Posted: 9/5/03
Ministers suspected among
best-known music pirates
By John Hall
Texas Baptist Communications
Freely downloading songs or copying albums without artists' permission is like stealing a Bible, according to Christian music insiders: Good motives don't excuse illegal acts.
Christian music industry leaders largely blame piracy for the current decline in Christian music sales. And they say ministers may be among the best-known pirates.
John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association, cited anecdotal evidence to support the notion that ministers commonly download material for their programs without permission.
Many ministers try to keep their services and activities up to date with the latest contemporary Christian hits without realizing the example they set for their congregations, according to contemporary Christian artist Shaun Groves, a Tyler native. “It's like saying I have to break the law to do my ministry.”
That sends youth the message that illegal downloading is acceptable, Groves argued. “They're going, 'If my youth minister does it, it must be OK.'”
On another level, downloading music violates ministerial ethics, according to Joe Haag, director of program planning for the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission.
Illegally obtaining music is similar to using someone else's sermons or ideas without permission or accreditation, he argued. “One of the points of ministerial ethics is you don't plagiarize other people's stuff.”
Groves and Styll believe this issue largely is an education problem where ministers, and Christians in general, do not realize downloading songs freely through peer-to-peer Internet sites is illegal unless artists give permission for their material to be shared.
Bill Tillman, ethics professor at Logsdon School of Theology in Abilene, argued the problem is more foundational in American society: People covet what others have.
“In our society, we aren't very well schooled in the notion that someone else's idea is theirs,” he said.
Groves and Todd Agnew, whose initial release from his debut album rose to No. 1 on the Christian pop charts, said they empathize with believers who want to use the music to reach their friends.
“You tell me your story, I'll send you a CD,” Agnew said. “Whatever you need to reach that person.”
But piracy is against a law Christians are called to faithfully uphold, Groves reminded.
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