Why D minuses Don't Matter to "Christian" Art

There are few things more overrated than Christian entertainment. Of course, it’s only overrated in the Christian bubble…and, of course, it’s hard to argue with the many spiritual defenses without straying too far into the boundaries of judgemental-land. I have two theories why the Christian arts are so weak...

Theory #1: The Ratio Theory
This theory rests on the premise that most “secular” art is of low quality as well. However, because there’s such a huge mass of secular art there’s still a lot to choose from. Let’s look at music as an example. And, allow me to make up some figures. Let’s assume that for every 10 albums put out in a year 1 of them is a winner. That’s a ratio of 1:10…or a percentage of 10%. ...stay with me, arithmetic is not my favorite genre, either. But, if 1,000 albums come out in a year, then 100 of them are of high quality.

Let’s feed this same ratio into the Christian music industry. Let’s assume that 500 albums are produced in the Christian world…this means 50 albums are of high quality. This means there’s half the number of quality albums, making this music harder to find. I think there’s something to this theory, but it needs to be counterbalanced with Theory #2.

Theory #2: The Grandmother Theory
This theory states that there is a ridiculous amount of grandmother-izing in the Christian music industry. A Christian musician makes an album or a Christian author writes a book and suddenly the grandmother comes out in everyone. All of a sudden Charlie’s in jail after robbing a liquor store for his crack habit and grandma is on the phone to Charlie’s parents telling them that he’s not that bad, he’s still a good boy…etc. Similarily...a “Christian” puts out a CD that sounds like Mickey Mouse in a Britney Spears costume and suddenly it’s worth listening to because “the lyrics are good” or because “it’s pretty good for the Christian world”.

Both these theories put together make for a low percentage of quality art in the Christian world. Generally, I find that it’s not worth my time to wade through the scummy waters of the Christian entertainment sub-culture and/or train myself to like the truck stop coffee they typically offer.

I’m not forsaking my Christianity by saying this…I’m all signed up for whatever promotes “Do all things for the glory of God”. I think this is fully possible in the “secular” world. I find that it’s much harder for me to justify my time when I spend it listening to low grade Christian music than it is when I listen to folks like Pete Yorn, Wilco, or my favorite, Bruce Springsteen. Some people would argue that the reverse is true for them.

The next few posts are going to be about processing art and entertainment. Movies will be the activity of choice, but I think the principles are true of any artistic medium.