After I changed my profile, I decided to click on it and see if anyone else also claimed to be a Heretical Christian. Sure enough, there are three of us (and all from Australia!)

But that’s not the topic of this blog post. Merely some back story to how it came about.

One of the other Heretical Christians had a note on his profile mourning the passing of Larry Norman. I immediately thought of the man commonly referred to as the Father of Christian Rock, and sure enough, some Googling later and it was confirmed. Larry Norman passed away at the end of February.

Growing up, Christian Rock was the soundtrack to my life. I’ve hosted several Christian Rock radio shows and went to many concerts in the late 80s and early 90s.

Links lead me to that great absorber of time: Wikipedia. From the Larry Norman article I jumped to the Jesus People article and from there to the Music sub-section. There was a list of my musical influences through the 80s: Barry McGuire, Second Chapter of Acts, Servant, Petra, Resurrection Band, Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, Randy Matthews, and Andraé Crouch as well as Keith Green and Larry Norman who have both now passed away.

Petra! Wow! Now there is my biggest most favorite Christian Rock act. I think reading about them is what’s really inspired this post: Petra decided to call it a day back at the end of 2005. More than two years ago, my favorite band pulled the plug and I didn’t know. Larry Norman passed away a couple of weeks back and I only found out by chance.

Just two weeks back I scoured the internet for mention of a Melbourne band from the late 80s and early 90s, “Joint Heirs” and can find no trace. I assume they disbanded many years ago and are now playing in their local church bands (if you have any info at all, please let me know).

Today’s Christian rockers are not the anti-establishment “Jesus People” of the 60s and 70s. They’re an accepted and popular part of today’s church. Yesterday’s rebels are now the music ministers at their churches and the rebels are .. well .. suppressed by acceptance.
Anyway, this post mourns the passing of my musical influences, in particular Larry Norman, Petra and Joint Heirs. Right now I’m off to see if I can find Petra’s amazing “Captured in Time and Space” on iTunes or anywhere else then I’ll crank it up and re-live my younger days.

I think the only thing that annoys me more than their virulence is the fact that most of them do not believe the message they preach. Which means that they’re not only trying to force everyone to their way of thinking, but they’re doing so without fully understanding what it is that they think they’re thinking.

What do I mean? Try this: find a reasonable, thinking person, willing to admit when they’re wrong, who has claimed to be an atheist. Then quiz them on what that actually means to them*. Have they totally and forever excluded the merest possibility of there being a higher being? Are they so convinced that it would be something they’d die before recanting? Thought so. Most people (not all) that claim atheism don’t truly believe it. They’re actually agnostic.

a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god – M-W dictionary

Once they’ve realised they don’t hold to atheism quite as strongly as they first thought, offer them an alternative: agnosticism. The view that they don’t know and probably never will know. Maybe then they’ll stop the proselytizing.

* Should regular quizzing not produce the desired results, try the rack, the iron maiden, or even .. the comfy chair

Edit 2007-10-05: Fixed typo in the title. Thanks Chicken Girl!
Edit 2007-10-06: Fixed another typo. Thanks Hon!

From “A Survival Guide for Ecumenically Minded Christians” by Father Tom Ryan CSP, NOVALIS 1989