Reflections on Christian Rock - Part One

My copy of Andrew Beaujon's Body Piercing Saved My Life won't arrive on my doorstep for another few weeks but in the meantime, I wanted to begin a bit of a series of posts on the world of Christian Rock. Now, I know a few of y'all had the misfortune to grow up with this 'music', so I hope it brings back some memories, good and not so good.

#1 - Outsourcing Sin

I don't know if this has happened to you, but every now and then I've had a Christian ask a question along the lines of "Oh - you listen to secular music, do you? Don't you have a problem with that?"

My answer is of course "no". Why would I? I find a lot more musical merit in non-Christian music and often a lot more spiritual truth. But there's a common perception that secular music is bad for you in some vague, undefined way. Maybe it will make you worship Satan or swear like a trooper or commit unspeakable acts. I'm not sure. Most Christians listen to both, but a lot of people feel rather more guilty about one than the other.

This is all a bit absurd when you consider the degree of shameless aping that occurs in the Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) scene. Christian music is by and large about providing a sugar-free alternative to secular music rather than anything specifically Christ-focused. Substitute "Jesus" for the girl's name, chop out the f-bombs...tada! You have a CCM radio hit.

So has anyone stopped to think about how Christian artists manage to provide an exact replica of Coldplay or Taking Back Sunday? Do they perhaps listen to these artists? Maybe a lot?

If there's something objectively wrong with listening to secular music, then what does this say about the Christian artists drawing inspiration from it? Are we just outsourcing the responsibility to the musicians - requiring them to filter out the naughty bits and present a nice wholesome alternative?

I'd like to see people follow this through to its logical conclusion and listen only to artists who have never even heard a secular song. Maybe someone raised in an Amish community in rural Pennsylvania. Or Finnish Christian freak-folk collective Paavoharju. The sound like they've never ever heard a pop song in their lives.

Categories: Indie; Gospel
Tags: christian-rock; outsourcing; ccm; amish-music