Thoughts from watching American Idol
Well Rachel isn’t very well today and so we’ve been in the house all day (we were planning on visiting another church in Sheffield this morning) and have just spent about the last three hours watching last years American Idol! It was interesting! One of the things that really stood out to me listening to the lyrics was just how many more references there are to God, heaven, prayer and the like than there are in most songs written here in the UK. There definitely seems to be more of generic God consciousness in the US than there is here in the UK. People here are much less comfortable talking about God and words like prayer and heaven seem to be much less a part of everyday language than in the US. What do you think? Is this accurate? And how much should we in the UK read into what Americans are like from watching something like American Idol?!
January 15th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Yeah, I think God-conciousness is greater in the US than it is in Europe but it is decreasing. Sometimes I’m surprised how much heaven, prayer, angels, even Jesus stuff is still in the mainstream here. I guess there is still enough of a Christian worldview (even just a cultural, folklore-ish one) that songs like American Idol Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel” are still profitable. If this were not the case the entertainment industry would stop producing them.
Is the UK spiritually concious at all? Are people seeking spiritual help in witchcraft or other non-Christian world religions or is it becoming an almost atheist society?
January 16th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
I think that people in the UK are definitely searching for something, they’re just not finding it in the church. Songs that are overtly promoting God/Jesus etc are generally unlikely to be profitable. I heard someone on the radio saying that the UK is becoming a place where the default position is atheism. He liked that idea.
People are into mixing and matching spiritual viewpoints. Thinking about the people I know, things like mediums and psychics are popular, aspects of Budhism and meditation classes. People must believe something musn’t they?! I feel like people don’t think about anything beyond their present. It changes the way the church needs to respond. we can’t assume anything!
January 16th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
When I think about the majority of people around me who aren’t Christ followers, it seems that the default position is “don’t know, don’t care” when it comes to thinking about God. I think apathy is big challenge for churches to tackle. There are some people pursuing spirituality in various forms, but I think amongst the majority it is definitely apathy. Challenging times and definitely something for us to be thinking about as we look to help the people of Sheffield discover the reality and joy of a relationship with God.
January 18th, 2006 at 3:10 am
I think here in America there is a lack of weight associated with all the God-conciousness, as it were. It is a consciousness without the trembling, without the fear. The idea of God makes many Americans feel good, that’s what they call “faith”. The problem is that it does not weigh upon their character, their spiritual formation. Even a shallow study of the entertainment industry will give testimony to this. The message is that Jesus makes our brokeness acceptable, and we don’t have to do anything about it. He’s taken care of it all and we’re just waiting to “go to heaven”. There seems to be no personal investment, just a consciousness. Just one perspective from Nashville.
January 18th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
i think that’s a good observation. it may be an oversimplification, but i would add that people like to sing about the God of mercy - but they aren’t singing anything about a God of justice. i sometimes wonder if this is out of hope, or fear — like, if i sing about God/Jesus, I’ll ‘go to heaven.’ As Adria said, there’s no relationship/commitment involved.
January 18th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
have i ever asked you about ‘thecelt.org’??
January 18th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
You haven’t ever asked me about that…ask away!