By host Tom Ashbrook:

The world of Christian rock is so big these days that if you’re in it sometimes you can hardly see out, and if you don’t know it, you don’t know a big chunk of this country.

P.O.D., Newsboys, Switchfoot, Jars of Clay — these groups and a pile of others are selling more than jazz, classical and New Age genres combined. Their world is a parallel universe where the sound is the same but the love in the lyrics is all about Jesus, and hate goes to the Devil.

Andrew Beaujon is a Spin magazine music writer who spent a year in the Christian rock world and its widening spillover. He’s back with his story.

Hear about the huge reach and culture of Christian rock.

Guests:

Andrew Beaujon, music writer and author of “Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside The Phenomenon of Christian Rock”

Randall Balmer, professor of religion at Barnard College, editor at large of Christianity Today, and author of the forthcoming book “Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical’s Lament”