Big Time Evangelical Religion: Consumerist Individualism

Ask yourself: what will happen to his church when Rick Warren dies, leaves or is thrown out? Will it remain as successful? Are people there for each other and their community? Are they there for Jesus? Or are they there for Rick Warren?

The North American evangelical/fundamentalist brand of Christianity is the religious version of the American civil religion: consumerist individualism. The consumer picks a pastor based on where the action seems to be: "Wow, you aught to hear our pastor!" Such "churches" are often founded by a man or woman who started them the way other men and women start a restaurant or a movie company. In Warren's case he's pastor of a church called Saddleback but it's more properly known as "Rick Warren's church," just as the Crystal Cathedral came to be known as "Robert Schuller's church" etc.

Warren isn't the first hero-author to capture the imagination of the consumers of American religion. Before Warren there were many other celebrity leaders, including authors C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham and my late father (Francis Schaeffer) to name a few of countless stars.

Since in the Protestant world the word "Christian" can mean anything, Protestants need to hang on to some sort of distinctiveness. One person might be a "C.S. Lewis-type Christian," another might describe themselves as a "Francis Schaeffer-type," and so forth. And given American's love of material success, there are plenty of people who look at Rick Warren's 50,000 member strong church, and say "Hey, now that's what I call a church! I'm a Rick Warren type-Christian!"

Today the American evangelical/fundamentalist consumer of religion is even more prone to the truism that nothing succeeds like success. Talk about unregulated banks and hedge funds, the biggest unregulated American market is big time religion. It's success isn't measured in spiritual gain that changes anything for the better. Big time as religion is in the USA, compared to highly secular Europe, nevertheless America's teen sex statistics, abortion rates, spread of STDs, divorce and child rape rates are higher than those in non-church-going Europe. So the "success" of Warren's-type of born again entrepreneurship is a failure when measured against actual results in regard to what used to be called the fruits of the spirit.

Evangelical/fundamentalist leaders don't see it that way. Their faith entertains. It makes money. It nurtures a celebrity culture all of its own with its own TV stations, radio stations, book publishers author tours, rock concerts, schools, colleges, etc. What's not to love? It is no coincidence that other entrepreneurs who aren't believers, have gotten in on the act. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch now owns the largest "Christian" publishing company, having bought out and then folded it into his stable of publishing giants, one of which publishes -- Rick Warren.

The evangelical/fundamentalist religion is no different in its core "values" than the celebrity-worshiping, entertainment-oriented society it claims to be a prophetic witness to. Star power is seductive.

Pastors aren't pastors in the evangelical/fundamentalist culture any more than evangelical/fundamentalist "writers" are writers or intellectuals are actual intellectuals. How can an intellectual already have made up his or her mind about what the truth is? Rather "pastors" are the inventors of their own product line sold as religion, offering themselves as just another consumer choice to a culture that picks ministers the way they pick sweaters.

Empire builders are empire builders, and entertainers are entertainers, regardless of what they call themselves. Mea culpa! I only understood the reality of the symbiotic relationship between our consumer/entertainment culture and the star religious empire builders, after I quit being one myself.

Judging by the many emails I'm getting from pastors who have read my novels Portofino and Zermatt which are humorous stories about a preacher's family, seen from the inside by a preacher's kid, it seems that many a preacher is in the position of Groucho Marx. Groucho said he'd never want to belong to a club that would let someone like him join. The doubt and self-loathing expressed to me by so many pastors is amazing. Of course they all beg me never to tell anyone what they are telling me.

I can't prove this but I think that any person who remains a "professional Christian" in the evangelical/fundamentalist world for a lifetime, especially pastors, risks becoming atheists and/or liars. They put on an act of certainty. Sooner or later they become flakes faking it, or quit. Worse yet, some just stop asking questions.

The very fact that a preacher can fool others when he or she has so many doubts makes the self-appointed mediator of faith the deepest cynic of all if, that is, he or she doesn't embrace paradox. If you have to be correct all the time, while knowing that you are wrong most of the time, you become an actor. Been there, done that.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer. He is author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back and also author of the forthcoming Patience With God: Faith For People Who Don't Like Religion (Or Atheism).

Comments

[Larry Henry]

I have known for some time "American Cultural Christianity" was way off base and sick to it's soul AND corrupt. Just watch those TV shows on the most prevalent TV network and tell me I am wrong.

It used to be about Sin and Redemption, but these days if one preaches against sin - homosexuality, stealing, murder, fornication a pastor is likely to ger thrown out of the church.

I and a circle of my friends no longer attend "Church" but do fellowship as a group of believers. We read our Bibles, maintain a prayer life and look out for each other out side the confines of the Church.

We smoke, dance, play cards, drink alcohol, but we know it is all in the Golden Rule after we accept Christ - we are not perfect but we try to follow our Lord Jesus and do unto others as we want them to do unto us.

It is not in a long list of do this, don't do that. That is Legalism. Only Christ can save.

Commit your soul unto Christ and walk with him.

I am a Baptist preachers son and also a Missionary's son raised on the mission field ('ve seen it all from both sides. I have been "worldly" (sex drugs and rock-n-roll) but Christ redeemed my soul from all that and found his lost sheep. I just don't believe "Real Christianity" and "American Cultural Christianity" are the same thing.

In Christ - Bro. Larry

[iluvsam]

Religion, no matter who is spewing it out, is ridiculous.

[carolinhouston]

In your opinion. I think your statement is ridiculous. That's my opinion.

[digeridoo]

Ppphht. Deep down inside you know it is a crutch. Luckily for Frank, he is on the right tract - soon he will come to realize that not was his Republican Religious Right life a lie, but so was religion in general. He is coming to realize that all the "tradition" nonsense is a waste of time and does nothing to help the common man.

[carolinhouston]

Jim, I hear what you are saying. I don't know this brand of "Christianity," which is not Christianity at all. That is my point. Until I started paying closer attention to politics and the blogosphere, I didn't realize this view was out there to the extend that it is. I for one argued against this. This politicized view of Christianity (true Christianity) is very unfortunate. It is just a cover for a brand of politics that seeks to control what people think and do. Chesterton said, "Christianity has not failed; true Christianity has never been tried."

I might add that, as an African-American, this form of political approach to faith was foreign to me. In the black community you will witness an approach that is more "liberation theology," faith that sets people free rather than the approach that wins elections. Jesus was repeated called upon to become political; he refused.

[JimReed]

Thanks for your response. You bring up so many issues to address, so many questions to ask, and only 250 words allowed. Earlier I posted a few lines from the Martin Luther King Birmingham jail letter on this thread, but it never showed up. It seems people want to react to the excesses of the consumerists by not partaking in the greed. I think MLK shows you don't have to just avoid the sin. You can do more, and in fact that is the only way to approach God. I don't know if I could say whether or not he was a man of God, but I think he was much closer than any Christian alive in America today. He saw the time he lived in, and he was blessed with understanding what needed to be done, and he did it. Bushworld presented the biggest opportunity since that 60's era of segregation and Vietnam. Christianity failed this test. We as a nation will get through it, but it will not be because of Christianity, but in spite of it.

I wish we lived where my wife could attend your church. She attends a conservative church, and it is destroying the family because I am consumed with questioning, and since they don't have answers I am banned from talking to them and I have to be ignored.

[carolinhouston]

Jim, I would be more than happy to answer any question you may have.

[JimReed]

Carol,
The basic question is what is at the heart of Christianity? In recent years mainstream Christianity has become more involved with Christian fiction such as the Left Behind books. I think somewhere along the way they lost the feeling there is something wrong with that, it is absorbed into the mainstream. On the right of the right we have Hagee preaching for wars to be started by Israel and the U.S. He appreciates it when Lebanon and Palestine and Iraq are under attack, but that's not enough, he thinks we need war with Iran. He used White House access to push his case. It might be hard to say now who gets what credit for which wars, but I bet he would like to get some consideration. People know he might not be middle mainstream, he is more extreme than many of them, but he is tolerated in the group overall.

I don't see the God of truth in this group. I don't think they are inspired by Jesus. I think they are speaking, and they are listening to what they are saying, and they are believing. I think their group has somehow become the god that they worship. Think about that statement.

I guess the question is does this make sense? Is your religion and their religion different sects of Christianity, or is your religion totally different from anything in their religion?

[JimReed]

Here is another question about an article in today's newspaper. It says churches are getting more involved in advertising campaigns such as the Methodists 20 million dollar rebranding effort aimed at the young, and the Lutheran ads from the last two years on the theme, "God's work, Our Hands". What is said in church is private to the extent it is said to willing participants. What is said in a national advertising program is public, and can be questioned. Is it false advertising when they imply there is a connection between their hands and God's work? Is the church drifting farther away from God every time they react to the reactions they got from whatever it was they did the previous time?

[digeridoo]

"Ask yourself: what will happen to his church when Rick Warren dies, leaves or is thrown out?"

Answer: I don't give a rip. It is none of my business..­.

[nomoredead]

Go to virtualglobetrotting.com and do a search for ' Paul Crouch's House' actually two house in the Beverly Park area of Los Angeles.
The founder of TBN.
Say amen......­.

[alohaz]

"It's success isn't measured in spiritual gain that changes anything for the better"

The major reason why I left and will not likely ever be back. Thanks for sharing your wisdom Frank. If you had not 'been there, done that' you might not have had the keen insight today with which to explain the evangelical experience in the sharp and revealing emperor has no clothes way you tell it.

[luziannagirl]

Evangelicals don't mind borrowing secular well-worn entertainment hooks and slick show-biz gimmicks to further their own interests, yet they cry "foul" when those in the secular realm borrow from them. (Check out religious criticism of the "Born Again American" initiative)

Preachers, either get back in your pulpits and start tending your flocks, or find yourselves losing your tax-exempt status. Or worse.

I've heard talk about federal RICO (Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization?) statutes being applied to the activities of some churches.

[digeridoo]

Nice! Either they start getting in line with "we the people" or we start taxing their "donations­"... Sounds like a plan - when can we start?

[carolinhouston]

Frank, I don't disagree with you, it's just that I don't completely agree. I understand your anger--been there and done that. Not all of us are "Rick Warrens."

My concern is that you are perhaps unintentionally painting a false picture of the life in Christ. People read your work and draw tragically false conclusions. While there may be corruptions, misapplications and outright false and dangerous practices, there is a reality in Christ. The two are not the same. My frustration is that so many people think these false representations are the real deal and they are not.

I pastor a small church--18 people who strive to follow the way of Christ--to love mercy, to be gracious to all with whom we come in contact, to feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick and incarcerated. Tutor children after school. Encourage the discouraged. In the part of the world where I minister, we deal with real problems -- like drug addictions, HIV/Aids, teen pregnancies, poverty. Unjudgmentally, lovingly, care for people as Jesus commanded. We don't have any money and nobody knows about the work we do. We just do it.

I regret how this wonderful way of life is viewed today. I wish it were different. Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

[JimReed]

Warrenism is not the cause, just a symptom. We are still working on the cause. A bigger issue was the inability of Christianity as a whole to see the problem with becoming conservative, leading to putting Bush in power, and ultimately torture and war for greed and various hatreds of anything seen as against conservative values such as science and humanistic environmental causes. Who stood up in the pulpit and told the people about the horrors that were unleashed on the world by the values voters?

[davusan]

Religion makes good people better, bad people worse, and has no visible effect on everyone else.

[JimReed]

That is what makes it so powerful. They all see their group as the good people, and those who disagree with them as the bad people. The system keeps everyone happy, except those "everyone elses" who don't belong anywhere.

[JuliaRain]

It's time to tax the churches.

[nomoredead]

Thank you !

[joebaggadonuts]

Amen!!!! And thanks, Frank for this article.

[TommyH0524]

Interesting article with many points I agree with. Was raised in the North - the script every Sunday is pretty much the same, sprinkled with the Homily and maybe a new Hymn here and there. So when I saw how exciting and entertaining some of the local TV show Evangelists were I thought, why can't we have some of that at my Sunday sermon? Then, I learned about the lavish and opulent lifestyles the leaders of these churches enjoyed. Huge expensive homes, multiple luxury sport cars, vactions, etc. Even if the money was from commerical sources (Book and Video sales, speaking fees) rather then church collections there is inherently something wrong - evil - about this lifestyle. I can't watch these shows anymore without trying to figure out what evil source fuels the speaker - so much so any good message they convey is ultimately tainted and I'm always distracted trying to figure out how they can be so two-faced ! I suspect that if their followers learned of their extravagance they too would think twice and find another preacher. Why can't they simply live comfortably rather than extravagantly? Shameful.

[joebaggadonuts]

Glad to see a church goer thinking about the truth! Thanks, TommyH!

[jmpurser]

Here I think the Mega-ego church phenomenon is more a symptom of what's wrong with America rather than the cause but it's certainly an unsightly blemish that does untold harm and no good.

[Realization]

Questions should arise about taxing religion as business. Same principle as the possible benefits of a high marginal tax rate for corporate executives. The executives, of course, say you need high (absurdly high) salaries and benefits to attract the best talent. But a lot of our companies were more patriotic (yes, patriotic) when tax rates were high and executives were paid about 20x workers. Foreign countries that are competitive, like Japan, have far lower executive pay ( and less MBAs with more promotions inside the firms) and focus on the good of the company in the long term.

Could it be that the attraction of excessive wealth is both non-Christian and an impediment to progress?

[JimReed]

Consumer/e­ntertainer preachers are certainly a problem, but just being the opposite is not good enough. The recent Christiani­ty/party-o­f-the-rich linkup has created a new problem/op­portunity. In a kinder and simpler generation, Martin Luther King Jr. had to admonish the preachers of his time to repent not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. It was easy in his day, all he had to do was see the evil and fignt it. Who in today's world can stand up in the pulpit and explain to their conservative congregations the moral hazard of selling out to the Republicans, and bringing torture and war for greed and hatred of truth into their hearts? It sounds so simple. Why is it so hard?

[xenia14]

Your article, Mr. Schaeffer, reminded me of what St. Ireneaus of Lyons said in the 2nd Century about how one can trace a Bishop or a priest back to the Apostles and that can't be done, that it is not part of the one Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church. As an Orthodox Christian, I am quite fortunate to be part of the Church that started on the Day of Pentecost. As you very well know, the Orthodox Church has withstood many storms throughout the centuries and will continue to do so.

Vaya con Dios,

Xenia Grant