[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: Christian or what?!

Hello all.  I don't normally pipe up around here (only been lurking for a
month or two), but (like everyone else, it seems) I couldn't resist throwing
in a couple of pennies:

Why do so many people insist that OtR is a Christian band?  The answer seems
very simple to me.  I had never heard of OtR until a friend of mine went
Cornerstone - a self-proclaimed *Christian music* festival.  He came back
with a couple of CD's and was raving about their performance.

Naturally, not knowing to do otherwise, I went to my local *Christian*
bookstore and, lo and behold, there I found TWHF and PATIENCE.  Not long
after, GDBD showed up on those very same shelves (EVE eludes me to this very
day - dammit!).

Subsequent interviews with Karin and Linford in Cornerstone (a *Christian*
magazine) and a little airplay on our local *Christian* radio station only
served to enforce my (seemingly unchallenged) belief that they were a
"Christian" band.    So why do so many people argue that Otr is a Christian
band?  Well, if the shoe fits...

Now, I realize that the gang never asked for this particular shoe, but for
all their breath wasted on the issue, they only serve to enforce that image
by catering to a blatantly Christian audience (I don't mean catering
lyrically, of course - one could never accuse them of that!).  If someone
had asked me a year ago whether or not OtR was a Christian band, I would
have said, "Absolutely".  That doesn't mean that I'm a radical prig, it's
just the impression that the band tends to give.

To me, the real perplexing question is this: "Why is it such a big deal?"
It seems that there can only be two reasons to be riled over this question:
A) You are vehemently opposed to listening to anything labeled "Christian",
or B) You are scared to death of listening to anything that is *not*
Christian.  Both positions are ridiculous.  I'm just thrilled that OtR
continues to find an audience and make music.

I think it's fun to debate all kinds of issues in music, especially this
type.  But it intrigues me to no end that this particular argument gets so
heated.  (Though, admittedly, this latest row has been fairly tame.  I'm
thinking mostly about the archived threads).

Anyway, you see now why I rarely speak up.  (It's because I don't know how
to *shut* up!)  I'll go back to being a wallflower now.  Peace.  :-)

-Paul
Follow-Ups: