Day #4

Saw David Bazan last night.

This is a guy who, essentially, just wrote a 'breaking-up-with-God' record, and yet i have many Christian friends who went to this show and, if I'm not to bold to assume so, seemed genuinely inspired by his honesty and harsh perception of the challenge of faith. Believe me, between his lyrics and the occasional one-liner between songs, he did not pull any punches, and it is somewhat uncomfortable to approach these topics.

I don't really want to prove him wrong and misguided here, but I'd rather explore, just a bit, the strange fascination believers seem to have with disbelief.

Could it be that Xtian subculture doesn't really provide an atmosphere in which the doubter feels welcome? In the case of music, I've gone to many concerts in which performers who fancy themselves believers will sing out about their great love for their God. They'll lead thousands into rapturous states of worship and praise. I can imagine It would be very unpopular to present a song or speech about doubt...real, genuine doubt that rears its head day by day...to this crowd who would prefer affirmation to a contradiction.

I guess the fact that David Bazan inspires so many of my believing friends is because he opens up the discussion about doubt, and lets us ponder God in a very human way. Maybe some people, like Jacob, first need to wrestle the angel.

There were, however, some people at the show who don't feel the same way about the effect of Bazan's music. During the show, a kid in the crowd asked Bazan if he had any philosophers or theologians that he would recommend they read. a fair question, i thought; but my sentiments weren't by the hipsters in the corner who denied Bazan a chance to answer by responding to this kid's question with boo's.

This got to me. This music has clearly inspired someone to seek out the writer's opinions on other subjects. sure, maybe some more tact could have been exercised, but I don't think anyone should be berated for being galvanized by music that wrestles with spiritual issues. These hecklers, who clearly fancy themsleves the gatekeepers of indie rock decorum, are probably the same kind of people who will whine about like how they used to be MGMT fans before they got all popular and mainstream. Never mind being happy because they were nominated for a Grammy, right?

phew...I promise this wont become a rant blog. But you know....it'll hit the fan sometimes. I just wish scenes could become a little less polarizing...within and without.