I'm even more annoyed by the large whitespace.
My favourite christian (themed) band and CD is Ram it down by Judas Priest.
Can't get much more christianity into a group name IMO.
The song Painkiller is very very good too, impossible to equal in power IMO.
When I was a preacher I did a sermon based on that episode. It's such an accurate picture of a teenager finding a social group that happened to be at church. And Hank accurately calls out how shallow that kind of social faith is.
At the end of the episode, Hank pulls out a box of crap from fads Bobby had been into and talked about how he didn't want Bobby's spirituality to end up in that box.
For millions of people, church is basically a club where they meet with their friends, and since the church is still the most racially segregated place in America, that's a problem.
The "Christian Club" mentality is what allowed the rise of the religious right, when churches should be vocal about justice for the the sick, the poor, and the foreigners.
since the church is still the most racially segregated place in America
Unrelated to the rest of your comment, I find this observation perplexing. In Germany, the church I went to had close ties to several African communities. I loved their joyful, passionate style of worship-parties, more than what I learned of other churches in Germany. The Africans I knew at that church (refugees) were some of the kindest, loveliest people I've known. I'd credit that as being one of the good things I took from my faith: Growing up in frequent contact with different cultures and in a spirit of appreciation, I wasn't even conscious of the concept of racism.
My mom once told me that, when she'd been babysitting a friendly couple's son and pushing him in the stroller on a walk, she got evil looks from some people. For the longest time, I assumed that was just because it was apparent that we had come from different fathers and people thought we were both hers.
In middle or high school, when I learned about it from history class, the concept seemed so alien to me, like a relic of the past... until I realised that my primary school had one black kid, who was bullied (and a bit violent at times, which I'd now attribute to trauma from fleeing an active warzone coupled with facing racism in a fairly conservative town) while my secondary school had none, mostly upperclass "white" with a few other "white"-adjacent (Italian, Russian) ethnicities.
The idea that this childhood friend might have drawn evil looks because he was black hit me years later like a freight train of shattered childhood innocence.
(As an aside, that friend once declared that he's dark chocolate and I'm white chocolate and if that isn't the sweetest thing, I don't know what is.)
Poster is probably American... Churches are generally pretty segregated.. not that there aren't less (denomination) segregated ones... But there's often a stark difference between a Baptist and evangelical church beyond the singing.
Yeah, I figured. I just found the contrast striking when my own church was the least segregated place I knew for most of my childhood.
The objective was to try to get religion to appeal to youth. I knew some young 20's guys in a band who were into it circa 1998.
You mean the goal wasn’t to get rock to appeal to Christians? 😲
Ar... Artificial?
I just hate it when I find a new song that sounds like a tragic story of the loss of a loved one just to find out it's actually about their love for god.
It just feels so cringey to me 🥴
Flyleaf All around me
That and comatose by skillet are like the perfect examples
When I first moved to France, I was surprised by how much English-language rock/pop music was on the radio. I was also suprised that sometimes christian rock would be played between something like Nirvana's Rape Me and Bloodhound Gang's The Bad Touch. I mentioned it to my colleagues and they were like, "wtf is Christian rock?"
Despite we having our share of weirdos, most Europeans have no clue as to how mind bogglingly insane religion has become in the US (and how normal most US people think it is).
Are you saying AI art...It can take me higher? To a place where blind men see?
It's already cringe when the youth pastor shows up with his acoustic guitar, and there's really no need to also bring electricity into this.
I’ve had the misfortune of having my ears raped over and over by Christian rock and metal. Can confirm: it’s horrid, empty, fake,…
it’s horrid, empty, fake,…
Just like Christianity itself 🙂
There are legitimately good Christians and Christian churches, the problem is they actually practice all the "woke" bits in the new testament. They're humble, empathetic, and quiet -- so they get drown out by the human garbage that also call themselves "Christian".
There's a few Unitarian Universalism churches and their offshoots around my city that piss off the "real" Christians by speaking out against fascism and flying pride flags.
It's like if an Multi level marker made pop music.
I'm also a little irritated that pop music is so formulaic that ai kinda nails the imitation.
Catchy but stupid.
...And not the fun kind of stupid either.
Nah. There are a lot of bad Christian rock/metal bands, but there are quite a few good ones too.
To name some I still come back to, even though I no longer identify as a Christian:
Personally I still have a soft spot for Newsboys. Mostly just Shine, and Take Me To Your Leader. Those two still feel good.
Initially I kinda liked Audio Adrenaline, but looking back with what we all know now about the impact of a car based society on the world, I gotta admit, "Chevette" didn't have an ounce of gospel in it, and was a much worse take on crappy cars that probably leaked toxic trash everywhere they went than Adam Sandler's "Ode to my Car".
I'm an atheist, but Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit In The Sky" is a banger.
Otherwise yeah, this meme nails it.
I also like some religious music, I think the key is that the music needs to be interesting with zero pandering.
At the risk of turning this into a "not religious, but..." music recommendation thread:
I've enjoyed mewithoutYou for a long time now. They have a subdued art-rock sound, and I even enjoy a lot of their more overtly religious songs like "In a Sweater Poorly Knit" and "The King Beetle On A Coconut Estate."
Mewithoutyou - "Cattail Down"
That is weirdly true.
Both are corpo-sanitized.
Isn't Skillet kinda fine?.....
the key ingredient is they don't only sing about Jesus. See also: Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Mainstream audiences don't generally mind christian themes so long as that band is being true to themselves rather than making common denominator slop.
i mean… look at all the music that came from Motown records before 1985. not all of those musicians and acts were devoutly christian, but a lot of them were
I have a soft spot for Creed sometimes, but it's not exactly like they disprove this statement.
Edit: huh, apparently they aren't a Christian rock band. Could've fooled me.
There are definitely exceptions. But this is often true.
I liked mxpx back in the early 2000s. when I found out they were a Christan punk band I stopped listening to them.
who the fuck makes a Christan punk band?? wankers, that's who.
For what it's worth, MxPx used to be a Christian band, but they fully renounced that a long time ago. They are as secular a punk band as you can get these days. I must admit it was a little hilarious hearing Mike drop f-bombs to the audience in between songs lol
The only good Christian rock band is Five Iron Frenzy and that proves the redemptive power of ska
The word "intelligence" means nothing when referencing most "AI", just like the word Christian means nothing when referencing most "church-goers".
Post memes here.
A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.
An Internet meme or meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. The name is by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations.
Laittakaa meemejä tänne.
