[Dumb_Ox]

MacMillan is a Scottish classical composer. His justified polemics were in the news a few weeks back, and this is the article from which they were taken.

[Mad Dawg]

I would counsel taking it easy on the hysterics. The Gates of Hell ain't gonna prevail against us, much less banal music and meretricious lyrics.

[TommyDale]

Bad music is not limited to one church, but is universally accepted these days.

[jkl1122]

All music created by mechanical instruments is without authority in Christian worship.

[Oberon]

"Bad Music is Destroying the Church."

Sorry...it'll take more than that.

Actually I'm not sorry at all.

[dirtboy]

Bad Music is Destroying the Church

Yeah, they haven't had a decent album since Starfish.

[Jeff Chandler]

"Cultural vandalism" describes it perfectly.

[redgolum]

It isn't just the music. There is good and bad taste in tunes, but the real problem is the theology of the songs. I am a Lutheran and our hymns have been rightly called "singing icons" in that the old hymns really teach theology to tune. The old Catholic hymns used to.

Now, they sound like so much pop culture pablum, and at times are not only bad theology but 100% out of phase. So going back to the old hymns is a good idea.

[bobjam]

All music was, at some point, contemporary music.

The purpose of music is to support the people's worship. In another words, the musicians serve to help lead worship. They are not there to put on a concert- whether rock or classical or vocal- in the middle of the service.

[tiki]

As a convert, I missed all the so-called beautiful, worshipful music of the past, but with the voices we have in our small parish they would butcher them if they sang them now. There is one woman who can sing a passable Ave Maria when she's on but when she's not, you cry for the wrong reason.

[Blind Eye Jones]

I'm waiting for the day the church adopts "Jesus Christ Superstar" as part of their repertoire... "who in the hell do you think you are" for secularists and Marxists to sing along to. That might get these people in the door and then the conversion starts...

Actually, I really don't put too much stock in music to change lives or the world. It didn't work for John Lennon. Music is a great comfort but the spirit behind it could be anything, not necessarily the short-hand of the holy spirit. To say one form is good and another bad is in some ways to miss the point -- pure music can never express qualities such as love, tenderness or grace. We get those cues mostly from lyrics. Forms in themselves are meaningless.

[VOA]

I loved the comment by a Freeper (whose name I don't remember) on modern
church music:

"If it's been written since 1965, it's crap!"

[F.J. Mitchell]

Bad music is destroying Nashville, TN, Too.

[hemogoblin]

self ping

[siunevada]

Judging by the posts, bad church music seems to be a truly ecumenical subject.

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All That Is Hidden (Bernadette Farrell)
Allelu! (Ray Repp)
Be Not Afraid (Bob Dufford SJ)
Been So Busy (Grayson Warren Brown)
Big God (Sarah Hart; Twila McBride-LaBar)
Bionic Son (Chris Padgett; Bradley DeRosia)
Blinded (Greg Walton)
Brand New Day (Curtis Stephan)
Fish With Me (Ken Canedo)
For Your Love (Tom Kendzia)
Freedom (Trevor Thomson)
Gloria In Excelsis (Curtis Stephan)
Glory And Praise To Our God (Dan Schutte)
Go Make A Difference (Steve Angrisano; Tom Tomaszek)
Green Light (Julie Hoy)
Hail Mary, Gentle Woman (Carey Landry)
Here I Am, Lord (Dan Schutte)
I Will Choose Christ (Tom Booth; Ed Bolduc)
Just Like You (Matt Maher)
Just Live It (Tom Booth; Matt Maher)
Love Has Come (Ed Buldoc; Matt Maher)
On Eagle's Wings (Michael Joncas)
Open My Eyes (Jesse Manibusan)
Our God Is Good (Cooper Ray; Joshua Blakesley)
Our God Is Here (Chris Muglia)
Pencil In Your Hand (Bob Halligan, Jr.)
Pescador de Hombres / Lord You Have Come (Cesáreo Gabaráin)
Prayer of St. Francis (Sebastian Temple)
Sing Of The Lord's Goodness (Ernest Sands; Christopher Walker; Paul Inwood)
Stomp (Bob Halligan, Jr.; Rick Cua)
Sweet Redeemer (Steve Angrisano; Sarah Hart)
Trading My Sorrows (Darrell Evans)
Tú Estás (Frankie González; Andy Andino; Elvin Negrón)
Your Grace Is Enough (Matt Maher)



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[kawaii]

Oi.

You modernists still use that Organ.

;p

(Orthodox, and quite happy with church music)

[Dajjal]

Kumbaya bump

[Gotterdammerung]

Rock musicians have hijacked the faith. Seems like everybody's got Jesus these days.

[x]

Bad Religion is destroying the music, too.

[Cogadh na Sith]

I played the bagpipe at a wedding in a Catholic Church. I am not Catholic, but I grew up in New Mexico and have great respect for the faith.

The bride asked me: "Is the music Liturgical?"

I said: "Yes. Yes it is."

I have no ideal....

[kittymyrib]

"Many of those who were not subdued into a state of quietism defected to Anglican and Lutheran parishes where their skills as organists, choral directors and singers were greatly appreciated."

This was obviously before most Lutheran churches had regressed into the current rampant hootenanism of happy-clappy "praise songs" that are so bad that I can picture God putting His fingers in His ears. Lutherans trading their magnificent musical heritage of Bach and Johann Franck and Martin Luther for today's light-weight ditties brings to mind Esau, trading his birth-right for a bowl of stew. It is to weep.