A composer friend of mine, that I occasionally collaborate with, has an interesting story. He has a song that he co-wrote that has been recorded on more than 150 different CDs worldwide, been performed by some of the world’s largest churches and universities, been published in numerous books, posted on thousands of blogs and internet sites, and sold in virtually every possible musical format, in every genre. All of these uses originated outside of the U.S. and without permission at a time when the song was “out of print” and not even available for purchase. He has never received a single penny from any of these uses though it adds up to millions of copies.
This is just one example. Copyright infringement is a worldwide moral blight and not an individual problem of a single country. We are each individually confronted with this as well when we need music, but don’t have the money or the time to obtain it legally.
Many times when churches and individual Christians think about illegal copying and illegal use of music, it is in regards to what the legal ramifications would be or what penalties they would face if they got “caught.” Today, I would like to address this topic, not in legalities, but in what our responsibilities are as Christians, who should be reflectors of honesty and truth. Yet the justifications for churches stealing the works of their brothers and sisters are often given in “spiritual” terms. Let’s look at some of these rationalizations:
-Christian writers should be not be writing for the money, but for the Lord.
-We are making illegal copies to spread the Gospel.
-We just cannot afford to spend the Lord’s money to buy published music.
-Many of my Godly friends are doing it so it can’t be that bad.
-The writer lives in another country on the other side of the planet and is not someone that I will ever meet.
-Nobody will ever know or care. Besides, we’re doing it for God.
These are just a few. I thought about presenting an argument for each of these, but when you see it on paper, it becomes clearly indefensible. However, consider these questions:
-If a church has agreed to do so, should it pay its pastor a salary and its other staff members as well?
