Christian teens are stealing Jesus music
Beginning with one of the best ledes I've seen in a long time,
Christian teens are stealing Jesus music
this Seattle Times article tells the sordid tale of Christians pirating inspirational music.
The findings were a jolt to many in the evangelical music industry, who expected churchgoing teens to be mindful of the commandment that states, "Thou shalt not steal."
"I'm surprised and disappointed that the behavior isn't that ardently different between Christians and non-Christians," said John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association, the leading trade group for evangelical music.
While downloading a Metallica song and putting a metaphorical finger in the eye of Lars Ulrich might give one a certain frisson of excitement; stealing the Word of the Lord should provoke a slightly bigger "hey, wait a damn minute" from the conscience. Or at least make you reassess your commitment to the moral system that motivated the musicians whose music you're stealing.
[hat tip: Sophont.]
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In my humble, non-pious
In my humble, non-pious opinion, the problem here (insofar as there is a problem) is that Christanity is as much a lifestyle and ontology as it is a moral system. When one gets caught up in ontological justifications for why the world is the way it is, and moves within a lifestyle niche (such as the Jesus Music fan community, or even a tight-knit church community), it's awfully easy to forget about the moral stuff, or edit it when convenient.
Of course, the ontological and community aspects of religion are much of the reason people go to church in the first place: they're the popcorn and the moral teachings are the peanuts, to paraphrase P.T. Barnum, but it's too bad when such epiphenomena overshadow the moral teachings which are the reason for the other stuff.
At least this particular triumph of ontology over morality doesn't involve someone named Thomas de Torquemada.
Um, either that or dowloaders
Um, either that or dowloaders don't consider it stealing?
Greg, sure, except that
Greg, sure, except that everyone knows that it is, even when it isn't.
... well, I should caveat
... well, I should caveat that. Of course not all downloading is stealing, but most people old enough to know right from wrong know that downloading music that isn't explicitly earmarked as a free download is, in fact, stealing in some regard.
Regardless of whether the stealing the Christian kids are doing is actually hurting the artists whose tracks are being downloaded is in this case irrelevant because of four words: Thou Shalt Not Steal.