The dichotomy between artist and the art is often easily reconciled by the public. In music, artists of all religious persuasions exist, yet their choice of faith doesn’t negatively affect their music; it may inform their art, but they’re never called on the carpet for it. Bruce Springsteen, for example, was born a Roman Catholic, and aspects of his religion can be found in his music (I certainly hear it in Nebraska), but it doesn’t dominate its description: Springsteen is not a “Catholic rock star,” and you probably wouldn’t immediately make the association. George Harrison, on the other hand, went deep into Hindu spiritualism, which appeared blatantly in his work. Still, the public accepted it. (Former Beatles always get the benefit of the doubt.)

Woe to you, then, if you were considered “Christian Rock” from the 1970s to the early 1990s. The public already had it in for you, fearing proselytizing disguised as rocking, and they weren’t entirely wrong in the assumption: There were plenty of bands that felt more comfortable rewriting scriptures with a backbeat than writing from the heart and letting the example be their ministry. A lot of good music got lost in the process, and a lot of bands – candidates with the chops to compete in the secular market – wound up disenfranchised on both sides of the divide: too pious for the one, and too loud for the other. (more…)