Dreadlocked cutie Jason Castro, 20, from Rockwell, Texas sung one of my most cherished songs on American Idol, Jeff Buckley’s version of the spiritual “Hallelujah.” His singing it may or may not have caused the song to go to the top of the iTunes chart (look out Billboard!) —blogger Michael Lee on addison road has the screenshot to prove it.

And recently, gospel band Denver and the Mile High Orchestra came in the top three on Fox’s The Next Great American Band.

Is this a trend?

Look at Castro’s picture from the American Idol page—there’s a halo around his head! Is that weird to anyone else? And those blue eyes—straight out of the New Testament.


Is pop culture a bit closer to this country’s religious roots than Simon Cowell’s criticism would suggest?

Spiritual blog BeliefNet wants us to think so, with its Top Ten Religious Moments on ‘American Idol’ feature.

This all makes me wonder what Iraqi Idol would look like. Maybe more religious conflicts could be answered by a World Idol, featuring all the best and biggest stars … but who would judge?

God. I mean Allah. er… Simon!