Religion and Rebellion

There is an extremely (or should I say x-tremely?) interesting article in the New York Times detailing the latest methods to market Christianity as a subversive, rebellious religion in order to appeal to those who consider themselves counter cultural. There is no doubt that religion in general and Christianity in particular have become big business as of late, but this latest appeal seems to have all the makings of success but can’t quite realize its full potential.

Despite the efforts of some to Christianize punk music, skateboard parks and other seemingly rebellious mainstays, I am continuing to come to the realization that our packaging has very little to do with what we’re selling. The retail industry spends billions of dollars a year to get us to buy a certain cookie, soft drink or shirt. In the end, we end up eating, drinking and wearing the same thing as everyone else. It seems that Christianity, no matter how it is packaged, still contains its same basic message – believe what we believe and you can be popular, wealthy and go to heaven when you die.

It is this message that misses the point. We can take the above sentence with its promises of prosperity and the promised land and make it look like a rigid conservative Southern Baptist church or a liturgical robed Anglican communion or a free spirited praise band sing-a-long or a eardrum bursting rock concert and any way you bag it, people still will walk away when the message comes out. This is a major concern for me as I see more and more churches launching what they call ‘emergent’ worship services. In essence, many of these services are these churches’ unappealing theology dressed up with candles, icons and emerging language. This can only lead to an identity crisis for many who may think themselves emergent but then want nothing to do with the bastions of conservatism these churches also claim to be.

The problem then, is the message. While the reasons are myriad, the current message coming from the church is one that is an amalgam of twentieth century imperialistic capitalist culture mixed with a literal reading of a particular canon of Scripture, meshed with a virile Jesus and a paternalistic attitude. The message, while there may be a few variances, often comes out as: “Believe what we do – that a white Jesus came to see to it that individuals who speak English and can understand and say a simple prayer will have their souls saved from a literal fiery hell.” It doesn’t take long for an unbelieving world to never want to believe anything that has to do with this.

In a conversation today, a friend told me: “I’ve tried to find a church in Nashville, but every time I go the preacher tells me to commit my life to God and I will get to go to heaven. Meanwhile, this guy’s up there dancin’ and sweatin’ and drives away in his Mercedes, but I’m stuck with my real life problems and my real life job and my real life dreams and apparently God doesn’t care a whole lot about that.”

Because our media likes to cast all debates as only two sided, the church is increasingly seen as an institution that is against so much and for so very little. Christians get airtime only when they’re crazy, like when they’re gay-bashing or living in a commune waiting for the Rapture or when they blame hurricanes and bombs on lots of other people.

While I agree with the assessment of many in the Times article that Jesus was subversive, a radical, and a rebel, he didn’t fill those roles because he wanted to appeal to a large mass of spikey-haired tattooed punk rockers. He did that because his God was calling him to give sight to the blind, heal the sick and the lame, release the prisoners and let the captives go free. Doing any of these things nowadays will definitely get you labeled counter cultural in our society of the uninsured, the indebted and the poor.

Today, when evangelicals have more power and acceptance in American society than in recent history, they have a chance to seize on the desire of many to go against the grain. But, preaching a gospel that is about the glorification and the sustenance of the majority is anything but appealing to those who wish to make a difference by being different.