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A Christian college in Michigan recently acquiesced to pressure from its supporters after scheduling The New Pornographers to play on their campus. Rumor says the band name is an ironic reference to Jimmy Swaggart’s (the Abraham Lincoln of Christian culture, or at least the President Taft) infamous statement that rock is the new pornography, but Christian culture isn’t exactly known for its grasp of irony.

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The school states they had invited the band in keeping with their “rubric of engaging culture through a Christian lens” and say they “remain committed to the difficult, yet important work at faithfully engaging popular culture.” But this was a little too much culture to take. They couldn’t explain the satirical name to enough people and for fear that their Reformed institution be thought pornography enthusiasts (and perhaps lose some alumni funding?) they issued a statement that they just couldn’t explain the band name to everyone. But if a Christian college is that concerned about being thought to endorse pornography, they might let the nefarious internet activity on Christian college campuses speak for itself and remove all doubt.
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