Gospel Dreams, On the Gospel Channel

Originally Posted: Aug 2, 2008

Current mood:drained

I went to work out today for the first time since I had surgery in mid-May and while I was on the treadmill watching the Gospel Channel (don't ask... it was already on the single TV in there and the two other people in the room seemed to be enjoying it) and an promo ad for another one of their shows came on. It didn't really catch my attention at first because I thought it was a clip promoting some live gospel concert but then some judges appeared and they said "see who makes it to the next round of Gospel Dreams!". Now having my full attention, I gathered from the final few seconds of the ad that this show is mimicing that of American Idol, Britain's Got Talent and the like.

If you (the reader) know of and/or like this show and believe yourself to be religious... you may want to stop reading b/c I'm about to upset you...

I'm going to try to stay organized with this thought... but my anger/disbelief may get the better of me... ok... here we go.
First off, don't get me wrong...  I will never discourage anyone from praising God, but does it not seem wrong to have a show that has people compete for who can sing to GOD "the best"? Does it not also wrong to have people JUDGE the way you sing songs of worship. This ranks about as high up on my pet peeve chart as TV evangelists, Jumbotrons in churches (which I could go on about for hours) and robbing the elderly and homeless. The concept of this show is not only obsurd and just as degrading as American Idol but it also portrays worship through song as something reserved for only those that are gifted. Personally, I think the majority of people who sing professionally in the Gospel or Religious venue are basically the scam artists of the music industry but I can't see peoples true intentions so I'll let that go.

To sum up... I think "Gospel Dream" is a terrible concept that puts another black mark on "progressive" organized religion in general.