In our recent interview with Sinead O’Connor, she shared her spiritual beliefs—some of them in line with traditional Christianity (the Trinity, the nature of prayer) and some far out of step with it (God isn’t perfect, all people go to heaven). The article drew a broad range of reader responses, many of them upset over her “pagan” and “pantheist” views.
But the responses that surprised me most were those that said there’s nothing remotely “Christian” about O’Connor’s music. I wondered if those readers had bothered to listen to her new album,
Question O’Connor’s personal beliefs if you want, but if the lyrics are straight from Scripture, how can they be un-Christian? Is the singer more important than the words being sung?
It reminds me of the debate over U2’s place in Christian culture. The Irish band, born out of a small group Bible study, became one of the world’s biggest pop/rock acts while making regular, clear-cut references to their Christian beliefs in their songs.
Still, many conclude that U2 is “not really Christian,” either because the band doesn’t take an evangelical approach with their artistry, or perhaps because certain band members enjoy an occasional glass of whisky or drop a curse word from time to time. Why then were U2’s clear-cut songs about faith—like “Gloria,” “40,” “Grace,” and? “Where the Streets Have No Name”—more acceptable when performed by Audio Adrenaline, Starfield, Nichole Nordeman, and Chris Tomlin for the In the Name of Love project? Because they’re “acceptable” Christian artists? Does “Amazing Grace” become “non-Christian” when sung by a non-believer?
There’s clearly a disconnect in Christian culture between artists and art. We have an entire industry called “Christian music,” and yet Christians can’t fully agree on what that really means. Can Christian music only come from Christian artists?
A few years back, we attempted to clearly define the editorial coverage policy for
We settled on three different criteria by which we felt we could define the genre; I call them the three Ls of Christian Music. Each works in its own way, but each also comes with some loopholes.
The first is label, referring to established record companies that seek out Bible-believing artists and market their music specifically to Christian culture through radio and retail. This principle is actually the simplest, because it assumes that label execs have already screened their artists (and by extension their music) to determine if they are indeed “Christian.” In other words, we trust that the label has done the necessary “homework.”
A fair assumption, but it’s exactly that—you assume the music represents your faith based on a trusted label’s expertise. This is a passive approach to defining Christian music. What about Christian artists who cross over to the mainstream—or those who started there in the first place? Are they no longer “Christian” if they’re making music for a secular label? What about unsigned independent artists who aren’t with any record label? Christian record companies are useful for verifying an artist’s beliefs, but it only paints part of the picture.
The second L is lyrics, the most common way to define Christian music. Seems simple enough. A song clearly expressing a Christian worldview lyrically must therefore be Christian music, right?
Not so fast. Now we’re back to U2, Sinead O’Connor, and countless others. How, for example, do you handle “Heaven,” the prayerful 2004 hit by Los Lonely Boys? They’re not considered a Christian band, but there’s no mistaking the faith-based hope and sincerity of the song’s lyrics. When Salvador, a popular Christian band, covered “Heaven” on their own album, that pretty much established it as a “Christian” song.
Over the years, Christians and non-Christians have recorded covers of hymns (“Amazing Grace”), gospel standards (“Oh! Happy Day”), and spiritual pop songs (“40”). Sometimes a non-believer will even write an original song inspired by Christian beliefs—or else open to interpretation as such. (Incidentally, this became the basis for our Glimpses of God series.) Faith and God are not subjects exclusive to Christian music, hence why a lot of people don’t rely on lyrics alone as criteria.
Plus, plenty of established Christian artists have sung about general themes. Michael O’Brien‘s album Something About Us is a collection of love songs to his wife. You won’t find any spiritual references—lyrically, it’s no more “Christian” than Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett, and there’s no obvious reason to shelve it in the “Christian” section of a mainstream record store. But last I checked, Christians fall in love (and as O’Brien pointed out, Song of Solomon is all about romance). And in this case, the album was considered “Christian” because of who is singing the songs, not for what was being sung. If we cover an album like this, then why not any pop album of love songs?
Our third L, lifestyle, is arguably the clincher of the bunch. If the artist is a practicing Christian, you’d think that would be a clear-cut deciding factor. Except, of course, it’s not enough for artists like U2, Moby, Scott Stapp, and Sufjan Stevens to be fully embraced by the Christian culture. They get accused of not letting their light shine through their music, “selling out” to make more money by concealing their beliefs.
Or else such artists get filtered by the lens of legalism. How can they possibly be “Christian” when they went through a divorce, used profanity in an interview, appeared on a secular television program, or voted for a Democrat? I doubt any of us could hold up to similar scrutiny. Do our individual failings prevent us from being Christian artists? Do only perfect people make Christian music?
We all sin and fall short of God’s glory (