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Religion on the Mind

What Would Jesus Sell? (#342)

Religion on the Mind

Religion on the Mind

Religion, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.7542 Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 90 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My friend James Wightman joins me to tell me about What Would Jesus Sell? a documentary he's been working on for eight years about the Christian music industry.  We get into how Christian music evolved from the genuine DIY spirit of the 1970s Jesus Movement into today's sanitized, focus-grouped machine that prioritizes “Becky” (the industry's target demographic of exhausted soccer moms) over artistic integrity. James reveals the open secrets everyone in green rooms and tour buses has whispered about for years, explains why the incentive structures actually punish authenticity while rewarding conformity, and shares how his own journey led him to realize that both artists and consumers are trapped in an exploitative system that uses spiritual language to sell us baby food when we're starving for a real meal. He also shares some insider perspective on the recent allegations against Michael Tait. It's a conversation about art, faith, commerce, and what happens when you try to package the sacred for mass consumption. James on Instagram | @James.final.mp4 Walk Me Through Jesus Movement Music '67-'79 (Part 1) ⁠Walk Me Through Jesus Movement Music '67-'79 (Part 2) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by sprungle.co/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

My name is Sherlock Holmes.

0:02.0

It's an unusual name.

0:03.0

Introducing Young Sherlock, a new Guy Ritchie series.

0:07.0

What game are we playing today?

0:09.0

Discover the origins.

0:10.0

It's cleaving. Those days are surely behind me.

0:12.0

Of crime's most iconic mind.

0:14.0

There has been a break-in.

0:17.0

Astoned. You should be a detective.

0:19.0

Starring Hero finds Tiffin, Donald Finn and Colin Firth.

0:22.5

If you start wearing a hat like that, I will no longer be friends with you.

0:25.9

Young Sherlock, new original series. Watch now only on Prime Video.

0:34.7

Welcome back, everybody, to You Have Permission, the show that aims to take both Christianity and the modern world of science and culture very seriously.

0:42.0

Today is more of a culture day than a science day.

0:46.0

I am here with my real-life friend, James Whiteman.

0:49.9

What's up, James?

0:50.8

How you doing?

0:51.6

Thanks for having me.

0:52.6

It's good to see you again.

0:53.8

The only podcast you've been on is an episode of pretty good vibrations, my music podcast,

0:59.9

where you pretty effectively argued for the value of new metal.

1:05.3

To me, a new metal skeptic with our friend Matt McDonald.

...

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