Christians and creativity

I have read that Charles Schulz was a Christian, but the other night I read an interview he did in the late 80s where he said he thought he was becoming a secular humanist and no longer seemed to identify with his church going life of the past.

Too bad. That leaves the creator of BC to hold up the Christian Comic artists banner, and he ain't exactly subtle - or, really, that talented.

I got to thinking about Christians and creativity. Now, there are many people of faith who have created music, art and literature that I enjoy. J S Bach, for example. John Grisham for a more recent one.

But it seems like a lot of Christian stuff is really crappy. Why is that? I think part of it is because artists feel certain limits on what is Christian. I still have a bit of Christian culture shock from some things I hear and read, the old knee jerk, "Would a real Christian write THAT?" I'm not the only one. Adrian Plass said one letter he received about his novel Ghosts called it "lust provoking trash." I'm guessing that in trying to stay safe, a lot of people might end up squelching creativity. But what is the line? How does an artist know what too far is?

And do those who produce music and books just accept too much? Are they not discerning enough in terms of quality? Or am I being too judgemental? The stuff sells. Someone must like it.