Best Christian Prog Band

 

Just one question, since when was Wakeman's band Christian?

 

No, Kerry Livgren only became a Christian once Audiovisions was released. Even then, there were never any lyrics with the words "Jesus" or "Christ" etc..

It's not like there is this obscure circle of musicians adhering to some obscure sect or something... It's just Christian believers like hundreds of billions of other people on the globe, who happen to be playing in rock bands. Doh.

Being a Christian does not imply singing praises to God whenever you get the chance to say something. You can sing about anything, in any terms. There are infinite ways to praise God/declare your faith, and most of them are actually indirect. A very concludent example of this kind of perspective is Threshold - a band with obvious allegiance to Christian belief, reflected only sparsely in their lyrics, and mostly by metaphorical means.

Of course, if Morse chooses to make his personal religious experience a subject of his lyrics, it's perfectly fine if he does so. That doesn't make him the only Christian musician around. The same goes for the other examples in your list.

Lastly, of course many musicians we know and appreciate have very little religious education and haven't exactly been focusing on exploring their own spiritual potential, i.e. they don't master the art of belief so well. That doesn't mean we can make generalisations or assume that what Steven Wilson thinks is probably right because SW is a brilliant composer and producer, so he must know something. If you want pertinent opinions on religious matters, ask a theologist. Or at least ask Robert Fripp, for heaven's sake, he may very well have a better relationship with God than Neal Morse, just that he doesn't choose to go shouting about it on a cd.  

Music cannot be classified on such grounds. "Christian prog" is as vague and meaningless as "love metal". I'm beginning to think this (over)classification trend may be negatively affecting individual thought.