Why Christians Fear Secular Entertainment | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Entertainment

Why Christians Fear Secular Entertainment

The creatives are leaving, and it's happening fast.

363
Why Christians Fear Secular Entertainment
Francisco Moreno

“Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in your beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you.”

Christian musician Rich Mullins said that in a 1997 concert, and it’s amazing how relevant it is today. Many Christians still are busy building little niches.

Recently, Christian polling firm the Barna Group surveyed young people who’ve abandoned Christianity and asked why they left. One of the most common reasons was their parents and other Christians had an unhealthy fear of the secular world.

Instead of having healthy caution with secular entertainment, Christians have tended to demonize it entirely.

Nathan Followill of the band Kings of Leon gave some insights into this issue. Followill and his brothers grew up in a strict Pentecostal home with no movies, no secular music, and a list of other restrictions that included “no short pants.”

Followill told Relevant magazine in 2010 that “a lot of [that upbringing] was very fear-based to get you to do something as opposed to giving you logical reasons why you should or should not do something.”

As David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins (who authored Barna’s book about young people leaving Christianity) noted, this fear has had a highly negative impact on artists.


“Many of the church’s brightest talents,” Kinnaman and Hawkins wrote, “have been asked to confine their gifts to the service of the Christian community. As a consequence, many young creatives have headed for the hills; it’s no small coincidence that many of today’s hottest entertainers and artists left behind a churchgoing heritage.”


This fear of secular culture seems to be a problem across denominations, but evangelical Protestants have become especially good at it. Most of the disillusioned artists Kinnaman and Hawkins cited in their book -- including Nathan Followill -- came from evangelical Protestant backgrounds.

Christian entertainment tends to feed this fear, creating substitutes so Christians can escape all secular media, and multiple writers have commented that Christian entertainment mostly caters to evangelical Protestants.

For example, author Simon Morden noted in a 2011 speech at Greenbelt Art Festival that Christian Fiction is “driven mainly by the preferences of a certain section of Christian America… Christian fiction is essentially Conservative Protestant Evangelical American Christian fiction.”

Ideally, Christian entertainment could be one of several options for Christian artists. Christians could find it acceptable to work in secular entertainment or Christian entertainment, depending on what gifts each artist has.

Instead, evangelical Protestants often assume all artists should work in Christian entertainment. As Kinnaman and Hawkins noted, any artists who disobey this rule are usually criticized.

In some cases -- such as formerly Christian artist Craig Thompson -- the criticisms can be very brutal.

The darkly comic thing about this fear is it actually feeds on itself. Christian artists are pressured to work in Christian entertainment because secular entertainment is seen as dangerously non-Christian.

Consequently, Christian artists not gifted at making overtly Christian art tend to quit Christianity and become wholly secular artists -- which continues the trend of secular entertainment being very non-Christian.

Christians then look at secular entertainment and find it dangerously non-Christian.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
an image of taylor swift standing center stage surrounded by her backup dancers in elegant peacock esque outfits with a backdrop of clouds and a box rising above the stage the image captures the vibrant aesthetics and energy of her performance during the lover era of her eras tour
StableDiffusion

A three-and-a-half-hour runtime. Nine Eras. Eleven outfit changes. Three surprise songs. Zero breaks. One unforgettable evening. In the past century, no other performer has put on an electric performance quite like Taylor Swift, surpassing her fans ‘wildest dreams’. It is the reason supporters keep coming back to her shows each year. Days later, I’m still in awe of the spectacle ‘Miss Americana’ puts on every few days in a new city. And, like one of Taylor’s exes, has me smiling as I reminisce about the memories of the night we spent together.

Keep Reading...Show less
Entertainment

Every Girl Needs To Listen To 'She Used To Be Mine' By Sara Bareilles

These powerful lyrics remind us how much good is inside each of us and that sometimes we are too blinded by our imperfections to see the other side of the coin, to see all of that good.

82730
Every Girl Needs To Listen To 'She Used To Be Mine' By Sara Bareilles

The song was sent to me late in the middle of the night. I was still awake enough to plug in my headphones and listen to it immediately. I always did this when my best friend sent me songs, never wasting a moment. She had sent a message with this one too, telling me it reminded her so much of both of us and what we have each been through in the past couple of months.

Keep Reading...Show less
Zodiac wheel with signs and symbols surrounding a central sun against a starry sky.

What's your sign? It's one of the first questions some of us are asked when approached by someone in a bar, at a party or even when having lunch with some of our friends. Astrology, for centuries, has been one of the largest phenomenons out there. There's a reason why many magazines and newspapers have a horoscope page, and there's also a reason why almost every bookstore or library has a section dedicated completely to astrology. Many of us could just be curious about why some of us act differently than others and whom we will get along with best, and others may just want to see if their sign does, in fact, match their personality.

Keep Reading...Show less
Entertainment

20 Song Lyrics To Put A Spring Into Your Instagram Captions

"On an island in the sun, We'll be playing and having fun"

9761
Person in front of neon musical instruments; glowing red and white lights.
Photo by Spencer Imbrock on Unsplash

Whenever I post a picture to Instagram, it takes me so long to come up with a caption. I want to be funny, clever, cute and direct all at the same time. It can be frustrating! So I just look for some online. I really like to find a song lyric that goes with my picture, I just feel like it gives the picture a certain vibe.

Here's a list of song lyrics that can go with any picture you want to post!

Keep Reading...Show less
Chalk drawing of scales weighing "good" and "bad" on a blackboard.
WP content

Being a good person does not depend on your religion or status in life, your race or skin color, political views or culture. It depends on how good you treat others.

We are all born to do something great. Whether that be to grow up and become a doctor and save the lives of thousands of people, run a marathon, win the Noble Peace Prize, or be the greatest mother or father for your own future children one day. Regardless, we are all born with a purpose. But in between birth and death lies a path that life paves for us; a path that we must fill with something that gives our lives meaning.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments