"Creed: Weren't They A Christian Band?"

I was talking to a fellow college student one day and we got on the subject of music. Now take in mind at the time I was 28, and the other student is probably 5-8 years younger than I am, which in my opinion is a big gap when it comes to music preference. With that said, after he was done explaining his music interest, he asks me, “What are you into?” I mentioned to him, “I am a big fan of anything rock, but currently I am enjoying the modern rock seen, like Nickleback, Fuel, and especially the front-runner of today’s modern rock, Creed: even though they are no longer band.” Then he said, “Creed: Weren’t they a Christian band?”

Yes, I am a Christian and I believe as Christians we should not shy away from our faith, but for some odd reason that comment has always bothered me. The only thing I can gather is that in every since, not just Creed, when a band does not state or claim to be apart of any genre of music, but because of their lyrics, background, or one comment they make, the media wants to label them. Though the members of Creed did state their faith and never denied any relation in interviews. That does not mean they were a Christian band.

Can a band have Christianity as a background or write Christian/religious style lyrics and not be considered a Christian band? Yes! If lyrics can label a band, then I guess Ozzy Ozbourne is a Christian artist as well. In his song, “I Don’t Want To Stop,” Ozzy says, “So many religions/but only one God/I don’t need another Savior.” Well, I guess according to the lyrics, Ozzy believes in God and has a savior, which is probably a reference to Jesus, then I could say he is a Christian artist--Right. Moreover, what sets Creed apart from the Christian label is that it would be difficult for a labeled Christian artist or group to sale 35 million albums in eight years, win a Grammy for Best Rock Song, spend weeks on the top 10 Billboard rock and mainstream charts, and their videos constantly being seen on VH1 and MTV, which this was all accomplished by Creed. Knowing anything about modern Christian music, even the big-ticket groups like Casting Crowns or Jars of Clays in their whole career, probably, won’t even get close to accomplishing what Creed has, and probably never will because Christian music, in general, has different goals for their music compared to most mainstream music--quality more than quanity. I said all that to say this: based on Creeds accomplishments, in no way was Creed ever a Christian band and to say they were is ridiculous and far from the truth.

Scott Stapp, singer and songwriter, of Creed once said, “When you see a cop and then later find out he is a Christian. Do you now refer to him as a Christian cop; of course not, you still call him a cop.”

Crumbling Foundation, Revisited

I am writing this in response to the comment on my blog, Crumbling Foundation. I appreciate all the positive responses that I received, Thank You. In one comment, I believe the point I was making was apparently misunderstood or overlooked; therefore, I feel I need to explain my point further. The whole point of my blog, Crumbling Foundation, was to state the fact that in America we have “In God We Trust” written on most of our currency, and that same phrase “In God We Trust” was made our national motto in 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Furthermore, that same phrase is in the final stanza of The Star-Spangled Banner and our Pledge of Allegiance states, “One Nation under God.” The point I was stressing in my blog, Crumbling Foundation, was that it is a shame that even in American the word, God, after all our history has included Him and is still including Him today; companies like Disney, as I used in my example in Crumbling Foundation, are to paranoid or scared to offend any one. That is sad thing when one word that has always been held as something precious in America is becoming nothing more then a curse word; however, companies like Disney do not have any problem taking money that has God written on. I believe that would be considered a double standard.

I completely agree on the commit about the congress of old, stating; not to be partial or bias to any religion, and that all religions are free to worship. However, you can not deny the historical fact of the strong Christian/Protestant movement that came to America for religious freedom, which in turn had a strong influence in the foundation of America.

Crumbling Foundation

Daily, I listen to 104.9 The River. The other day they (The River) had a commentary concerning the new animation movie, The Ten Commandments. In the commentary, The River mentioned that the person that heads up advertising for the movie approached Radio Disney about running an ad for the movie on their program. Well, after the producers for Radio Disney sampled the ad they mentioned to this gentleman, they would, only if, he would rewrite it and take out all the references to God in the ad. The gentleman from the movie then later commented in this commentary, "It is a sad thing, when in America, you can't even say God anymore." He is right, America's foundation was structured around Godly principles and this very country that was founded on His principles is excluding Him and that is a shame. I believe and I see a lot of Christians, including myself, are guilty of not reconizing or just ignoring these type of actions in our society and that is the biggest shame. We as Christians need to be more vocal about things, like what Radio Disney did, and make ourselves known and stop thinking there is nothing we can do. Everyone else in this country tends to stand up for what they believe and most of the time get results: Why can't we? Stand up for what we know is right: write letters, stop watching, stop lessoning, and stop buying into these programs. That is what we can do. ARE YOU PROUD TO BE A CHRISTIAN? ARE YOU PROUD THAT THIS COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED ON GODLY PRINCIPLES? THEN LET IT BE KNOWN!

Fulfillment

I am a Economic student at Ohio State University. I chose this major because seeing, predicting, and understanding economics trends has always came easy and interesting to me. Business is just business (numbers, numbers, numbers), but economics goes a little deeper. It answers the question; why and how business is business or why and how markets are markets or what elements drive buying, stocks, money, banking, importing, exporting, etc.

Although economics is something that interests me and a segment I stay in tune with, my true passion and love is music and everything about it: singing, writing, composing, listening, and playing; nothing else is more fulfilling.