Why such animus towards Christian prog?

moshkito wrote: micky wrote: ^ great reply ^^ great topic OP but you sort of answered your own question there. The examples you give are most decidely nonchristian in nature.. which do not celebrate (or ram down ones throat if you will) the greatness of God or Jesus or whatever.. but celebrate the joys of indivdual self reflection, discovery and sprituality and more importantly.. express it MUSICALLY where the lyrics are just a hanger on to the procedings. where people get turned off is when the music is secondary to the lyrcial message which is in my experience the fault of 'christian prog'.  To me, religion and spiritual is an individual thing for you and I to work with, and not something to expound on the public as the way to be ... I'm actually tired of "enlightened half lights", with messages that say absolutely nothing ... and will quote a book, that is known to be the worst translation of the original material ever done ... a complete corruption of the original material ... and we believe in it! It's not animus ... it's that a lot of those folks are believing in a fantasy and idealistic something or other (that they can not even describe!), because they are not artists of the heart with the gumption to stand up and not be afraid! There is, however, a large group of folks that are very serious about their spiritual material ... I would not consider Frank Perry's work a message about your spirituality and mine ... but it does give you the option ... can you sit through it and work with it after? I, personally, do not think that Neal Morse knows that difference. he comes off just like another guy on a pulpit ... he can see things and we can't. Thus we have to follow and buy their music!

In the 1980s, there was a book that said ... if you like this type of music in the secular world then try such and such band in the "Christian rock" genre. The problem is that 9 times out of 10, the music was a second rate knock off of secular artists. This is wrong on many levels. 1. Christian rock and dare I say Christian prog can stand on its own two feet. Some early bands defined their own sound. 2. Christian themes deserve to be approached with the same originality and craftsmanship as found in other art forms (e.g., fantasy literature has 3 heavyweights as previously mentioned ). It is not fair to Christian listeners to have crummy music (with exceptions) foisted upon them purely in the name of religion (read self righteousness). On the other hand, write great music with Christian themes and both Christians and non-Christians will find something good in it. Then you've hit your mark.

Jaketejas wrote: It's sad that the greatest Christian music was written in the baroque period. Handel and Bach are at the top of my list of composers, and I would much rather listen to Handel's Messiah or Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (or his amazing fugues, lute preludes, etc.) than 99% of the Christian music of today. It was and still is some of the most complex and awe inspiring music ever written.

You have a good point there. There are a few Requiems I enjoy although these are either without lyrics or sung in Latin which to me amounts to the same thing. Laibach’s Jesus Christ Superstars album is quite fun but is more about their view of Christianity than promoting it e.g. there’s a tune sung from the viewpoint of Judas explaining how it was preordained and essential that he betray Jesus in order to fulfil God’s master plan - which makes me think more of the convoluted nature of religious logic than feel anything spiritual.

patrickq wrote: A truly great song by a Christian band. The message is 100% Christian, I am 0% Christian, but they achieve exactly what they’re attempting. And I don’t think this is really down-throat shoving... is it?

No, that is fine, not too obvious. I like this one describing a vision even though it sounds like a text straight out of the Bible, it’s very evocative.