re: Why does religious music, from a technical perspective, suck?

I see clear channel as the biggest barrier.
Every other station is broken out by sub-genre (Alt-Rock, classic Rock, pop, New country, country legends, etc.). For some reason, "Christian" radio is just a vanilla pitch to the soccer moms. All inspired types of music are abandoned, and there's no commercial reward for breaking a mold or pushing a boundary musically. If you are writing thought-provoking melodies over interesting chord progressions, that almost immediately precludes you from making the rotation.

What if Vaseline from STP had Christian lyrics? Never would hear it. What if The Distance from Cake had Christian lyrics, or Lights Out from Royal Blood?
It's not rewarded because it's off-center.

It's terribly patronizing, honestly.