The question posed to LU English majors

The debate among the LU English majors

    Flannery O'Connor, Catholic author of short stories such as "A Good Man is Hard to Find" summarizes a prevailing viewpoint-- that Christian literature sucks. "Poorly written novels-- no matter how pious or edifying the behavior of the characters-- are not good in themselves and are therefore not really edifying." To counter the immediate objection that some Christians will have, she adds that "we have plenty examples in this world of poor things being used to good purposes. God can make any indifferent thing, as well as evil itself, an instrument of good; but I submit that to do this is the business of God and not of any human being."

    One of my professors, Dr. K Prior, supports this and claims that "developing a taste for aesthetic goodness helps to develop a taste for moral goodness." She even goes so far as to ask, "Is bad taste a sin?" She cites as a reference the fact that in the Bible, the word God uses for "good" includes both aesthetic and moral goodness.

    All the really smart English majors who are hippy and scornful and wear hair accessories like bandanas and braids agree with O' Connor. I, who have no distinct style and employ sarcasm frequently and wear my hair in a ponytail and read all the time, do not know if I agree. You see, just like some of you like bad music and know it's bad, I will read a poorly written book and still enjoy the experience-- not necessarily the story line or the poorly written character but the mere experience of reading. I do find myself enjoying this less and less, and prefer to read of experience outside the realm of Christian lady and Christian man finding each other (because it's never that easy-- as my friend Melissa said to me the other day, "I've stopped searching for the mature, sincere Christian man because every time I've found one, he disappears when we leave church.") Maybe I am developing my aesthetic taste at a more increased pace....

   A debate is going on at ragamuffinsoul.com about something sort of similar. Click here to read it.  As I read through all the comments and replies to this letter, one thing kept sticking out to me: the author does not appreciate Christian praise and worship songs for several reasons: 1) Christian praise and worship is birthed from a narrow viewpoint and appeals to a narrow audience, 2) employs cliches and remains unoriginal, 3) is not culturally relevant, 4) is poorly written. (Disclaimer: I read the letter and debate once, am now unable to access it, and have therefore quite probably infused my own color into the author's opinions) Personally, I share Stephen's linguistic aspirations and am also quite sensitive to words. I, too, find many contemporary worship songs unappealing because they don't say anything. When I express myself to my Creator in and through music, I want to tell Him something, and I want to tell it well. 

    This really makes me consider the question.

    "Is bad taste a sin?"

     Possibly. What do you think?