arrested development

The other day I was driving some friends to the airport and I popped an old mix tape I'd made about 10 years ago into the tape deck. I had labelled it "Redemption Songs" and it was full of a lot of modern music which was spiritual and mostly upbeat, but not necessarily devotional in the usual sense. There was plenty of Bob Marley (of course), some Ladysmith Black Mambazoo, some Fugees ("The Temple"), some KRS-ONE ("The Real Holy Place"), some Tracy Chapman ("Mountains of Things", "All That You have is Your Soul"). Even some Terrence Trent D'Arby ("If you all get to Heaven").

There was also a lot of Arrested Development ("Tennesee" "Fishin' For Religion", etc.) My friends actually hadn't heard of Arrested Development (damn I feel old) and as I was trying to explain what they were like, I thought that this would actually be a good topic to blog on.

Now I really don't like the word "cult" but apparently sometime after the group moved off the radar, Speech (the main vocalist from Arrested Development) became a member of the the Atlanta Church of Christ, one of the International Churches of Christ (part of what is sometimes called the Boston Movement). The movement has become contraversial recently because of some "cult-like" features.

The Church practices something called "discipling" where newer members would be paired with a more experienced member who would guide them in the church. Now at first glance this idea isn't so bad. And even in Islam there are individuals who may seek the assistance of a shaykh who they could consult when they make certain decisions. But the problem is that this more experienced member or "discipler" didn't even have to have any special qualifications. And on top of that, the disciplers exert a high degree of control over the day-to-day life of the people below them (including extra-curricular activities, who they can date, and how often to have sex with their spouses, etc.)

On top of that, the Church seems to make high demands on the time and resources of its members and discourage ties with people outside the church. And they seem to have a narrow view (narrower than most Christians anyway) of who is a "true believer".

Recently, the Church has gone through a certain amount of restructuring and reform. Kip McKean, charismatic former-head of the movement resigned due to personal reasons and that seemes to have created the opportunity for many of the churches in the movement to "mellow out" (while other individual churches have probably not changed very much at all).

At the same time, this is all just background and a general picture. I have no idea if Speech, himself, has really been victimized by the group in any sense. Perhaps the Atlanta Church of Christ is less controlling. Or perhaps in an attempt to attract a celebrity/spokesperson he is being treated differently from other members. (Just as some have said John Travolta and Tom Cruise and other celebrity Scientologists are probably treated differently from rank-and-file members of the Church of Scientology).

On top of that it is hard to imagine the "revolutionary" brother who sang "Fishin' For Religion" or essentially made up his own religious scripture in a song like "Washed Away" ending up as a member of a cult but then stranger things have happened. But on the other hand, in his Arrested Development days, Speech's songs certain manifested a strong spiritual hunger and longing which actually might make a person more likely to join a group like ICOC.

In any case, Speech continues to make music. And his albums continue to explore religious themes. For example, Check out Speech's solo album "Spiritual People"

Speech/Arrested Development Webpage (LIFE MUSIK)

Arrested Development Lyrics

More critical piece about ICOC from a Muslim site

A page on ICOC from Rick Ross' anti-cult site