Sympathy for the Christians

Although I'm no fan, The Guardian has an interesting article on The Cold War Kids losing fans because of their faith:

Did you see Later With Jools Holland last week? Did you see Cold War Kids howl thrillingly through Hang Me Up to Dry, with a power their album never got anywhere near achieving? And if you did, were you left thinking it was magnificent, or did you dismiss them with a shrug: nah, don't go for Christian rock?

Cold War Kids had more buzz than a hive of honeybees a few months back. Then it emerged that three of the band's four members had attended the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and plenty of erstwhile supporters jumped away in horror, like vampires splashed with holy water. The band's songs were scoured and deemed to be full of propaganda with which to brainwash Our Pop Kids. Because you can't have rock bands singing about God, can you?

There are, naturally, some problems with that argument. First, Cold War Kids' songs are not obvious hymns. Second, rock fans have traditionally venerated musicians singing about God or using religious imagery. They just demand they fit into one of three stereotypical roles. They can plainly not really be terribly Christian (the White Stripes, Nick Cave and Bobby Gillespie, for example), in which case their singing "I was blind, now I can see/ You made a believer out of me" is not halfwitted tosh, but a clever and knowing appropriation of musical forms, making a spiritual connection with the gospel roots of rock'n'roll. Or you can be an elderly cove who's seen enough of the dark side that Christianity is your shot at redemption after the drugs and the drinks and the demons. We're all thinking Johnny Cash here, aren't we? Or, of course, you can be black, because no one bats an eyelid at rappers and R&B stars dropping mention of 'Im Upstairs at every available juncture. But to be a white musician making "alternative rock", and to have faith? How dare you!