When I first weighed in on the discussion of church music on PCANews, I intended to post only one editorial. I have no doubt that popular sentiment among Evangelicals is squarely in the pop-idiom camp, so I was not surprised at the recent spate of letters all touting the merits of employing pop music in the church’s worship. I had decided not to post a follow-up letter because I figured the average reader had long since tired of this interchange. However, a recent comment from a reader prompts me to send in this plea for truthfulness in all our discussions.
A Mr. McClelland states in his letter: “Wonder what Martin Luther was thinking as he sat in his favorite ‘Gasthaus’ and heard a familiar beer song that became the tune to his ‘Ein Feste Burg’?” I don’t know what source McClelland consulted for this bit of information, but as I stated previously, it simply is not true. The “Luther used drinking songs as a source of tunes” legend has been a favorite of advocates of pop music in churches for the past 25 years or more, but there is not a shred of evidence to back it up. This story has become as prevalent as the infamous Madalyn Murray O’Hair petition and is just as illegitimate.

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