More stuff
So a couple of posts ago, I copied some quotes and a very few thoughts on an article on Christian consumerism. My friend Brent, who is a youth pastor in Flower Mound, reposted my post on his blog, generating a few comments of his own. There is a bit of dialogue going on over there about it as well. Please comment responsibly.
Joshua and I have had some interesting conversation about this as well, and we have come across a few more articles which shed some more light on this topic on a broader spectrum.
The first is this article from the New York Times. The headline has changed since I read it the first time. I wish I had left my browser open so I could tell you what the original head was. It is now titled, “Disowning Conservative Politics is Costly for an Evangelical Pastor.” I find the title slightly misleading, cause he never “owned” conservative politics in the first place, according to the article. And I liked the pic of the pastor at the top, over the pic of the congregation.
Like the Christianity Today article dealt with a consumeristic view of Christianity, this deals with upending the notion that the Christian faith is an American and Republican institution. P.S. - it’s NOT. Please read the whole article to get a better picture. But here’s some of the great tidbits:
“Like most pastors who lead thriving evangelical megachurches, the Rev. Gregory A. Boyd was asked frequently to give his blessing — and the church’s — to conservative political candidates and causes … After refusing each time, Mr. Boyd finally became fed up, he said. Before the last presidential election, he preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.”
” ‘More and more people are saying this has gone too far — the dominance of the evangelical identity by the religious right,’ Mr. [Brian] McLaren said. ‘You cannot say the word ‘Jesus’ in 2006 without having an awful lot of baggage going along with it. You can’t say the word ‘Christian,’ and you certainly can’t say the word ‘evangelical’ without it now raising connotations and a certain cringe factor in people.’ ”
“Mr. Boyd said he never intended his sermons to be taken as merely a critique of the Republican Party or the religious right. He refuses to share his party affiliation, or whether he has one, for that reason. He said there were Christians on both the left and the right who had turned politics and patriotism into ‘idolatry.’
He said he first became alarmed while visiting another megachurch’s worship service on a Fourth of July years ago. The service finished with the chorus singing ‘God Bless America’ and a video of fighter jets flying over a hill silhouetted with crosses.
‘I thought to myself, ‘What just happened? Fighter jets mixed up with the cross?’ ‘ he said in an interview.”
“Mary Van Sickle, the family pastor at Woodland Hills, said she lost 20 volunteers who had been the backbone of the church’s Sunday school. ‘They said, ‘You’re not doing what the church is supposed to be doing, which is supporting the Republican way,’ ‘ she said. ‘It was some of my best volunteers.’ ”
Please read the whole article! There are some other parts that are amazing, like the progression of the church after they lost 1,000 of their 5,000 members. There are also audio clips of some of his sermons, which I haven’t listened to yet, but plan to. I want to write this guy a nice letter.
The second article is from the Dallas Morning News. It’s about Donald Miller’s book, “Blue Like Jazz,” and the response it has generated from people, some supportive, some … not so supportive.
I haven’t read the book, but my brother has, and Joshua has. I don’t like reading “latest fad” books, but we’ll see. Some quotes from the article:
” ‘It was like a dagger to my heart when he talks about spending time with some hippies in the woods, and how he had never felt as loved and valued by any Christian group,’ Mr. Caple, 51, said. ‘I had probably fallen into the trap that Christians were the only ones that could love well. I was humbled that others might love better, and wanted to learn from that.’ ”
“[Miller] also audited courses at Reed College, falling in with a small group of evangelicals. Their unconventional ways – including setting up a campus confession booth in which they apologized to fellow students for the historic failings of the church – form a big part of Blue Like Jazz.”
So there you go. I’m surprising myself with all this “issue” posting. I usually try to not get into the fray of evangelicaldom. Mostly, i think it’s pointless, as it doesn’t usually solve anything, just gets different camps of Christians to disagree over yet one more thing, as if we need more of that. But the issue of consumerism and politics invading the spheres of faith and taking faith over, the way it has in this country, totally rubs me the wrong way. I think it cheapens my faith - not MY faith, per se, but how others interpret what that is. Like being told by others that they don’t like Christians, but they don’t mean me. It has caused so many semantics to get in the way of trying to explain what following Jesus really means. I guess you could call it the raping of Christianity. Harsh, yes, but fitting. Make sense? Still having the thought vomit problem….
I guess not getting around much has my brain on hyperdrive. I got like this right after Judah was born and I was home a LOT. I welcome your thoughts.
July 29th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
I am conservative politically, a Desert Storm Vet, and a Christian…and see all of these points you post as valid. I know it sounds bazaar, but I really straddle the fence here…
You see 200 years ago it was Evangelicals who were running EVERYTHING. If you didn’t go to church, you couldn’t vote, and there were no other churches. But we were tolerant of other faiths…particularly a 100 years ago as thousands of Catholics immigrated we allowed others to get in the wagon. Over the last 30 years LOTS of others (Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness, Hindus…) have gotten in the wagon…the last on being the atheists/agnostics (mostly represented by the ACLU). I find it ironic that the last in the wagon became the least tolerant and effectively threw Evangelicals out of the wagon. So as we watch our freedoms get taken away…what’s a Christian to do? Did we not pray hard enough in the 60’s as prayer was eliminated in school? Did we not trust God enough when the 10 commandments came down in every public building in the 80’s. And here we are in 2006 where every wisdom is accepted (Steven Covey, Dr. Phil, Oprah, …) except the Holy Bible.
If Evangelicals want to come together and organize politically, and as a result a commercial Christian market develops, why would that be so bothersome?
The crazy part is…everything that pastor said makes sense, and I certainly agree with what I wrote…but the real answer lies in God’s Word.
Thanks for getting things stirred up.
July 29th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Hi Kristen,
I just read your re-post on Brent’s blog. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate the attention to this article, and you made your point very clearly (I don’t understand why some of the other commenters think otherwise).
My new job has put me into a community where “everyone” is a Christian, or they at least all go to church somewhere. No one is involved in real outreach and world missions seems to be a ‘neat’ idea.
Thanks for the good read. Keep writing.
Laura
July 30th, 2006 at 9:21 am
So sorry, Hollywood, I have to do this again:
“Bizarre” means weird
“Bazaar” is a shopping area
Again, English-teacher mother…
July 30th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
:)