The Omnibus

Issue date: 4/22/04 Section: The Forum

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Pollster George Barna has uncovered a new twist in the debate over digital downloads that may hit a little too close to home for some Southwest Baptist University students.

Media Credit: Ben Cassil The amount of music college students download from the Internet has reached phenomenal proportions in recent years.

In a study conducted for the Gospel Music Association, Barna found Christian teens are pirating Christian music through downloads and CD burning at the same rate non-Christians are pirating secular music. Furthermore, the study found only 10 percent of Christian teens considered music piracy to be morally wrong. While Barna's study deals exclusively with teenagers, one has to wonder how the numbers would vary if the study looked at Christian college students.

In the majority of articles and studies on music piracy, college students have been identified as one of the most likely groups to commit piracy offenses. I imagine looking through the CD collections of many students on our campus would likely do little to dispel this notion.

It disturbs me that on such a hotly contested cultural issue, the church has again failed to take the high road. Christians preach about being in the world and not of it, yet in the midst of such a controversial and volatile situation, people inside the church find themselves just as guilty as those on the outside.

Many Christian college students have taken an attitude of indifference toward downloading and burning Christian CD's. Somewhere this generation has gotten the idea into their minds that the record industry owes them something and if the technology is available to obtain these albums, what is the harm in doing so?

The harm comes in stealing out of the pockets of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Many who are unacquainted with the music industry view all professional recording artists as mega-stars with a reserve of disposable income.

The sad fact is that with the current structuring of record contracts, very few artists are making an extravagant living from performing and recording music.

This is even more so the case in the Christian music world. Real people who are struggling to make a living and have the opportunity to minister to others have to work twice as hard to do so when their music is acquired via the Internet.

Last year, sales of Christian albums dropped 5.2 percent, and Christian record labels had to cut their work force by 10 percent. While there were other economic factors involved, downloading was the major component behind this trend. If you think no one is affected when you burn a CD you did not pay for, think again.

Some would argue downloading Christian music is not wrong because people should not have to pay to hear the gospel. While it is true that the gospel is free, we live in an age of commerce where its packaging often is not. While greed abounds in any business, there are many hard-working professionals in the Christian record industry whose job is providing people with a chance to hear the good news of Christ. Should they not be paid for their work?

This argument would be equivalent to saying stealing Bibles should be allowed because the gospel is free and anyone who would want to accept compensation for their work in publishing is selfish and greedy.

If the church seeks to lead by example in a world where apathy and selfishness abound, the trend Barna discovered must be reversed. We should be above acting like everyone else and realize the most rebellious and daring thing we could do is to discontinue the illegal pirating of music. If the law is not a strong enough deterrent for us, our witness to the world should be.

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