Any thoughts about (American) Gospel music? Both the black and white varieties are certainly legimate parts of the folk-music tradition, and indeed many of our oldest and most familiar Gospel tunes, despite their explicitly religious content, have become pretty much "mainstream," e.g., "Down By the Riverside," "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," etc.

As a semi-agnostic ex-Catholic* (see PS below), I would also be extremely uncomfortable in the situation described in diggy-lo's initial post. That's assuming, of course, that my understanding of the category "praise songs" is correct, and that what we're talking about here is insipid musical pablum delivered as an obnoxious holier-than-thou sales pitch.

Music that simply expresses spiritual feelings of inspiration, even ecstacy, is always enjoyable -- even to those of us who might harbor a bit of skepticism regarding the lyrical content.

Here's a suggestion from a completely different angle than I've read so far, from the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" school of thought. Rather than offer praise to Moloch or Satan or whomever (which is a *funny* idea, I agree, but not a course of action I would choose), why not offer a tune that is ostensibly Christian or spiritual, but more appropriate (musically *and* aesthetically) to the overall group sensibility. Like "Twelve Gates to the City," "His Eye is on the Sparrow," "Turn the Radio On," or one of the old chestnuts mentioned above.

If you *really* want to make some waves, let me suggest searching out and learning my favorite vocal perfomance of all time, "The Hem of His Garment" as sung by Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers!

*PS: Any of you Catholics, ex- and otherwise, share my disdain for the dumbed-down psuedo-folk "guitar Mass" music introduced in the late '60s? I was (and still am) in favor of most of the *other* modernization that came with John XXII and Vatican II, and as a guitar-toting folkie I thought I would have and should have supported the musical changes, but I think Catholic liturgical music took a decided downturn when Latin choral music was replaced by imitation-Protestant devotionoal ditties.