Refers to the wave of hippies in the late 1960s and early 1970s who migrated to born-again evangelical Christianity. This may seem like an odd choice for hippies on the surface, but not so much really: it provided a model of communal living, a mystical worldview in which the spirit realm is always present in one's life, and a transformation of their existing secular Us vs. Them stance into a cosmic struggle between primal Good and primal Evil.

Originally opposed to the Man as represented by secular institutions like the United States government, they found another opponent in the mainstream churches who were initially deeply suspicious of these long-haired weirdos who started showing up at their services.

The above-referenced album of dc Talk went double platinum. I thought it was the best thing on earth ... when I was in seventh grade. It also had a liner that smelled very heavenly (at least the cassette did). Of course, I hadn't listened to Nirvana then, either. Speaking of which, this album marks the band's transformation from rap and hip hop to Nirvana-emulating grunge. A glance at the liner notes is all it takes to see how they attempt to provide a sanitized version of the afore-mentioned band. The sound, of course, is never as raw as most Bleach-style Nirvana becomes, but more of an upbeaten Smells Like Teen Spirit sort of sound, with moralizing vocals that are actually quite inspirational occasionally, and never as opaque.

Track listing:

1. So Help Me God
2. Colored People
3. Jesus Freak
4. What If I Stumble?
5. Day by Day
6. Mrs. Morgan
7. Between You and Me
8. Like It, Love It, Need It
9. Jesus Freak (Reprise)
10. In the Light
11. What Have We Become
12. Mind's Eye
13. Alas My Love

I tend to use the term Jesus Freak or God nut to refer to religious fanatics of a Christian persuasion. I think it's notable that mainstream society in the United States doesn't generally treat fanatical Christians the way that, say, fanatical Muslims or fanatical Hindus or fanatical Jews are treated. It seems for Christians there's no such thing as too much, but with non-Christian faiths there are definite lines to be drawn. There's a lot of things that fundamentalists and other Christians do that when taken from a cultural viewpoint other than our own are just downright strange

I think a little cultural relativism when looking at religion is a good thing, even if you're religious yourself.