Josh Harris offers some balanced thoughts on the recent singing of Shout to the Lord on American Idol:
Here’s reality: we live in a secular, pluralistic society. We need to be good neighbors to agnostics and atheists and people of other religions. Christian faith and practice shouldn’t be forced on others. And we shouldn’t be overly surprised when “gospel” music that is very meaningful to believers is co-opted and used in secular settings by people who don’t have personal faith in Jesus. How many times has Amazing Grace been sung and loved by people who don’t really grasp its truth? Like it or not we live in a culture where many people view gospel music as merely a style that is part of a cultural tradition. That’s all it means to them.
Moments like this are reminders for me that the songs and trappings of Christian culture are not the hope of the world—Jesus is! We need to make him known. We need to love and seek to serve the world around us through prayer, through faithful evangelism, and through Christ-like service of those in need. Our goal is not building a more air-tight evangelical bubble. Neither should our goal be hoping that our subculture will burst out into the broader culture to great acclaim.
Read the whole thing.