Church shopping and cultural polarization

CNN.com has a blog post today exploring “How Church Shopping is Polarizing the Country”. Written by law professors Naomi Cahn (George Washington University) and June Carbone (University of Missouri Kansas City) who have recently co-authored a book on cultural polarization, the particular focus on church shopping intrigued me. Heck, I was church shopping not all that long ago. I’m helping cause cultural polarization? I must know more.

Fascinating (and saddening) are their definitions of the two polarized camps: traditionalists, who “…believe in an eternal and transcendent authority that tells us what is good, what is true, how we should live, and who we are”, and modernists, who “…would redefine historic faiths according to the prevailing assumptions of contemporary life”. Modernists, they note, “…have become less likely to attend church at all.”

In previous generations, they say, both modernists and traditionalists tended to attend the same churches, typically right in their community. Today, though, the ability to church-shop has the traditionalists seeking out churches that affirm their “personal values”, and has modernists staying home.

The authors lament the decline of the mainline Protestant denominations that in previous generations housed both camps, and complain that today’s evangelical churches (full of like-minded traditionalists) are self-reinforcing in belief, and that evangelicalism’s close ties to the Republican Party serve to marginalize those who might be in agreement politically but not religiously (or vice versa). In the end, they say, traditionalists group together and talk only to themselves, and modernists leave church altogether, resulting in an increasingly polarized society.

There are certainly places where I disagree with the authors’ views on the topic. I think that Protestants seeking churches where their beliefs are shared and reinforced is a good thing. And drawing rosy pictures of a post-WWII generation where everyone attended the same community church regardless of what they believed only serves to hide the fact that those weak, any-belief-is-OK churches in large part helped cause the modernist/traditionalist divide we see today, by valuing the form-over-substance mindset that was eventually cynically discarded by Generation X.

However, within the microcosm that is the evangelical church, there are good lessons to be learned here. We need to be vigilant to ensure that we limit our “distinctives” to the fundamental Gospel truths. As soon as our teaching, or even our church culture, becomes, even by way of unspoken assumptions, ’the gospel plus conservative politics’ or ’the gospel plus homeschooling’ or ’the gospel plus pre-millennial dispensationalism’, etc., we will alienate those who either desperately need to hear the Gospel or who could be vibrant, participating members of our local body.

The good news that Jesus Christ is Lord of all is polarizing. We should not be surprised when law professors find it so. But there is still a lesson for us here: let the Gospel be polarizing, not the cultural things we are so apt to add on to it.

The "Left Behind" influence on the Religious Right

It’s been a common observation over the past several years that one of the practical results of a “Left Behind”, dispensational view of the end times is a lack of care for the environment in general - heck, if it’s all gonna burn anyway, why should I care?  But the other day it struck me that there is another connection that I haven’t heard commented on - a connection between the rise of dispensational end times views and the rise of Republicanism within the evangelical church. 

Now, let’s be fair to Tim LaHaye - just because his “Left Behind” books became so popular this past decade doesn’t mean that he dreamed the whole “left behind” scenario up.  Think back to Hal Lindsey’s Late, Great Planet Earth, published in 1970, which became the non-fiction bestseller of the 70’s.  While we were politically tired out and frustrated by Vietnam, Watergate, and Carter’s “malaise”, Lindsey also got us thinking about premillenial, dispensational end times.  And a primary component of that movement, even though it’s not often stated that way: fear.

Fear was, and still is, a huge motivator in that paradigm.  Fear of the coming one-world government.  Fear of The Antichrist.  Fear of “the mark”.  Fear that somehow we won’t make God’s “cut” and that we’ll be left behind. Fear of the beheadings. Come on, folks, remember A Thief In The Night?  What other bad 1970’s zombie film would ever get shown in high school church youth groups?

Then came 1980 and Ronald Reagan proclaimed that government was the problem, not the solution.  And the Late, Great adherents heard that and figured that any political movement that took us further away from that scary impending one-world government was a good thing.  And now for the past 30 years the Republican party, and, indeed, the entire Republican platform, has been considered the default “right” position for evangelical Christians in America.

Now, this is no sort of comprehensive analysis, but it’s an interesting topic to think through. 

Finally, a set of disclaimers so that I don’t get kicked out of every group I’ve ever belonged to:

  • I like and admire a whole lot of what I know about and experienced of President Reagan.
  • I’m not sure where I stand on the whole end-times thing.  I used to buy into the whole “Left Behind” scenario - let’s face it, that’s what I grew up in.  Today I’m not so sure. Left Behind doesn’t seem plausible, but I’m not entirely convinced by the amillenial position, either. 
  • Obviously not everyone that holds to the premillenial view hates the environment and/or is primarily motivated by fear
  • Obviously the Republican party holds some views that are good.  The Democrat party does, too.
  • I have some non-dispensational libertarian friends who are gonna tell me I’m completely off base on this one.

Culture Warrior or Disciple?

The Internet Monk’s latest post deserves more than just a bullet in my overnight links.

Michael Spencer describes “Bob”, a man he met this past summer. Bob is “a very dedicated conservative evangelical, and a pleasant enough fellow….when he [isn’t] angry.”

Bob was your stereotypical culture war evangelical. He was a Jesus follower, but his passion was what was going on in America, particularly the issues we broadly call the culture war: atheistic advances in the public schools, restrictions on Christian practice in the public square, the aggressive agenda of homosexual rights advocates.

Bob was obviously devoted to Christian and conservative media, particularly radio. He believed what he heard. Dobson. Point of View. 700 Club.

We all know people like this. We all get multitudinous email forwards from people like this. Some of us are people like this, or have those tendencies. And here’s iMonk’s word for us:

Go live like a disciple.

It’s hard to say this, but Bob isn’t seeing the big picture. Our American culture war is not worth the demise of authentic discipleship. Trading following Christ in love, even in post-Christian times, for fighting and defensiveness, is a bad trade. Bob is frightened. Our faith says “Fear not.” Bob says prepare to fight. Our faith says prepare to love.

I am particularly impressed that these days should call us together in real community, not separate us according to Christian media audience niche. There are some helpful voices out there in the culture war, but I’d like to suggest that it’s time to listen to your pastor- assuming he’s showing you how to follow Jesus- more than James Dobson or some angrier, more paranoid manipulator of fear.

You should really go read the whole article. Good, good stuff. Amen.

The war by? on? Christians in America...

Stanley Kurtz has an excellent (if a bit long) column today discussing the current edition of Harper’s Magazine - cover story: “The Christian Right’s War on America”.

He argues that by accusing the “Christian Right” of being hateful and “at war with America”, Harper’s (as just one participant in a trend by the media) is themselves promoting “hatred” of a group… the Christian Right. He writes:

According to Harper’s, conservative Christians are making “war on America.” Can you imagine the reaction to a cover story about a “war on America” by blacks, gays, Hispanics, or Jews?

It’s worth reading the whole article.