When I posted my last blog article on bad Sacred Music I had several Protestants try and [sic] tell me that it was never used in Church, but that it was just for entertainment. Well here it is being used by two clowns in a Protestant "church". I guess they think it is edifying to have people watch them act like two fools in a "church" with bad music playing. The one below has a guy rapping in a "church" service.(source) Let's examine these statements.
1) The criticism to which Bellisario is referring is the criticism that the rap music video he posted was entertainment, not worship. Neither of the two videos that Bellisario has now posted are worship either. Both are for entertainment rather than worship. So, unfortunately, Bellisario hasn't found a solution to his problem.
2) Yes, both videos are taken from within a Baptist (or at least it appears to be Baptist) church sanctuary. However, neither is during a worship service. What Bellisario may not realize is that many folks don't view the interiors of church buildings as though they possessed some special aura of spirituality, such that they can never be used for anything but worship. One wonders whether Bellisario would think that even Catholicism was so rigid.
3) Bellisario's claim with regard to the second video in his post just isn't even true, as he would have discovered if he had taken the 30 seconds necessary to check out the information associated with the video, which explains that the performance was during an annual Thanksgiving talent show. Likewise, the first video's information also indicates that it is from a non-worship service, namely the end of a kids' summer camp.
4) Given Bellisario's apparent view that rap music is such a degradation, one wonders whether Bellisario has bothered to note that rap music is not the exclusive domain of non-papists. Upon whom will Bellisario blame the following video, and to what will Bellisario attributes its degradation from that ultimate expression of musical genius, the Gregorian chant?
Here's another video that demonstrates that the video above is not an isolated case:
Oh, and could this be an example of someone actually rapping inside of a "Catholic" church? I could be wrong, but that big metal object in the background looks rather like a tabernacle.
5) If Bellisario searched long enough he could probably find someone who had decided to incorporate a rap performance into a church service. In my view, that would be a travesty indeed - there is no place for performance in the middle of worship service. It would indeed be a degradation of worship, not because rap is such an inferior kind of music, but because God has not asked to be worshiped through performance art. On the other hand, given the lunacy one sees among the "Call to Action" types (and the like - do I even need to post the videos?) within Catholicism, I wouldn't be surprised if some folks who are still part of the Roman communion have done the same thing.
-TurretinFan
