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You know I think Chris Sligh is uncomfortable because he is struggling inside with his fundamental Christian roots. He was raised conservative fundamental Christian and knows that he has put himself on the stage and is probably wondering if he has done the right thing.

WTH are you talking about? What's unChristian about what he's doing?

Most of us wouldn't call it unChristian, but his mom and dad might, being extreme fundamentalists. After all, Chris is up there on stage (Heavens forbid!) dancing...sort of. And staying in a hotel that has a bar. And being in close proximity to loose women (Paula and Antonella.)

I'm sorry I can't recall too many specifics from his MySpace. I got the impression that he's maybe not so much arrogant in tone as insecure and complaining, but anyway, he has problems dealing with who he is and where he's going...not unlike millions of other 20-somethings. It seems on MySpace he talked about lots of jobs that he quit because he didn't like the boss. He even quit a church music ministry because they brought in a new music director. Lots of personality conflicts in this young man's life.

Being raised "apart", (and abroad--in Germany--where at age 16 his "best friend" was a 28 year old soldier who had been "saved" by Chris's dad's ministry) in the strict fundamentalist tradition, it seems he does not have the people skills that "heathen" kids might have. He might as well be Amish, or something.

In his blog, he came across to me as being very whiny. And strangely undisciplined. He said in his blog two years ago that his main goal was to lose weight. Instead, he has gained weight.

There is definitely a conflict with where he is now and where family expected him to be. To make things worse, he has an older, favored brother who is following the dad in ministry.

I guess you would call it a huge chip on Chris's shoulder. IOW, this guy is hard to get along with. How would that translate, touring the country with 9 free spirits?

Enough of my psychologizing for tonight.

Chris Sligh has a good voice and I wish him luck. (But wait...fundamentalists don't believe in luck.) So then, I wish him good karma. (Something Sanjaya has.)

Thanks for the kindly worded reply. Chris went to Bob Jones University for most of his college years. His parents are very fundamental from what I have read and I would guess that there is a conflict going on inside of him. Maybe not. He seems very uncomfortable on stage when he is not singing and when he tries to move around kind of dancing, it's not so good, if you know what I mean. I just think he is in a venue where he is not as comfortable as he would like to be. His remarks and movements both kind of indicate that. Just my take on what I have seen of him on the show. Not a dig, just an observation--which could be entirely wrong.

It's kind of like when I watch Chris, I think of the old saying, "You can take the boy out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy." I think he's a great singer, but is just not producing like he could or should be to make a great impression on AI.

Everytime I see "AI" in reference to American Idol, I have to chuckle--I grew up on a dairy farm and "AI" sure didn't refer to American Idol! LOL! I>