So…the Death of God might not be as complete and a done deal as Loretta Lynn feared. The Death of God movement in the 1960s upset people. I remember sitting in a laundromat in Janesville, Wisconsin during my 7th grade teaching internship. It was a Saturday morning and I was drying my laundry. I think I was looking at the Time magazine cover story about God’s Death. A late middle-aged woman started talking to me and said that God wasn’t dead. She couldn’t believe that people were thinking such thoughts.
Well Aussie Keith Urban might not be born again. He might not know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. But his latest hit single God Whispered Your Name seems to suggest that The Death of God, like Mark Twain’s death, might have been exaggerated. It’s almost like for all the recent We live in a post Christian culture is a touch overstated. Yes. Fewer U.S. citizens identify as Christians. Yes. Traditional denominational bonds are weakening. Folks don’t identify as Baptist, Methodists, Church of Christ as much as years ago.
BUT….Conservative Evangelical Christianity still is alive and kicking even outside The Bible Belt. We don’t need to get into U.S. Presidential politics, but Conservative Evangelical Christians helped Donald Trump be elected in 2016 and continue to support him in large numbers. It’s also true that Country Music often deals with themes that make Conservative Christian Evangelicals feel comfortable. Carrie Underwood sang Jesus Take The Wheel.
She suggested that this earthly existence was just her Temporary Home. Underwood also suggested in Smoke Break that It’s hard to be a good mom, and good wife, and a good Christian. Craig Campbell’s Outskirts of Heaven. We shouldn’t forget that Keith Urban also made a strong Conservative Evangelical Christian reference by referring to John 3:16 in John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16. The lyrics not only include John 3:16 but other terms familiar and comforting…think BAPTIZED and SAVED to Conservative Evangelical Christians.
You get the picture. Conservative Evangelical Christianity STILL appeals to a large number of the U.S. population and the Country Music audience in particular. It goes along with the tension between heaven and hell tension that Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary mentioned. It also goes right along with my friend Randy Williams soon to be completed PhD dissertation at Tennessee Tech University that we featured in an earlier Country Underground Australia.
By mid-August it continued climbing to as high as number 6 on Bob Kingsley Country Top 40 Countdown with Fitz weekly syndicated radio program. I heard it on the Sunday inspirational radio program Rise Up Country in mid-August. It’s charted a high as number 4 in the Australian iTunes listing. In Canada it made it as high as number 5 right when released in late February 2020. Not quite so good though in the UK at number 80 for just two days. I guess you could say that the Church of England doesn’t promote Bible belief and ideas that Conservative Evangelical Christianity does in the United State and the Bible Belt in Particular.
Let’s look at God Whispered Your Name not just for its popularity and as a typical Country Music love song but as a subtle stand-in, a substitute for, reinforcing Conservative Evangelical Christian beliefs. Aussie readers…and other outside the United States…most likely need some help since we’re dealing with something like a foreign language to them. Let’s break it down ala’ actress Ruby Keeler’s Take a Little One-Step from the musical No No Nanette Take a little one-step, two-step, three-step, then a little dip, like this.
Let’s keep it simple and make it a total of four steps. We’ll cut it down from a typical twelve step rehabilitation program. That means God Whispered Your Name is only 33.3% as demanding. We’ll understand God Whispered Your Name and its connection to Conservative Evangelical Christianity in a lot-less time and effort. We’ll spare you all the zany details that might make Conservative Evangelical Christianity even more confusing. Call it Conservative Evangelical Christianity for Dummies.
Step 1: Admit God exists. There is a higher power in control of things. It isn’t exactly Genesis 1 and all of the trappings of the Old and New Testament. It’s kind of an easy acceptable Big Guy/Big Gal…note the gender inclusiveness…in the sky without all the thorny theological details. Folks from Conservative Evangelicals to Unitarians and nebulous Great Spirit believers can enjoy.
Step 2: God acts in people’s lives. She…ooops let’s use HE…since Conservative Evangelical Christians still tend to think God is a male…isn’t an abstraction. God isn’t even The Watchmaker that Deists think set things in motion, let the universe run, and doesn’t interfere. God can talk to you when you read the Bible. Since God acts in people’s lives that means you can also talk directly to God through prayer. Then God can respond and make things happen. God’s son Jesus cares about you and loves you just like he … loves the little children of the world. Red and yellow, black, brown white, they’re all precious in his sight…
Step 3: You’re lost without God. You need God and his son Jesus to save you. We’ve all gone astray and are lost. We need to be born again by accepting Jesus into our heart. Of course, we’re all so badly flawed that we don’t deserve salvation. It’s a gift. It’s GRACE. It’s Amazing Grace. You’re never Good Enough to deserve salvation, being born-again, but God and his son Jesus still come through.
Step 4: Praise God! You’ve got to do things to let folks know that God has changed your life. You’re going to let your light shine. ( ) You’re going to tell others. You’re going to sing and shout it out. You’re going to be baptized to show you’ve committed your life to Jesus.
That’s it. Four easy steps. Four easy payments for folks who buy things on the Home Shopping Network.
Now let’s check God Whispered Your Name again. Keith Urban begins by admitting he was so cold and lost…couldn’t bear the cross and knew he needed to change but just couldn’t seem to there was no way, no way. Then God intervened by personally communicating her name. Yes, I know that’s hetero-normative. It assumes a male and female relationship. But that’s what virtually all Conservative Evangelical Christians expect.
Did it change Keith’s life. Amen brothers and sisters! Keith says talk about being saved. Suddenly he can see the sunshine. He’s totally been changed…never be the same. And Keith says it’s like being baptized. The love of a good woman changes his life.
All of his partners loving qualities lead Keith to say it’s Amazing Grace. No doubt Amazing Grace is one song chocked full of meaning. In the United States it has special power. As a former slave trader songwriter John Newton thought of himself in terms as a wretch unworthy of God’s grace. It doesn’t just appeal to Conservative Evangelical Christians.
Amazing Grace plays well in most of popular culture in the United States. It’s kind of like Waltzing Matilda for Aussies. Waltzing Matilda is almost the informal national anthem of Australia. Amazing Grace is as close as the United States will come to having a national hymn.
Of course, Keith should praise God. Hallelujah he proclaims. And…he raises his hands to the sky in the lyrics and in the official video. Two more ways…one verbal, one physical…that happen in Conservative Evangelical Christian worship.
All For The Hall
God Whispered Your Name almost seems like art imitating life. No question that Keith Urban’s marriage, partnership with fellow Aussie actress Nicole Kidman seems to go hand-in-hand with Keith’s maintaining sobriety, long term career success, and high standing in Nashville. As good civic leaders in Nashville, Nicole Kidman advocates for the Nashville Public Libraries. Keith Urban participates in fund raising concerts such as All ForThe Hall to help fund the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Well then. This simple love song God whispered Your Name is more than just a simple love song. It also serves as a subtle set of reminders about core Evangelical Christian beliefs that comforts the Country Music fan base. And…God Whispered Your Name isn’t heavy handed and preachy so just about anyone can enjoy it.
This seems like more deja-vu-all-over-again as baseball legend Yogi Berra once said. Time again in these Country Music Australia pieces it seems as if we need to reference that the Country Music Circle, it’s history, it’s cycle of life keeps rolling. The past keeps influencing the present.
Just like the great Southern writer William Faulkner said The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past. The roots of Country Music run deep. Part of the root system includes the Bible Belt and Conservative Evangelical Protestantism in particular.
Go ahead. Sit back. Enjoy Keith Urban. Keep listening, knowing there are marvelous subtleties in God Whispered Your Name. God, or some power in which you might believe, just might whisper someone’s or something’s name and change your life.
