Archived Posts For 2008 March
God Songs
Posted on March 25, 2008 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Culture, Emerging Questions | 3 Comments
Fantastic article from Waleed Aly in “The Age” this week. Thought this quote deserved a mention, perhaps as an allegory for the institutional church:
“But religion struggled to be cool, much less inspiring in the popular space. Religious music persisted, but in subcultures. The American Christian country music industry is enormous, but not mainstream. Evangelical churches in particular have produced torrents of Christian music which, ironically, adopts almost every style of popular music. But it is simply incapable of capturing a popular audience because it is so unapologetically alienating to the unconverted. We are trained to think of religion and popular music as opposing universes. If popular music has a faith, it’s the satanism of heavy metal, we suppose.”
So I was struck by that, but there’s more in the article worth pulling out. The article goes on to talk about Nick Cave, Sinead O’Connor and U2 as artists that are striking at a chord that resonates with an “increasingly irreligious” generation.
“Are Cave and O’Connor today’s spiritual teachers, educating a secular generation? O’Connor would recoil at the suggestion. “I’m not calling for anything,” she says. “I just want to make music that I enjoy making.” But it is hard to believe the same could be said of U2, whose religious influences are only slightly less well known than their social activism. The liner notes on their 2000 album All That You Can’t Leave Behind openly call on fans to “remember (Burmese political prisoner) Aung San Suu Kyi” and “take action”. One track, Walk On, is dedicated to her. “
Make sure you have a read of the whole article: “Songs of Redemption - theage.com.au”
Is it the “take it or leave it” nature of this spirituality that appeals to the “now” generation, or is there something in the words and music being put out there by artists like Nick Cave (whose recent album “Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!” is a ripper) that the church is missing out on? Your learned and wise thoughts are sought, but any comment will do 
