A little while ago I
finished reading Jeff Sharlet’s book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at
the Heart of American Power. It’s
a terrific book about a subject that has been fueling my interest for a number
of years now; namely, how Christian fundamentalism in America expresses itself
in both the culture and politics of the nation. Sharlet has experience in this genre and has created a
fierce and exhaustive account of the organization behind the seemingly
innocuous National Prayer Breakfast.
More than that, however, The Family provides needed insight into the
nebulous architecture of belief that has come to typify the modern evangelical
movement in this country.
According to Sharlet, the “prayer cell” model utilized by the Family is
fueled by a fundamentalist conviction that the person of Jesus should be
followed, period. Therefore,
evangelical belief is (as we know) utterly unmoored from its pedigree in
establishment religion… but it is also disdainfully anathema to theological
dialectics which dissect and interpret the meaning (and importance) of Jesus’
life and teachings. As such,
American Christendom has become (and most assuredly is) a mechanism by which
power entrenches and protects itself.
In stressing obedience to Jesus above all else, obedience itself has become the hallmark of devotion – nevermind that Jesus himself was a vaguely eschatological agent of social change. Two days ago I listened to a radio preacher speak ad nauseam about the ironclad truth of Romans 13:1 (a verse Sharlet fully explicates in the context of the fundamentalist ethos). He [the radio preacher] left no room for interpretation: “The authorities that exist have been established by God.” No exceptions. No legalisms. No moderate interpretation. No secular influence allowed. The only caveat: “…now, this doesn’t mean that those who possess authority will act in a Godly manner. Only that the authority they possess comes from God!” Whew. This means, of course, that when in doubt… well, trusting in authority is synonymous with trusting in God. Man is the head of the household. The President is the head of the country. Obedience to this (and all) authority is nothing less than a form of worship. Hence, power entrenches and protects itself.
During the last few days I’ve been reading through the New Testament Gospels (thus far I’ve only gotten through Matthew, Mark, and half of Luke). I’ve also been watching an old Frontline series about the history of Jesus and Christianity. Both make this important point:
…this holy man winds up in Jerusalem and winds up executed by the authorities, probably as a trouble maker, somebody who's best off dead, rather than alive because alive who knows what may happen? He's a threat to the social order. He's best off executed. This is how Christianity begins. It very rapidly turns into something different.
Personally, I don’t see
hypocrisy in the transition of rebel into overlord. We know it’s not unusual; that it is, in fact, the normative
evolution of social institutions (even Thomas Franks wrote about this in
Commodify your Dissent).
Eventually, however, forces rise up to offer a counter-revolution. This is what is so insidious about
religious fundamentalism: it counters its own revolution. Jesus = Water. Christianity = Coke. Christian Fundamentalism = New
Coke. Everyone hated New Coke.
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