Much Afraid

JARS OF CLAY Much Afraid (Essential/Silvertone) When it comes to Bible thumping, these Christian rockers keep it subtle, just as they did on their 1995 self-titled debut. Besides the occasional reference to Jesus, their bland alterna-folk isn't much different from, say, the Verve Pipe -- or any number of similarly styled bands. Such uniformity doesn't exactly make for galvanizing rock, nor does their awkward mixture of the secular and holy: Do they realize that the title of ''Tea and Sympathy'' comes from a play about a prep-schooler struggling with his homosexuality? C-