First off, many apologies for the sporadic updates. I'm taking 4 summer classes, about 26 hours of classes per week, so
Pearlle has taken the back burner till August 23.
In my 'Religion in Society' class, we're required to submit three reflections on a manifestation of religion in society, drawn from personal experience, a newspaper article, book, etc. My journal entry was based on a New York Time's
article on the secularization of Christian music with reference to Skillet. Here's a rough draft.
This journal entry looks at the secularization of Christian music, referencing an article in the New York Times titled "Exalting the Sacred, Wooing the Secular". The subject of the article is Skillet, who is one of only three rock bands to sell over one million records last year. According to the article, Skillet has “won over mainstream rock aficionados without alienating its religious fans.” The article explains that Skillet's lyrics touch on Christian themes such as salvation and a relationship with a heroic savior, without specific reference to Jesus or God, instead “He” or “You” is used. This practice of creating Christian music without religious specifiers allows Christian music to be more accepted as popular music in a secular mainstream framework. I argue that this practice is a form of religious adaptation to the modern world where religion is translated into secular categories, with faith and the transcendent being de-emphasized, and is creating a form of popular religion.
Popular music is widely known as secular music and some have called the secularization of Christian music a form of “artistic ministry”. Contemporary Christian bands are able to spread Christian ideals in a covert manner. On first appearance, rock music is probably not the first place one would expect to find religiosity. Rock music, afterall, is part of the entertainment industry, an agent of secularization (Weinstein 186). Cross-over bands (bands that create Christian music but have achieved mainstream popularity) like Skillet are becoming increasingly common. Cross-over contemporary Christian music is available outside of churches (in CDs, digital downloads, and the like), is not intended strictly for Christian audiences and does not reference traditional hymns and choral songs.
The Gospel Music Association, located in Nashville, Tennessee maintains “lyrical criteria for what qualifies as a biblical worldview, artists inspired by a generalized Christian ethic continue to craft broader expressions in the glaring light of pluralism…today’s youth enjoy a modicum of autonomy; as with other art forms, consumers must decide for themselves what composers originally ‘‘meant’’ or ‘‘intended’’ in the lyrics.” The idea of "crossing over" is rather ambiguous as there is no clear distinction between a Christian band (singing Christian music) or a band made up of Christians? Is music with religious references necessarily religious music?
Mojan Momen’s text “Understanding Religion: A Thematic Approach” enables us to analyze Christian music in a popular religion framework. He writes that popular religion “can fill some of the needs felt by ordinary people – needs that the official religion ignores” (Momen 387). Specific teen problems are not necessarily brought up in churches since it does not address the main body, which are adults. Skillet songs address issues that are not covered in traditional Christian music such as peer pressure, depression and bullying. With the decline in church attendance in North America, it is not surprising that Christian bands are increasingly searching for cross-over appeal and churches are embracing this occurrence. Although I was raised in a religious home, going to church on Sunday morning is not expected among my North American peers and is viewed as deviant. Similarly, demonstrative religiosity such as walking around blasting church hymns and songs talking about salvation on an i-pod is not the norm. Religion takes place in church on Sunday, not on the streets or at work. This is one of the reasons crossover bands like Skillet is appealing. They look cool in a pop culture way, their lyrics sound cool and there is no overt reference to a transcendent or attempt to proselytize.
I feel you keeping me alive
You are my salvation
Touch you, taste you, feel you here
You are my salvation
The secularization of Christian music can be observed in the lyrics of their songs which appeals to a wider demographic. Exemplified in the chorus of Skillet’s song “Salvation” above, these songs could be talking about Jesus or a significant other. Critics have called this “vacuous theology" because it is wholesome and sound, while not being overt. It is even cooler when a Christian band’s song is played during the Super bowl commercials or gets to tour with a pop culture icon like Taylor Swift, because this positive representation of Christianity in popular culture is not common. There is no need to lift hands up in worship when one can sing along while jumping up and down and shaking one’s head to the beat. The acceptance of seemingly secular forms of religious music in churches is an attempt to reach a wider demographic. Church suddenly becomes cooler when it sounds like a concert. What Would Jesus Listen To? ((WWJLT), a spin on What Would Jesus Do? (WWJD), a question that has adorned everything from bumper stickers to coffee mugs since the 1990s, is a popular phrase. A Christian teenager is reassured by the fact that Jesus or family approves of music that references salvation, the grace of God and the trinity. Some have argued that the desire to make Christian music cool is what sparked the evolution of the Christian contemporary music industry. Lynn Schofield Clark identifies that such products provide ways for people to identify with a specifically popular cultural product while also remaining firmly "in the fold" of evangelical Christianity (528).
It is a possibility that higher profits and wider reach motivate contemporary Christian bands to strive for cross-over appeal. Critics have argued that the Christian music industry operates in a commercial framework, with many Christian labels having become subsidiaries of mainstream labels such as Time Warner and Sony Music. In a commercial framework, creating broadly popular and profitable music maybe as important, or more important, as maintaining an underlying religious message. For example, bands like Skillet, NeedtoBreathe and Switchfoot, are making popular music without appearing too religious to mainstream non-Christian listeners. It is essentially a wonderful middle ground product. ““I like that it can be interpreted in different ways,” Mr. Cooper [Skillet’s lead singer] said. “If it was very clearly about Jesus, they might not get what we are saying.””If it was clearly about Jesus, people may not even be listening.
Momen writes that popular religion uses the terms and concepts of official religion, although often with a shift in meaning (394). Many mega churches around the world now incorporate forms of hip-hop and rock music in their praise and worship sessions in Church services. Christian rock concerts can be seen as a new form of revival. Faith and transcendence is being de-emphasized and this wave of religious music is increasingly being accepted especially in Pentecostal settings. It appears that if the biggest churches in the world approve of this new form of religious music and the mainstream audience is buying into it as well, then official religion has to accept it. Momen writes that “pressure from popular culture has forced a rethink in official religion, to the extent that it may be said that we are increasingly entering an era in which popular culture leads and official religion follows” (394).
I have explained the appeal of cross-over contemporary Christian bands to Christian audiences but also some of the motivations that are responsible for this cross-over, such as increased record sales and reaching a wider audience. In this popular religion framework, contemporary Christian groups are able to reach a younger Christian audience by touching on issues usually ignored by the church. With indirect references to faith clearly de-emphasized, contemporary Christian music is becoming more common in popular culture, and churches are forced to follow the lead of popular culture in order to appeal to younger audiences, which in recent years, are not church goers and are likely to be less religious. Finally, the secularization of contemporary Christian music is not unique to North America but has many implications for Christianity in many parts of the world.
Bibliography
Clark, Lynn S. "Religion, American Style: Critical Cultural Analyses of Religion, Media, and Popular
Culture." American Quarterly 58.2 (2006): 523-33. Web. 23 July 2013.
Lems, Shane. "You Are What You Sing." A Disciple's Study. N.p., 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 22 July 2013.
<http://llamapacker.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/you-are-what-you-sing/>.
McKinley, James C., Jr. "Exalting the Sacred, Wooing the Secular." New York Times. N.p., 9 July
2013. Web. 18 July 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/10/arts/music/exalting-the-sacredwooing-the-secular.html?pagewanted=all>.
Momen, Moojan. Understanding Religion: A Thematic Approach. Oxford, England: Oneworld,
2009. Print.
Weinstein, Deena. "Rock Music: Secularisation and Its Cancellation." International Sociology 10.2
(1995): 185-95. Web. 22 July 2013.
