American Idol

The national phenomenon “American Idol” has been a huge success among TV programs. The show itself is actually one of the more wholesome and enjoyable forms of televised entertainment. It tends to display and develop real talent among aspiring singers, and encourages people of all ages and circumstances to appreciate musical and aesthetic excellence. For this reason the show itself has some redeeming qualities.

But the show’s title is strikingly bold and telling. Broadly speaking an idol is an object of extreme devotion. More narrowly, it is an object of worship, i.e. a false god. With this title the producers either consciously or unconsciously have identified one of the prevailing sins of our culture, viz. the idolatry of entertainment. Entertainment itself is not inherently wrong, but the worship of entertainment is. Occasional diversions from the demands of earthly toil can help refresh both body and soul. But when entertainment becomes an end in itself, it slips into idolatry. It has been said you can tell much about a people by looking at their heroes. If true, America is sunk in the idolatrous worship of “American idols”! Of course idolatry is nothing new. American culturehas always been tainted with it to one degree or another. Yet as moral authority in America deteriorates, people are becoming more bold, blatant, and abandoned in their expressions of idolatry. Previous generations would have blushed at the title “American Idol.” Modern Americans fail to see any harm in it. The only true and proper object of worship is the living and true God through Jesus Christ. “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1Cor 10:14).