WAR:Christians and the copyright laws  by Jack Decker

   We had a visitor at our church the other night. Perhaps this man has
visited your church as well. When one of our ushers greeted him before
the service and inquired as to this man's line of work, he would only
say that he "travelled a lot." He sat through the entire service, THEN
revealed that he had attended only to observe our church for for
possible violations of the copyright law.

   You may not have realized it, but most Christian songs are
copyrighted. If you reproduce them without the permission of the
copyright owner, you have broken the copyright law and are subject to a
fine. One church in Chicago apparently was fined $5, 000 for copyright
violations. The most common copyright violation is in the area of music
intended for use of the congregation. Many churches use mimeographed
song sheets or use an overhead projector to project a handwritten
transparency of the song, both of which are illegal (it's legal to use
a projector but only if the transparencies you use are obtained from or
approved by the copyright holder).

   Though most Christians would agree that we should not break the law
of the land, one has to wonder about a law that can have the effect of
inhibiting men from singing praises to God, or even from understanding
the Bible. The Bible? Yes, in case you didn't realize it, all modern
English-language versions of the Bible are copyrighted. Only the King
James version of the Bible is not copyrighted.

   Thus, you cannot freely reprint portions of the word of God (in
present-day English) without first securing permission from the
copyright owner (you CAN quote small portions of text under a doctrine
of law called "fair use", but you couldn't legally reproduce, say, the
entire Gospel of John to give away as an evangelistic aid).

   Of course, it's as likely as not that a copyright owner will NOT
give you permission to reprint. Rather, they'll offer to SELL you
copies of whatever you need, and will make a profit in the process.

   Thus, they take the word of God, or a song dedicated to God, and
demand that men pay them before it can be used.

   This is an issue that you hardly ever see discussed by anyone. Most
of the big-time evangelists have books, records, and taped sermons, all
of which are copyrighted. Thus, they have a financial incentive not to
speak out against copyrights. I'm not saying that all of these men of
God are deliberately witholding this from the Christian population
(indeed, they may never have given the issue any thought at all, since
Christians have been using copyrights for so long) but maybe now is the
time to examine the issue, in light of recent attempts to strengthen
the protection offered by the copyright law in the face of new
technology (copying machines, tape duplicators, etc.).

   Have you ever heard a Christian performer say "the Lord gave me this
song?" Well, if that's true, then why did that performer probably apply
for a copyright on it before the ink was dry on the paper? Did God give
the performer that song as a means of praise and worship to Him, or so
that the performer could profit by it?

   It would seem that if the Lord freely gives a song or a sermon to
someone to share with God's people, that person has no business putting
a price on it!

   There are three categories of material that I think should NOT be
copyrighted. One is the word of God itself, the Bible. Copyrighting the
Bible restricts its use and forces men to pay other men for what
rightfully belongs to God. There should NEVER be any restrictions on
free distribution of the word of God.

   The second category is a song or poem given by God to praise and
glorify God. People should not have to pay other men in order to praise
God together in an orderly manner, and if the Lord truly inspired the
songwriter, doesn't ownership of the song really belong to God anyway?

   The final category is anything given by God to edify men or instruct
men in the ways of God. In other words, if God directs an author to
deliver some message of importance to Christians, it should not De
hindered by copyright restrictions.

   There are a couple of objections that people usually raise to the
above. One is that "the laborer is worthy of his hire", and that anyone
who does work for God deserves to be compensated for it. The other is
that copyright protection is needed to prevent others (non-Christians)
from stealing all or part of the work and possibly perverting it (using
the melody of a Christian song with words that promote sensual values,
for example).

   The first objection is easily answered if we consider the amount of
actual effort that is put into writing a song or sermon compared to the
possible returns that can be extorted through the use of the copyright.
Many songwriters or sermon writers can complete a work in a day or two
(especially if the Lord really gave them the work, as is often claimed)
and rarely does it take more than a week or two. How much do you make
working a week or two at your job? Yet that work may net the writer
multiple thousands of dollars in copyright-imposed royalties, thus
forcing people to pay much more than the value of the time involved.
And the point remains that if God truly inspired the work, authorship
belongs to God and the earthly vessel that he uses should be trusting
God, not the copyright law, to supply his needs (it should also be
pointed out that the phrase "the laborer is worthy of his hire" was
used by Paul, who was talking about the "elders that rule well ...
especially those who labor in the word and doctrine". See I Timothy
5:17-18.

   But that did not mean that they were to charge admission to their
sermons! Rather, it meant that they were worthy to receive whatever
offerings the people might be led to give them).

   Of course, God may assist a writer with a book or some other work
that requires lengthy preparation and possibly a real expenditure of
money for research. In that case I would say it is between God and that
man whether to copyright the book or other work, but I think that if
the work is truly one that will be helpful to God's people, it would be
better to leave it uncopyrighted. It would be better to offer such a
work on a free will or a donation basis and let God take care that the
author receives just compensation.

   But for someone whose faith is weak (that somehow cannot fully trust
God to take care that they are not "cheated"), I cannot with full
conviction say that it is a sin for them to copyright their book.

   I can't see the original authors of the books of the bible
copyrighting and charging others for what they wrote. But I can't see
Paul giving away all of the tents that he made, either. Some say that
all ideas originate from God, and the work of our hands is the only
thing we are entitled to be compensated for. This, again, brings us
back to the question of how much research or other real "work" was
required to produce the work in question, and whether we are willing to
trust God, rather than man, to see that we are compensated properly for
that work.

   As for the thought that the work may be "stolen" by a non-Christian,
such an argument betrays a lack of trust in God. If the work is used in
its original form, it may reach people who would not see or hear it
otherwise and inspire them to turn to God - and the fact that anyone
can use it without making royalty payments may assure it a much wider
distribution than it would otherwise have. And if the work is perverted
by someone, God is powerful and is able to handle the situation! It may
be that God has a reason for allowing that to happen, and it may be
that God will use that work to draw the wrongdoer to Him. But if there
is any punishment to be meted out, remember that God says, "Do not take
revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written:
'It is mine to avenge, I will repay,' says the Lord." (Romans 12:19)

   But probably the best reason for not using copyright protection is
that it may put the copyright owner into the position of violating
God's law. You see, in order to retain copyright protection, a
copyright owner has to enforce it against any known violators or the
protection is lost. What that means is that if a violation is
discovered, the violator must be forced to pay for the infringement, or
be sued in court to recover actual and punitive damages. Now, what
happens if the violator is a Christian, but either cannot or will not
pay up? You have to take him to a court of law, before worldly judges.
This is very strongly and specifically prohibited in I Corinthians 6,
verses 1-8. These verses should be required reading for any Christian
that is considering the use of Copyright protection.

   The only case in which I would say that it MAY be all right for a
Christian to obtain copyright protection (and I'm not even fully
convinced of this in my own mind) is when that work in question is
intended for the secular market (i.e. non-Christians) and is not a
Christian work (for example, if a Christian writes a book about how to
build a backyard barbecue, it would probably be okay to copyright it).
The reason for this is that the most likely violators would be worldly
people. However, even in this case, the question remains of what to do
if a copyright violator professes to be a Christian. You'd have tst God
for wisdom at that time, because there's simply no way you can justify
violating God's law to satisfy man's.

   As I have said, I doubt that you'll hear this preached from many
pulpits, especially in light of the "success syndrome" that has crept
into many churches (the book "The Seduction of Christianity" by Dave
Hunt and T.A. McMahon does a good job of exposing this heresy).

   And you won't see many books published on the subject, since it
would not be in the self-interest of many publishers to do so. I'd love
to see a book publisher decide to really trust God for their income,
and release some books without copyright notices!

   And the Christian music industry will probably continue to send
Judases into our midst, hoping to catch us in copyright violations and
then forcing us to take God's money, which was given in tithes and
offerings, and use it to pay them and the courts for their evil deeds.
It's about time that some Christian songwriters said "enough!" to this
and started placing some of their music in the public domain, so that
it could be freely used by God's people to praise Him.

   I'd like to hear any comments that others may have on this subject,
pro or con, or any scriptures that the Lord may give you that seem to
be applicable to this discussion. Please feel free to drop me a line
with your thoughts.

   As you might expect, THIS article is released to the public domain
for the Glory of God, and may be freely reprinted!

   Jack Decker 1804 West 18th Street # 155 Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
49783-1268