Does Religious Music Have a Place on American Idol?

Apr 11, 2008 at 9:17 AM
19 comments

OK, way way too busy to go into much detail but, as a proud Heathen, this kinda bothered me. And I know I'm going to offend people with this but I don't really care.

The "Top 8" sang "Shout to the Lord" as the closing number of Wednesday night's "Idol Gives Back" charity drive and then sang it again to open the show last night, Thursday.

Here are the lyrics:

My Jesus, My Savior
Lord there is none like You
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love
My Comfort, My Shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You
(Chorus)
Shout to the Lord, all the earth
Let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in
YOU!

(chorus)
My Jesus, My Savior
Lord there is none like You
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love
My Comfort, My Shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You

(Chorus)
Shout to the Lord, all the earth
Let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in
YOU!
(bridge)
let the earth sing
i declare your great name
all of my life i will
with all of my breath
i will praise you
lift it up, life it up

(chorus)

nothing compares to you
i shout your praise
nothing compares to you
Nothing compares to the promise I have in YOU!

OK, I'm all for Freedom of Religion. I'm all for contemporary Christian music and Christian rock being it's own, very successful industry that caters to a particular segment of the world. Its become its own genre and even has sub-genres, for sure. When I went to Church in Houston with my Aunt and Uncle I got a good 45 minute dose of contemporary Christian music, I've heard it piped into elevators and throughout people's homes, at times. It exists, it's legitimate. But does it have a place on a show like "American Idol?"

Being that the United States of America has citizens representing almost all religions, I don't think that ANY religious music has an appropriate place in a show like American Idol. It's different when an individual contestant picks the song, I should clarify. Because that song choice is sacred and has a place in the singer's heart. But this was a number chosen by the producers FOR ALL 8 of the contestants to sing...if any of them were Jewish, which has happened before (Elliot, for example), would they have done this?? If any of these kids were Muslim or Buddhist would they have done this? What if *gasp* one of these kids is an atheist? Or agnostic or simply not religious at all?

Does it matter?

Anyway. I hate to be an agnostic-Christian-by-culture pill about this but COME ON. That song, as beautiful as the message may be for some people, is isolating for (I would guess) most of the audience. I say that because it is true that most Christians in the U.S. do not identify with an evangelical sect, the folks who are typically into this music. One may not like country music, for example, but I doubt anyone feels so strongly about their dislike of it that Kristy Lee Cook singing Martina McBride would make them fundamentally uncomfortable.

So yeah, if you don't like it, turn it off, blah blah blah. And I could have. But I was so busy sitting there in a state of shock, wondering how all of the non-religious or non-Christian viewers were feeling about this song and it's message, that I couldn't quite reach the remote.

Did this choice have something to do with the theme of the show that night, Idol Gives Back??

Idol Gives Back is a HUMAN effort, not a CHRISTIAN effort, even though a lot of charities supported by it are Christian in origin just as I'm sure a lot of the charities are represented by an array of religions, Western and Non. So where was their song?

So that's my two cents. Bring on the country and bluegrass bring on the pop, bring on the rock, bring on the folk, bring on the show tunes, bring on the hip hop, even.

But please leave personal religious beliefs where they belong - In our hearts.

19 comments

Comments

Besides, why do they so rarely do good Christian music? For instance, Gillian Welch sings all kinds of Christian songs, but I love to listen to her, because her music is good.

I was actually forced to watch that show with my girlfriend and my best friend Kyle who has some very strong anti-christian beliefs, mostly because he's gay. And his immediate quip was that he would have refused to sing it which made us all wonder what would have happened there. None of us take any of this seriously so we immediately went back to criticizing and joking about whoever's clothing caught our eye but the fact remains I agree with you. It's odd that they went that direction.

It's all a matter of tastes the contestants have, I guess. This is the first time the producers have picked a song like this to be performed by all of the contestants at once, if memory serves. And I'm with you - a lot of the music I enjoy happens to have some Christian themes, OLD Christian themes that go with high quality music.

I don't know this song and I don't watch the show. But if I were watching and this came on, I would probably have become uncomfortable and changed the channel. This speaks more to me than anything else, though. Even though I go to church most every Sunday and it's important to me, the 'praise Jesus' evangelical songs turn me off. It's not the way I roll. I'm more of a God person, if that makes sense.

Now, put up choir and do "Ode to Joy", the hymn version of Beethoven's 9th, inspired by Schiller's poem of nature and humanity, and you'll have me close to tears. I want it sung at my wedding and/or funeral - any event I can think of, really.

To further clarify and to Redz' point, there are some great gospel tunes out there. The modern contemporary rock band stuff just isn't that great as music, IMO. Of course, I feel the same about a lot of commercial contemporary music as well. I'll listen to just about anything you like as long as it's pretty. My opinion of pretty, that is. ;-)

[this is good]

Hear, hear. I totally agree.

they are jesus-ing up American Idol? Wow. I can see how that can really screw up the morality of the show. ;)

LMAO!! Well REALLY. I mean when was pop music ever supposed to be moral after the 1960's?? Sheesh!

OK so I have a few things to say about religious music on American Idol. First, I think it is a great idea but I imagine it would spawn much controversy. Second, music is a great way to bring people together (especially young people) but it will always a matter of whom you are trying to connect. So though I think it is a great idea, I don't think it is applicable to "American" Idol.

Good points, all. Thank you!

First--please tell me that you just cut-n-pasted those lyrics. Otherwise, I'm worried you might be going all "all-work-and-no-play-makes-Jack-a-dull-boy" on us.
Second--religious music has a place on American Idol to the same degree that other musical traditions do. It's like the Gillian Welch thing. My person hypothesis is that the woman isn't particularly religious--she just happens to know how to infuse various elements of the American musical tradition into her own songs. Half the stuff she writes is commonly mistaken for traditional tunes from an earlier century.

Um....yeahhhhh....I copy/pasted, dear.

I can't stand American Idol, but if they want to sing religious music, they should be allowed to. They're not proselytizing; they're just singing songs they like. The history of music has religious fingerprints all over it, so it's hard to separate the two completely.

I don't care for a lot of the modern Christian music, either. Not because it's evangeligical, but because it's pointless fluff. But there is some good, meaty stuff out there, too.

I don't watch AI, at all.

But I don't think I'd be offended, unless they encouraged me to sing/clap/dance along.

Still, I think it's interesting to watch people get down with their God. The sincere bits as well as the insincere bits.

Gotta go now. There's Thai food in the kitchen.

I can't stand American Idol, but if they want to sing religious music, they should be allowed to. They're not proselytizing; they're just singing songs they like.

Oh yeah, totally, which is why it doesn't bother me on the rare occasion that a contestant chooses a religious song. But this wasn't their choice, it was the choice of whoever picks the songs for them. And that's where I see a big difference. But I dunno, maybe they all had to agree that they were comfortable with it, i would hope.

Still, I think it's interesting to watch people get down with their God. The sincere bits as well as the insincere bits.

I agree, assuming that the God in this song IS the God of the contestants.

I dunno, most country music makes me fundamentally uncomfortable...

Not offended, at all, Dora.
The day American Idol has any bearing on religion/faith is no day at all!
You guessed it. I don't watch this show. Although, I've been told to try out.

This comment was written by my friend Connie:

yeah- this is weird, but appropriate. I would say the religious
undertones fit right in with the momentary media atmosphere- ei, Idol
gives back episodes and the Papal visit. I'm not religious in anyway-
but I think the producers felt the need to beef it up on Idol because of
the current circumstances in the media right now. That'd be my guess....
that said- our culture was "founded" (so to speak) on Christianity. Not
that I am a believer in any way, shape or form, but I wouldnt expect to
go to India and have them tone down the vishnu for the Christian
population living there...same goes with any arab country etc. We have
to face the facts- middle america and its beliefs play a huge role in
this country- so yes- media and money speaking- religious music has a
place on American Idol- after all- it is "American Idol" not to say
america isnt a melting pot- it is indeed- but when you explore the term
in the most fundamental way- it has merit and that ties it to certain
religious observations...sad but true