them millions of dollars.

Success comes with a high price.

Dolly Parton was generally known as a moral person. Apparently, she met her husband when she was a young adult; they married and stayed together. The story is that they met in a laundromat, and they had a long and stable marriage. Her husband died a few years before her.

That does not fit the pattern of most rich and attractive celebrities.

So, the question is, was Dolly Parton religious? Specifically, was she a believing Christian, or was she lost in celebrity and success culture?

You may have heard some of Dolly Parton’s gospel songs and this is one of the most popular:

The money and the fame might be attractive, but as a Christian, I’m glad I don’t have the social pressure to be secular and to avoid talking about my faith and personal relationship with Jesus. Apparently, in the early part of her career, in interviews, Dolly Parton avoided identifying as a Christian: 

She shared that she was raised in a Christian family, with a grandfather who was a preacher. Years later, she did state publicly that she was a Christian, in interviews.

There is a lesson here, for us all; success can make it very hard for us to follow God.

We should be grateful that our lives are not under the light of celebrity scrutiny, although I don’t know who will read these words.

There is a story in the Bible, about a rich man who sincerely wanted to follow Jesus, but he had a problem with his success, in this world:

As he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Mark 10: 17 to 22)

That man walked away, but there is no sign that Dolly Parton walked away.  To her credit, she sang and published some very popular gospel songs. I believe that she had some sincere convictions and she was able to bring them to the surface, with all the pressure around her to stay quiet about spiritual things.

I can’t imagine how I would do with all that social and cultural pressure.

There is an important lesson for us that this world pulls successful people away from God. The god of this world — the enemy of our souls — has a powerful pull: 

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world, and the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2: 15 to 17)

We should respect rich and famous people who don’t give in. There is an important lesson for us in the lives of some celebrities: