Atheist accidentally enjoys Christian song on radio

Sacramento, Calif. – Gwen Adams, a 33-year-old software designer and staunch disbeliever in the existence of God, accidentally enjoyed an uplifting song played on an all-Christian radio station while scanning the dial on her car radio during her drive home from work Tuesday evening.

“Since I [tuned in to the station] mid-song, there’s no way I could have known I was listening to a Christian rock station,” said Adams, struggling to find an excuse for her ignorant enjoyment of “What This World Needs,” a recent release from the Christian band Casting Crowns. “I was concentrating on my driving, so I wasn’t really paying any attention to the lyrics or their meaning. I was just kind of humming along with the chorus melody.”

“Look, just because I was singing along with the stupid song doesn’t mean I believe in God, alright?” a defensive Adams added after a brief pause. “If I had known what they were singing about, God knows I would have turned it off as quickly as possible.”

“Did I say ‘God knows?’” questioned Adams. “I meant to say, err – well, I don’t know. Something else. Because there is no God.”

The platinum-selling Casting Crowns is a contemporary Christian music act led by lead singer/youth pastor Mark Hall, whose songwriting conveys comforting calls to reform through his storytelling of the Christian condition. “What This World Needs” is a tense, fast-paced rocker leading off the band’s latest CD, The Altar and the Door, a concept album that explores the disconnect between the faith believers feel during worship and the doubt that plagues them during the rigors of daily life.

Adams – who does not pray, attend church or read the Bible – reluctantly acknowledged a slight appreciation for the keen musicianship and slick songwriting apparent in the song she unintentionally savored, but refused to entertain the idea that she would ever intentionally listen to a song she knew to contain a spiritual message.

“I hate Christian music, with all that ‘My Lord Jesus this’ and ‘Praise our Savior that’ – it’s enough to make me sick,” said Adams. “The song I accidentally listened to in my car the other night didn’t have any of that until just before the last chorus, when [the singer] starts in with this whole ‘Jesus is the only way to God’ spiel. Up until then it was like a normal song. I was even starting to sing along. I feel so tricked. I feel, I don’t know, dirty.”

Adams confirmed Wednesday that she is seriously considering buying an iPod to listen to while driving in hopes of avoiding future accidental enjoyment of Christian radio songs.