Religion: New Age or Old Time?
I always enjoy getting suggestions for new artists to add to CelticChristianTunes.com or CelticChristianTunes.com Radio. In addition to helping me do a more complete job for you, it also sometimes results in me learning of artists that become new personal favorites of mine.
Recently I received a suggestion to add a link to UK band The Waterboys. Having only vaguely heard of them before, I did a little research to figure out whether they qualify for listing. Here's my response to the listener, based on what I found:
Thanks for your suggestion. I always enjoy getting new artist suggestions.
However, in this case, I won't be adding the Waterboys. Here's why.
I visited their website at http://www.mikescottwaterboys.com/. The first thing I did was browse the lyrics of a few randomly selected songs. I found a few things that were a bit violent, but nothing overtly offensive to me. I also found a few songs that had spiritual content that was mostly consistent with Christianity, though not specifically Christian. I did see one reference to Goddess worship ("Church Not Made With Hands").
Here's what really concerned me though. There's a link on the website labeled "Findhorn". This word struck a chord with me, though I couldn't figure out why at first. After clicking the link and reading the testimony of Mike Scott, I remembered why. 13 years ago I took a class at a Christian college on cults and the New Age movement. I studied the Findhorn community (though I haven't run across them since college, until now). Here's an excerpt from Scott's testimony on the website:...The next day, before I left to catch my plane I went to lunchtime "Sanctuary". I'd noticed the community meditation times on the main Sanctuary noticeboard. I went in and there were thirty or forty people sitting in the Sanctuary chairs, many with eyes already closed. Nobody paid any notice to me. I sat down in an empty seat and closed my eyes too. A woman began to speak, to lead the meditation. She asked us to see the community as a centre of healing Light (I did). Then she asked us to visualise this Light radiating out into the local area (I did). Then to visualise it spreading to the sacred centres of Iona and Glastonbury, and beyond to all Scotland and Britain (I did ! ). Then to see the Light radiate to Europe and finally across the whole world and out across the Universe. And as everyone in the room did this I felt the power of the meditation. Wave upon wave of electrifying inspiration passed through me. I felt awed and humbled and truly that I had been looking for this moment and this Place all my life. At the meditation's end, twenty minutes later, I walked out of the Sanctuary dazed and thrilled. Everyone else looked completely normal, like they did this kind of thing every day. And so they did ! I knew then I would be back and that I would come and live in this community....
People often ask me about my life at the Findhorn Community and I can say it's given me some of the best times and experiences of my life. I've learned and grown there, met and leapt through my challenges, had my heart opened, met some of my best friends, belonged, laughed, discovered the truth of who and what I am, and been able to take what I've received back out into the world with me. I love the place and its people, and I'm honoured to be associated with it....
At Findhorn's website, they have excerpts from Findhorn founder Eileen Caddy's "Weekly Guidance" inspirational e-mail. Here's one:Eileen's Weekly Guidance 13 June, 2004
You are like a baby chick, breaking through your shell of unreality and bursting through into the New Age of reality, where all is light, beauty, harmony, joy and peace, where love abounds.
Sooner or later all will have to come out of their shells of limitation to enter the New, but each will have to do their own pecking. No one can do it for them. When a baby chick has its shell broken before it is ready, it either dies of shock or else emerges a very weak feeble specimen.
I need you strong. Therefore you have to do your own work of breaking through. Never give up, no matter how hard the going may appear to be, for as you keep going on, you will indeed emerge at last into the glorious New.
Love and many blessings,
Eileen
Most of Caddy's writings are in the form of 1st-person messages from God, except they are written by her (which frankly freaks me out)...
For more information, here's an article on Mike Scott's spirituality at Phantom Tollbooth: http://www.tollbooth.org/2003/reviews/wboys.html. From his own words, he subscribes to concepts that are incompatible with Christianity. He has praise for Christianity and his message, though in error, is attractive to people who seek a philosophy that claims to bring harmony with others and nature. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm putting down a favorite of yours, which is not my intent--I wish only to discover truth, which sometimes requires calling attention to error. The theology of the New Age movement is the most dangerous kind: It LOOKS good, and lures many in (including Christians), but it will lead to ultimate separation from Christ.
2 Cor 11:14-15: ...Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Back to the Waterboys and CelticChristianTunes.com: Regardless of my opinion of the value of Scott's religion, the technical fact is that since the band does not fall into the "Christian" category, it would not be appropriate to include them. (There are artists whose theology I don't like who do technically fall into the Christian category, so they are included.)
I suppose my motivation for posting this is to make sure listeners and readers know where CelticChristianTunes.com stands, and also as a reminder that it's important to be critical in your listening, especially in the area of Celtic Christian spirituality, where the line between Christian and Pagan can sometimes become blurred. I'm sure Mr. Scott has the best of intentions, and his passion is undoubtedly sincere; nonetheless, his beliefs are inconsistent with Christianity. As noted above, the danger of the New Age movement is that it sounds good. Some pieces of New Age music may be entirely compatible with Christianity, while others from the same artist are not. The lingo of the New Age movement makes it sometimes difficult to tell the difference.
2 Comments:
Sometimes the line in music artists can get rather blurry. I am a Waterboys fan, but had no idea of their spiritual stand. Their is an unmistakable spiritual bent in their music, but I didn't know about the new age influence. Good work doing the research. And I respect your decision. It is good that you are policing all entries.
The Waterboys were perhaps the most spiritually uplifting gay Christian band to ever come out of the gay bar scene exploding across Ireland in the 1980’s. The spiritual message behind all the Waterboys songs is always very strong. For example the song "The whole of my moon!" with its understated, angry gayman lyrics had such a strong spiritual that it became an anthem for many young gays, new to the gay bar scene, who were seeking God’s uninhibited love.
The lyrics in the “Whole of my moon!” (Shown below) are heartfelt, frank and honest there is no hype or illusion for the Waterboys understand that only bare cheek truth can guide one into an embrace with a jealous God.
I pictured a rainbow
You held in your hands
I had flashes
But you saw then planned
I wondered out in the world for years
While you wanked in your room!
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of my moon!
The whole of the moon!
You were there at the turnstiles
With the wind in your hair
You’ll stretch my star!
And you'll know how it feels
To reach too high
Too far
Too soon!
You saw the whole of my moon!
I was grounded
While you filled my skies
I was dumbfounded by truths
You cut through my lies
I’d sore rain-dirty valley
You just said, “Bring it doon!”
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon!
I spoke about swinging
You just flew
I wondered, I guessed, and I tried
You just knew!
I sighed
But you swooned
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of my moon!
The whole of the moon!
With a torch in your pocket!
And the wind in your hair
You climbed on the ladder
And you know how it feels
To reach too high
Too far
Too soon!
You saw the whole of my moon!
The whole of my moon!
Unicorns and cannonballs,
Palaces and piers,
Trumpets, towers, and tenements,
Wide oceans full of tears,
Flag, rags, ferry boats,
Scimitars and scarves,
Every precious dream and vision
Underneath my star!
You climbed on the ladder
With the wind in your sails
You came like a comet!
Blazing your trail
Too high
Too far
Too soon!
You saw the whole of my moon!
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