In a move viewers characterized as everything from wonderful to weird, the American Idol Gives Back show ended with the immensely popular worship song “Shout to the Lord” by Darlene Zschech.

Evangelicals on one discussion thread took umbrage with Idol’s decision to “soften” the message of the song by replacing the word “Jesus” with the word “Shepherd” in the first line, contending that the substitution stripped the song of its Christian classification entirely. (The next night, they sang the song again — this time with the original wording.)

One person, who planned to boycott the show, claimed the lyric change constituted the “Oprah kind of religion” that white-washes Christianity of critical theological heft. In the absence of the word Jesus, the logic goes, the song refers to a “generic” lord and in turn, if fails to give glory to the capital-G God.

As one user pointed out, references to “Shepherd” “Savior” “Lord” and “King” make it virtually impossible to infer any deity besides Jesus Christ in the song. But if Jesus is the word people are looking for, the show has had no shortage of it this season.

During the Dolly Parton show two weeks ago, the name “Jesus” was used a total of 15 times. David Archuleta’s rendition of Smokey Mountain Memories gave us “leaning on my Jesus,” and Jason Castro’s Travelin’ Thru “nailed Jesus to the tree” and asked “sweet Jesus” to keep him ever close.

It was Dolly who bumped the evening’s Jesus tally into the double digits, however, when Jesus was used a whopping 12 times in 4 minutes during her performance of the song “Jesus and Gravity.” At the results show the next day, The Clark Brothers sang a rendition of “This Little Light of Mine” that added another 6.

This season’s religious bent, evident even before the “Shout to the Lord” finale, is not lost on “non-believing” viewers. As one cynical viewer queried, “What is this—an evangelical show asking for money to build a super church?” Another fumed, “Not all Americans thump a Bible like you do, Fox.” A contributor to a discussion on the American Idol website claimed the show made her Jewish friend feel “uncomfortable and a bit unwelcome.”

American Idol has featured more than appalling singers and future stars this season. It’s also become a platform for abstinence advocates.

First, a diminutive social worker, Milo Turk, dedicated his original song, “No Sex Allowed,” to Simon Cowell. Turk didn’t make it to Hollywood, but Amy Catherine Flynn did. Flynn, a panelist for Students Teaching and Respecting Sexuality, gave a brief, inarticulate speech on abstinence. Bruce Dickson, 19, talked about his promise not to kiss a girl until his wedding day and showed a key-and-heart necklace he shared with his dad.

Flynn and Dickson prompted different reactions. Randy and Paula cooed over Flynn and Simon waited until she left to mutter, “One week in L.A., it’ll all change.” Dickson drew more mockery. Randy advised Dickson to kiss some girls and Ryan Seacrest’s voice-over said, “Maybe if Bruce does come back next year, he’ll return less boy and more man.”

Daniel Radosh of the Huffington Post said it’s because Dickson didn’t fit the stereotype of male sexuality: “Dickson is a guy, and while it’s still acceptably feminine for girls to be demure, boys are “supposed” to be sexually aggressive. There’s something weird about one who’s not.” Radosh said the abstinence movement reflects this idea, focusing its efforts more on girls than boys and basing its message on the “stereotype of aggressive boys.”

Jimmy Hester, coordinator for True Love Waits, told WoW that he sees just as many boys as girls taking abstinence pledges and that girls are “just as responsible for creating sexual activity and sexual opportunity as boys.” He added that he knows a 300-pound football player who wears a True Love Waits ring and would take issue with the assertion that it makes him less manly.

Is there some basis for the cynicism Simon showed? WORLD’s Gene Edward Veith cites studies that say abstinence pledges only delay sex for an average of 18 months, and 88 percent of pledgers eventually give up the pledge altogether.

Hester said the second study took a sample too small to make an accurate judgment. He relies more on statistics that find sexual activity and sexually transmitted diseases decreasing over the last decade.

Taking the pledge alone is not effective, Hester said: “I tell the students all the time there’s nothing magic about signing that card.” Hester said “strong adult support” (like the kind Dickson gets from his dad) is key: “When there are significant adults in the lives of the teenagers, the teenager will tend to live out those views and practice those views.”