Where should a Catholic artist draw the line?

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McKevin

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If someone is a devout Catholic and a musician, should they sing a song with swear words in it? What if that swear was taking God’s name in vain?

How do Catholics reconcile their faith to the arts? Whether it be music, theater, or any of the many other disciplines?
 
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McKevin:
If someone is a devout Catholic and a musician, should they sing a song with swear words in it? What if that swear was taking God’s name in vain?
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Of course they can.

Mind you, then they would no longer be a devout Catholic and would go to hell and be tortured by demons for all eternity if they didn’t repent before they died.

Seriously, I would say they should not use swear words and UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES take God’s Name in vain.

I often wonder if the 10 Commandments are in descending order of importance, which would make blasphemy more serious than killing someone.
 
There’s a good article here:
decentfilms.com/sections/articles/decentfilms.html
on art, focusing on film but it applies to other art forms as well.

We should never do anything as an artist that would be a bad example to others, or tempt them to sin. If I’m writing a novel with a nasty character in it who swears, I say that he cursed, but don’t need to repeat his words.
CS Lewis has good examples in his novels, such as Perelandra.
Why would a Christian want to sing anything with swear words in it, anyway?
 
Why would a Christian want to sing anything with swear words in it, anyway?
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You can change the words for some of the songs, if they’re good otherwise.

I sing & play (guitar) a lot of Harry Chapin’s songs, which have some swear words in them; I just change the lyrics. For me, if the song has a good point to it, or is not about the swear word (or sin, depending on the song in particular), I usually don’t have a problem. I also avoid music by artists that are especially scandalous, like Elton John or the Rolling Stones.

I’ve written some songs on my own, as well, several of which were religion-oriented or of a religious mindset. 👍
 
I wonder if it is a question of doing it voluntarily, or if the artist is being forced somehow to do it?
 
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