Indie Hipsters vs. Jesus

Pitchfork’s Chris Dahlen on why indie hipsters shouldn’t be hating Jesus:

[C]onsider the work of people who are described as ‘thinking Christians’ — a term that’s about as patronizing as ‘intelligent dance music,’ but let’s go with it for now. Take the quest for spirituality on Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, or the piety and humility of Sufjan Stevens’ Seven Swans, or to widen the circle, the furious morality of the abolitionist preacher in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, or the scene in Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me in which the reverend asks Mark Ruffalo’s drifter if he considers his life important. If we shun the religious content of these works, we’re missing their emotional and intellectual power.

The article is unfortunately a bit on the scanty side, and only skims the surface of an important discussion that should be occurring (if not in music circles, than certainly within Christian ones), but it’s good to see something out there in the public forum.