international news _ 18th April, 2006
God Save the Teen- Jesus Christ's Punk Revolution
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com) _ Photo by Danny Clinch
The Sunday Times suggested this week that more and more wayward British teens are embracing religious extremism as 'the ultimate form of rebellion' in response to the secular liberal values of their parents and mainstream society.
"A lot of people utterly despise religion, don't they?" Myfanwy Franks, a writer who has interviewed many converts, told the paper, "To convert to Islam or Christianity is really the punk rock of the modern age."
Her comments matched those of dance culture visionary Moby, who raised the same issue eleven years earlier in a Muzik magazine feature about young evangelicals using rave culture to communicate their message.
"(Jesus) Christ was very confrontational, almost anarchic, he was kind of a punk rocker," Moby told Jonty Skrufff. "Some of Christian culture is beginning to accept that interpretation and from that acceptance is emerging an extreme, left wing, socially active Christian culture."
The then struggling producer revealed his beliefs saw him alienated from conservative Christians as well as secular revellers, including some who snubbed him when they discovered his faith.
"I don't understand why seemingly open-minded tolerant people become fascist bigots when they find out your religion," he complained, "It seems Christianity is the one topic people still feel comfortable being bigoted about."
In worse news for God-fearing folk, the results of a massive study examining the power or prayer were published last week which included the startling revelation that strangers praying for ill people could actually make them worse.
1,800 heart patients in the States were examined in the 10 year study which discovered that 59% of patients who were told they were definitely being prayed for developed complications, while just 52% who said they might be, got worse.
Study author Charles Bethea speculated that 'prayer teams' of unknown people might alarm people into thinking their situation was worse than they realised (The Guardian).
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