Huckabee on Art

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee sat down for an interview with GQ magazine. Near the end of the interview he began to talk about music and granting a pardon to Keith Richards for traffic violation when he was the governor of Arkansas. But then he got a more pointed question about whether or not his positions on moral issues conflicted with his appreciation of a band like "The Rolling Stones."

Do you ever worry that the bands you love have done more to unravel the social fabric than, say, gay marriage has?
You always separate the art and the artist, whether it’s Van Gogh or Keith Richards. You can appreciate the work of somebody even if you don’t necessarily want to replicate their lifestyle. You still have respect for what they are able to accomplish. And besides, it gives me a very, very important project. Now that I’ve pardoned Keith Richards, wouldn’t it be incredible if that somehow led to my being able to give him a full pardon before God for all the things he’s done?

I'm not sure how to take that really. In some cases, a person may be a creative genius and an absolute train wreck as a human being. In those cases you probably do separate the art and the artist. In other cases the art is absolutely consistent with the lifestyle of the artist. It is an act of expression that reflects their values very accurately. In popular music, those values are very often at odds with what most Christians would consider decent and moral.

For me the question is a little more complicated than Huckabee's answer. Every artist and his/her art has to examined individually. I think it goes back to an issue that came up on this blog before, discernment. If there's anyone still reading this, I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments.

Interview Source: GQ Magazine
Previous Entry: Teach Discernment - March 28, 2006