For decades, mocking the “moral panics” of the Religious Right has been a favorite pastime of progressives. The squares with their old-fashioned hair, prim language, and schoolmarm warnings about sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll who decried the insidious influence of the entertainment industry have been sneered at as only losers can be. Even many Christians hasten to embrace cultural relevance and assert that they are not as puritanical as their clear-eyed but unpopular predecessors.
The Religious Right certainly lost the culture. But it is worth pointing out that they were correct about everything. From our vantage point at the bottom of the slippery slope they warned us about, that fact is obvious to anyone with eyes to see. They were right about the sexual revolution. They were right about drugs. They were right about pornography. And while it is unpopular to point out, they were also right about rock ‘n roll.
“Rock ‘n roll,” incidentally, is slang for “sex in a car” (which is why I have always found the phrase “Christian rock ‘n roll” so bizarre). From “Elvis the Pelvis” to the Rolling Stones, the songsters of the sexual revolution offered up their anthems to a culture in revolt and acted as Pied Pipers to their legions of screaming fans. Two generations later, and it is considered passe, if not puritanical, to point out that the most popular singers of our own era make those trailblazers seem as innocent as the folk-singing Carter Family.
A brief scan of recent headlines emphasizes that fact. Sean “Diddy” Combs, a global hip-hop titan with millions of young fans, was acquitted this week on charges of sex trafficking for his infamous, celebrity-studded sexual “freak-offs,” in which women were abused in days-long drug-fueled orgies. The depravity of these events has captured the attention—and one suspects the imagination—of the press over the past weeks. But nobody is shocked by these evils—and why should they be?
The behavior of Combs is what we now expect from the titans of the entertainment industry. The Religious Right was accused of being prudish in their critiques of sexually charged performances, but they were merely prophetic. The sexual undertones of many Sixties singers are long gone—today’s stars specialize in crude, carnal, and pornographic passion. P. Diddy’s lyrics are so vile and explicit that I will not quote any here.
Older readers may recall that pastors and Christian commentators were frequently written off as hysterical for warning that there were hints of the demonic in much of modern music. Now, the demonic is a regular feature of major music award performances, and nobody bats an eye. The LGBT artist Sam Smith can perform his hit “Unholy” with a swarm of back-up dancers dressed as devils while simulating sex acts, and few can muster up outrage. If anything, the demonic is now so normal that critics mostly express boredom.
It isn’t just Smith. Lady Gaga has given explicitly demonic performances; the rapper Lil Nas X put out a music video in which he descends to hell to give Satan a lap dance and released “Satan shoes” featuring a pentagram and a drop of human blood. It is true that the Satanic, even when embraced, glorified, and commercialized for massive audiences, no longer causes a “moral panic.” But again, it is worth noting: The Religious Right saw it coming, and clearly. It’s just that now, nobody cares.
It is hard to shock a culture whose entertainers are so proudly wicked. Earlier this month, pop star Lily Allen boasted on a podcast that she has had so many abortions she can’t even recall the exact number of pre-born children she sent into eternity. “Abortions. I’ve had a few, but then again, I can’t remember exactly how many,” Allen sang—appropriately, to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way.” She guessed four or five. The interviewer apparently found this hilarious.
Why is this worth noting? Because cultural accommodation and relevance has become the default approach for many Christians. Many fill their playlists with songs by men and women who not only live the sort of vile private lives that P. Diddy so notoriously reveled in but promote those lifestyles in the music millions pump into their ears. Music, as philosophers from Plato to Roger Scruton have noted, is one of the most powerful forces on earth. The Religious Right recognized that, too. We would do well to belatedly heed their warnings.
