N.D. Wilson on Why Labeling Things Sacred & Secular is ‘Useless’

Author and Director N.D. Wilson chatted with Rapzilla at Flavor Fest and shared his thoughts on giving art the distinction of sacred and secular, and why it shouldn’t matter.

“I talk about the distinction between sacred and secular art, and I deny that there is one,” said Wilson. “It’s all sacred, it all belongs to God, God made all of it. I really think the distinction between Christian and non-Christian art is pretty useless and I think we should be talking about faithful art versus unfaithful art. That should be the focus for all of us who are trying to create.”

When pressed for a Biblical example of this theory, he said, “the whole thing.”

He further elaborated that to mean God made has made everything. Beginning with the book of Geneses and going through Revelation, God is the one that “holds it all together.”

He said the question we should ask ourselves is, “did you write a faithful album or an unfaithful album?” To him, nothing else matters.

Wilson said this sacred and secular divide started pre-Martin Luther with the church and continues to this day. It’s magnified more because of the Christian market.

Wilson said he understands why a guy like Lecrae drops the Christian in front of rapper. He thinks it’s a “mistake” by Lecrae, but also thinks it’s a “mistake” to condemn him.

“Just break it down, ‘Hey I’m a Christian, I rap, and I’m trying to make faithful music that honors my Father’,” said Wilson. “A lot of people get caught up in, ‘Are you in and out of this faithful marketing tag?’ I think you shouldn’t try to fight it, and I think you shouldn’t be all upset when someone tries to fight it.”

Watch the whole interview below:

Check out Wilson’s latest movie here.

Justin Sarachik
Justin Sarachik
Justin is the Editor-in-Chief of Rapzilla.com. He has been a journalist for over a decade and has written or edited for Relevant, Christian Post, BREATHEcast, CCM, Broken Records Magazine, & more. He's written over 10,000 articles, done over 1,000 interviews, and is in post-production for documentaries on Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez & Mario "Machete" Perez. He's the project manager of the upcoming video game Run the Court and of the media brand Crimefaces. Justin likes to work with indie artists to develop their brands & marketing strategies. Catch him interviewing artists on Survival of the Artist Podcast & creating videos on his social media channels.
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