"God is not a White Man" by some band called Gungor

God is Not a White Man by Gungor

I can say I enjoyed this song and the visuals helped. Although I consider myself to be a Christian I can say that I have never really enjoyed contemporary Christian music. Most likely I have not been exposed to enough of it to know what I might like but historically I have found it to be pretty empty and repetative. "We exault thee on high, oh lord", yadda yadda. Ok, I get it, I get it, you dig Jesus.

I had never heard of Gungor until today. Michael Gungor and his band are a Christian band I suppose. I'm not sure how they label themselves or if they label themselves at all. I listened to a few tracks and they have a folky-pop feel. They are also reminiscent of music from the "emo" era. Not what many consider to be the original emo era when hardcore came out of Washington D.C. in the 80s and not by today's standards either. Today it seems that emo is more, about clothes than anything else. Dark clothes but in skinny jeans.

Man, labels and comparisons. I can't seem to get away from them. As long as I'm running with it, here are some more. I'd say that their sound is reminicent of the "emo" that was once linked to band such as Dashboard Confessional and The Get Up Kids. Ok, so there you have it. My winding comparison.

There is something about the video that struck me. When Gungor sings that God is good, a wave of change occurs to the characters within the video. A child who resists eating the veggies on their plate is delighted when candy magically appears. A man who's sailing ship goes down is happy once again when a whale saves him from the depths. Yes, God is good but he doesn't save us as though he were a superhero. He doesn't turn vegetables into candy.

Also, the video is plagued with stereotypes. The song tells us that God loves everyone including terrorists, lesbians, communists and the list goes on. During this piece there are stereotypical images of terrorists, lesbians, communists an so forth. I do understand that stereotypes are based on what is often common however I think the point of an all loving God could have been made without insisting that lesbians appear to be butch and that communists appear to be Asian.

I won't be purchasing a Gungor album but I will be sharing this video with others. Great artwork and a good message.



To learn more about Gungor visit their website here.