Politics in “Christian” Songs: Part III

Over the last couple of posts, I’ve written about politics and social commentary in “Christian” bands and songs, specifically metal, punk, and ska. I chose not to write about hip hop because that is another discussion altogether, one that I have written about before when discussing songs by Lecrae, Sho Baraka, and Propaganda. In his new book, He Saw That It Was Good, Sho Baraka writes about the ways that individuals view Jesus, and he comes to this point, even when discussing music such as CCM: “My assessment is that Black Christian expression, especially in its art, has never departed from the Jesus of justice. He is a savior who cares about pain, liberation, and provision.” This focus manifests itself in hip hop, and it does, on varying levels, in punk, metal, and ska, just not necessarily in the same manner. I grew up on these latter genres, in the white evangelical church, and that is why I have been focusing on these songs and bands.

mewithoutYou “The Dryness and the Rain” (2006)

On the surface, mewithoutYou is not an overtly political band that explicitly addresses issues throughout their work. They do this, of course, in various songs, most notably on the song “Cleo’s Ferry Cemetery” (2016) where Aaron Weiss sings, “There’s a cemetery deep below the sea, where I’ll hide from news of the GOP.” However, for the most part they are a band that…