sufjan on christianity

Interesting interview with Sufjan (“SOOF-yahn”) Stevens, everyone’s favorite Christian indie rocker. I’ve already written about his tremendous Greetings From Michigan album. And while his followup didn’t do quite as much for me, he’s still a very real talent.
And he’s particularly interesting because he so thoroughly freaks out a big chunk of his cool-kid fans with his emphasis on his religious beliefs. His fan base, I would imagine, worships no gods but Pabst Blue Ribbon and Stephen Malkmus. But they like his songs about Old Testament prophets nonetheless.
“I think that when people react reflexively to material that is religious, they’re reacting to the culture of religion,” he says. “And I think an enlightened person is capable, on some level, of making the distinction between the institution of the culture and the culture itself. The institution of Christianity, the way that it’s set up, it’s institutionalized and commodified, and anytime that happens, anytime it’s incorporated, it leads to disaster. I’m on the same page as everyone. I have the same knee-jerk reaction to that kind of culture. Maybe I’m a little more empathetic to it because we have similar fundamental beliefs. But culturally and aesthetically, some of it is really embarrassing…I think it’s a fair and interesting question. Can you be a liberal, enlightened, modern person and still believe in God?”