US magazine continues the debate on what is acceptable in the Christian marketplace.

AMERICA'S Christian Retailing magazine ran an article in its Jan 5th issue about American Christian bookshops' continuing endeavours to define what is acceptable or not acceptable in the Christian marketplace. Quoted in the article was Robert Tyson, music buyer at Pennsylvania's J.O.Y. Bookstore, "This is a fine line, I don't know where the line is, but I know when I see it. You have to look at the way words are used. There are too many people in our industry looking for nothing but happy, shiny, Christian music. There is a place for albums that are about peace, love, joy and the fruits of the Spirit. But the reality is Christians deal with a lot of bad things. We are bad, broken, in need of a Saviour. That Derek Webb song ("Wedding Dress") speaks to me in ways that most Christian music never could. We push that record ('She Must And Shall Go Free') very heavily."

Continued Tyson, "I tell our customers, 'When you get to this song, he is going to (use the words "whore" and "bastard").' No one is offended. On his first album, Andrew Peterson had a song about self-righteous Christians holding up signs that say, 'God hates fags.' It did not diminish the project."