Some time ago I heard someone discussing the 'outsourcing' of a great deal of Evangelical thinking and it has stayed with me. It's another interesting way of framing what has happened.
For all the talk of worldview and Biblical application, the
truth is the Christian Right has in fact abdicated a great deal of its social
thinking and ethics and handed them over to other thinkers outside the Church.
In some cases this is further confused by the fact that you
have a bevy of Christian commentators that profess otherwise and insist that
they are doing this very work – they are engaged in the task of applying
Scripture to cultural issues and giving the Church the commentary and
application so desperately needed.
And yet when one reads their materials or listens to their
podcasts, one is more or less provided with a re-hashing or slightly modified
version of what one finds in the Right-wing media complex. They are not
thinking originally or outside the politically delineated box. I suppose they
might say that many of these outlets, channels, publications, podcasts, books,
and the like are reflecting a 'Christian worldview'.
But as I (and others) have repeatedly pointed out – it seems
problematic that non-believers would be able to come up with and/or express
Christian thinking and ethics as these are presumably born of the Holy Spirit
and the result of regenerate faculties and reasoning. Is there no antithesis
between the believer and unbeliever? Can lost people, children of wrath in
bondage to the god of the world think and live like Christians merely by means
of deduction?
And in reality these various outlets – FOX, Newsmax, PragerU,
The Blaze, Turning Point USA, and endless more examples are not engaged in honest
attempts at reporting or providing information. They are not trying to critically
interpret the world through the lens of the New Testament and the teaching of
Christ and the apostles. On the contrary, these outlets are partisan and activist
in nature and most are openly in pursuit of profit. Their coverage is always
rooted in metrics and ratings and the ability to generate ad revenue. They
focus on stoking fear and anger and in other cases tickling ears – what some
refer to as confirmation bias. They are not adversarial apart from the
political opposition and even this is defined not by principle but by the
dynamics of strategy. We see this clearly with the internecine battles taking
place within the GOP. Yesterday's man on the Far-Right is today's RINO or even
liberal.
And yet when one listens to the Evangelical commentators, one
is not presented with Biblical thinking that attempts to objectively interact
with these questions, factions, and issues. Rather, the framing of the issues and
narratives are simply re-packaged with the term 'Biblical' thrown in front. In
many cases it's not even syncretism which would be bad enough, but simply an
'outsourcing' of the thinking. As already stated, these Christian leaders
simply repackage it a bit or dress it up for their audiences.
In these circles, serious cultural investigation and
reflection are not desirable. It leads to an unvarnished criticism of the past
and often its failures and hypocrisies. The end result is ambiguity and nuance.
Such meditative conclusions fail to energize the people sitting in the pews. So
instead these academics and various Church leaders have effectively outsourced
key aspects of their teaching and pastoral duties to an army of political
mercenaries who in their turn exist at the behest of powerful political and
financial interests. They are there to provoke, energize, and manipulate. In
other words it's a big con job – a scam.
I think the most poignant example of this kind of outsourcing
was on display just a couple of months ago when Turning Point USA hosted a
Pastor's Summit. Listening to audio clips, the words that come to mind are deception,
syncretism, and confusion – and of course heresy.
I do not doubt that some of the commentators believe in what
they are doing and are simply blind to these dynamics and realities. Some are undoubtedly
handed over themselves. Some are the deceived deceivers Paul speaks of in 2
Timothy 3. Some have so confused American and Christian identity and categories
that they can no longer viably separate them. To do so would mean the collapse
and disintegration of both. In which case they are (on both fronts) living in
and believing in a fantasy. Their Christianity is not real – nor is their
Americanism. They cling to a mythologized and unsustainable vision of something
that is not real nor ever has been. They would be pitiable if it were not for
the danger they represent to the Church.
I suppose if a think-tank or college emerged that took these
issues seriously and issued papers and provided lectures that took American
Right-wing thinking to task just as much as it did the Left – it would probably
face financial collapse. There would be no market for it. I know there are some
out there who believe they are doing this – probably men like Doug Wilson. But
they too are deceived. They are not really thinking outside the box but playing
a deceitful game trying to play the Right even as they seek to undermine it. As
I've always said I have a level of appreciation for some within the spectrum of
Theonomy that openly denounce the Classical Liberalism at the heart of the US
system and its cultural values. At least they're honest. What I don't
appreciate are those that hold these views and yet still wave the flag and
pretend as if somehow they are the 'real' Americans. Once again Paul's deceived
deceivers come to mind.
And yet for all their denunciations of the system, when one
partakes of their commentaries – it still feels like I'm listening to FOX –
maybe turned up a bit, but it's all born of the same anti-Christian spirit,
assumptions, and in pursuit of the same misguided goals, and by means of the
same corrupted (and often evil) ethics.
If the Church won't accept non-politicised commentary and scholarship, then what can we say? What is the true state of American Christianity? What is a believer to do?