American singer and songwriter Pharrell Williams argued that the United States is involved in "spiritual warfare" between straight white men and the world of gender fluidity.

"We're followers. And we're not following God. We're following men. So that's spiritual warfare," Williams, 46, said in an interview published Monday in GQ. "So when you offered for me to be a part of this conversation, I'm like, 'Yeah.' Because think about it. What is happening to a transgender person? What are they going through? They feel like their body is not connected to their spirit. And what kind of toxic environment do we live in that they have to justify how they feel? That must feel incredibly insane."

"That is spiritual warfare," Williams continued. "So I wanted to be in the conversation. On the surface, it is an older-straight-white-male world. But it has prompted this conversation that I think is deeper than what the new masculinity is or what a non-gender-binary world looks like. I think we're in spiritual warfare."

Williams also tore into America's founders, saying that the name "Founding Fathers" itself was problematic.

"And it's a fearful thing. You know, America was 'created by our Founding Fathers' — not our Founding Mothers or our Founding Mother and Father," he said. "So this conversation leads to side effects, like using religion as a weapon to justify [an attack on] women's reproductive rights. Insane, insane things. And I'm like, 'What are you afraid of?' We're living in the middle of the kicking and screaming. I don't wanna go too controversial, but man, I just read the Declaration of Independence the other day and my jaw dropped. Referring to the Native Americans as merciless savages — that's in the Declaration of Independence, bro. It's in there. Referring to men, they use the term 'mankind.' Well, what about the women? And they talk about the transgressions of the king at the time, and they made reference to how he tried to stop their foreign trade. It kind of felt like now. I don't know the last time you read it, but it's really wild, bro."

Williams said he was not without blame when it came to contributing to toxic culture. He regretted some of his music and said he would not rewrite it again now if given the opportunity. "I realized that we live in a chauvinist culture in our country. Hadn't realized that. Didn't realize that some of my songs catered to that. So that blew my mind," he said, adding that his number-one hit with Robin Thicke Blurred Lines was a breaking point for him.

Williams argued it's time for "real change" in 2020 but that people needed to wake up and see "that we are in the middle of spiritual warfare."

Last year, the singer sent President Trump a "cease and desist" letter after he played Williams' song Happy at an event.