God only knows

saw a documentary last night called ‘rock ‘n roll in the name of god’, about the christian pop scene in the usa. popular culture is christianity’s newest and most potent vehicle for spreading its message. christian pop has become a major booming business, music industry’s fastest-growing genre (in the usa) at the moment, with an estimated value of 1 billion $US a year. centered in nashville, labels take the most popular acts and styles of the moment and look for goodlooking teenagers who could make a christian equivalent of boybands or nu-metal groups. the documentary follows the young canadian group jake amongst others. it looked rather sectarian, with the teen artists being brainwashed and given media training to learn what to say when asked for their message. concerts of popular acts are usually followed by sermons of popular evengelists, who try to profit from the euphoric state the audience is in, or linked to political purposes, like the anti-abortion rally. meanwhile the bosses of popular christian record labels earn capitals, so i wonder if they still do it only to help spreading their faith or if they are also tempted by the evil temptation of profit.