Approaching Howard Stern
Published Mar 27, 2000
In the past few weeks, two different responses toward shock jock Howard Stern's television program emanated from the faith community. One was the tried and true approach of boycotting and pressuring advertisers to withdraw their sponsorship of the Stern program. The other was an even older approach first modeled by one who made it his habit to spend time with the spiritually sick, reasoning that it was they, not the spiritually fit, who most needed him.
One response
The first approach was that of a nationally known minister who used his program to highlight the continuing campaign to reduce the number of stations carrying the Stern program and inform advertisers of what the self-proclaimed king of all media is up to.
Indeed, the efforts of ministers and others who attempt to make their voices heard should be commended. It is certainly their right as American citizens to bring moral pressure to bear on talk show hosts, advertisers and guardians of the public airwaves. But if that is the only strategy the faith community has to offer, it will prove to be a hollow and unsatisfactory effort.
A different approach
The second response to Howard Stern was the appearance of a rock group made up of Christians who call themselves P.O.D., which stands for Payable On Death, and are signed to Atlantic Record. They appeared on Stern's program and actually earned a grudging respect from him in the process.
The members of P.O.D. may believe in the same God that the minister believes in, but their strategy couldn't be more different. One is reactionary, demanding that those who offer offensive views be silenced, albeit through the legitimate process of moral peer pressure. The other is rooted in the kind of aggressive and confrontational strategy that found early leaders of the Christian faith repeatedly before the Sanhedrin and other public institutions that were hostile to their faith.
Howard Stern has probably never met the minister protesting his show. He may never even have heard of him. But it's unlikely that Stern will soon forget P.O.D.
As the members of P.O.D lumbered into Stern's studio and put on their headphones to begin their session with the shock jock, they were sending an important message to the culture and the old guard of American evangelical Christianity: A culture that is abandoned will, by necessity, be devoid of the values we are commanded to represent.
The tired old idea that withdrawal and separation somehow transforms a culture is being frontally challenged by groups like P.O.D. who are taking their faith into the center of the naked public square and earning respect.
Stern begins to test
After asking one of the members of the group to show him his tattoo, one that featured Jesus no less, Stern began with his guests, noting in a voice filled with incredulity, "You guys don't (have sex with) your groupies and stuff. I was reading about you. You're young guys. I would be (having sex with) the groupies. But you guys are religious guys."
To be sure, Stern had fun with his guests as well, probably to see if their faith also included the ability to laugh at themselves, when he allowed two callers onto the show. One claiming to be Jesus Christ told the members of P.O.D. that they were now free to have sex with their groupies, while another purporting to be Satan, told them that he was having sex with their wives while they were on the road.
The tasteless jokes were vintage Stern, but the members of P.O.D. held their ground, and impressed their host with the strength of their convictions.
"You actually respect the chicks in your audience and you will not have sex with them (just for the sake of having it)," repeated Stern incredulously. "Well, that's unusual, that's a new point of view I gotta tell you...I respect you if you can do that."
A new point of view?
It may seem like a new point of view to Stern and millions of Americans, but only because of the cultural disappearing act that too many people of faith staged over the last 50 years resulting in their views not being aired in the public square. And as P.O.D. and a new generation come of age and reject philosophies of cultural separation and withdrawal, they will be following in the footsteps of great men like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Jewish captives in ancient Babylon, who stood tall for their faith amidst a culture of degradation and wild excess, and never used their faith as an excuse to withdraw from a culture into which they were divinely placed.
Click here to read the discussion and post your thoughts on this topic: Crosswalk.com Forums.
Click here to read other articles by Mark Joseph.
One response
The first approach was that of a nationally known minister who used his program to highlight the continuing campaign to reduce the number of stations carrying the Stern program and inform advertisers of what the self-proclaimed king of all media is up to.
Indeed, the efforts of ministers and others who attempt to make their voices heard should be commended. It is certainly their right as American citizens to bring moral pressure to bear on talk show hosts, advertisers and guardians of the public airwaves. But if that is the only strategy the faith community has to offer, it will prove to be a hollow and unsatisfactory effort.
A different approach
The second response to Howard Stern was the appearance of a rock group made up of Christians who call themselves P.O.D., which stands for Payable On Death, and are signed to Atlantic Record. They appeared on Stern's program and actually earned a grudging respect from him in the process.
The members of P.O.D. may believe in the same God that the minister believes in, but their strategy couldn't be more different. One is reactionary, demanding that those who offer offensive views be silenced, albeit through the legitimate process of moral peer pressure. The other is rooted in the kind of aggressive and confrontational strategy that found early leaders of the Christian faith repeatedly before the Sanhedrin and other public institutions that were hostile to their faith.
Howard Stern has probably never met the minister protesting his show. He may never even have heard of him. But it's unlikely that Stern will soon forget P.O.D.
As the members of P.O.D lumbered into Stern's studio and put on their headphones to begin their session with the shock jock, they were sending an important message to the culture and the old guard of American evangelical Christianity: A culture that is abandoned will, by necessity, be devoid of the values we are commanded to represent.
The tired old idea that withdrawal and separation somehow transforms a culture is being frontally challenged by groups like P.O.D. who are taking their faith into the center of the naked public square and earning respect.
Stern begins to test
After asking one of the members of the group to show him his tattoo, one that featured Jesus no less, Stern began with his guests, noting in a voice filled with incredulity, "You guys don't (have sex with) your groupies and stuff. I was reading about you. You're young guys. I would be (having sex with) the groupies. But you guys are religious guys."
To be sure, Stern had fun with his guests as well, probably to see if their faith also included the ability to laugh at themselves, when he allowed two callers onto the show. One claiming to be Jesus Christ told the members of P.O.D. that they were now free to have sex with their groupies, while another purporting to be Satan, told them that he was having sex with their wives while they were on the road.
The tasteless jokes were vintage Stern, but the members of P.O.D. held their ground, and impressed their host with the strength of their convictions.
"You actually respect the chicks in your audience and you will not have sex with them (just for the sake of having it)," repeated Stern incredulously. "Well, that's unusual, that's a new point of view I gotta tell you...I respect you if you can do that."
A new point of view?
It may seem like a new point of view to Stern and millions of Americans, but only because of the cultural disappearing act that too many people of faith staged over the last 50 years resulting in their views not being aired in the public square. And as P.O.D. and a new generation come of age and reject philosophies of cultural separation and withdrawal, they will be following in the footsteps of great men like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Jewish captives in ancient Babylon, who stood tall for their faith amidst a culture of degradation and wild excess, and never used their faith as an excuse to withdraw from a culture into which they were divinely placed.
Click here to read the discussion and post your thoughts on this topic: Crosswalk.com Forums.
Click here to read other articles by Mark Joseph.
Originally published March 27, 2000.
