This means I'm gonna have to watch all season, doesn't it?
One of the contestants on the new season of Survivor (yes, it's still on the air) is a Christian talk radio host. The first episode began with a ceremony at a Buddhist temple, and immediately I said, "there's no way she's gonna do this." Many evangelicals would happily attend such a ceremony without actually worshipping, as a simple sign of respect and politeness, but those are not qualities that get one a job as a talk radio host, and sure enough Leslie walked out after a few minutes.
When Jeff Probst asked her about it, she said, "I'm not a religious person, but I have a relationship with Jesus Christ" — totally confounding all the other players, and, no doubt, most of the audience. What you need to know is that evangelicalism today is all about being "not religious." It's a trope that started among the younger, hipper set ("the emerging church," or at least one definition of it) who wanted to distinguish their intense and dynamic personal relationship with Jesus with what they saw as the static and uninspired blandness of "religion" -- that is, mom and dad's church with all its habits and rules and consumer trappings, which had more to do with man than God. The youngsters who first expressed this probably meant it, but by now it's become so entrenched in the language of evangelicals that it's, well, just another habit. If anything, declaring yourself "not religious" is really a way of saying "more religious than you."
The "anti-religion" trope is well illustrated by a series of evangelical parodies of the Mac vs PC ads, which pit a cool "Christ-follower" against a dorky "Christian." The variation embedded here is particularly amusing because it inadvertently reveals how meaningless the trope has become.
It begins with Cool Sweatshirt Guy saying, "Hello, I'm a Christ-follower" and Stuffy Suit Guy saying, "And I'm a Christian." Christian guy then says something about his new "HSHD," to which Christ-Follower dude smirks, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Christianese." It's supposed to be a winning line: Christianese, the evangelical jargon that's pervasive in the church is supposedly anathema to the cool kids. (There's a hilarious glossary in The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right) But it's hard to pull that line off when you've just called yourself a "Christ-follower," which is about as Christianese as it gets. I'm not saying there aren't genuinely cool evangelicals — I've met many over the last two years — but these ads — and Survivor Leslie's calculatedly off-hand description of herself — only illustrate that the more some evangelicals think that they can "be cool" in order to "connect" with the rest of us, the more disconnected they sound.
Comments
That one's been around for a long time. I was raised evangelical/fundamentalist in the 1970s, and a very popular book in our sect was called "I'm Not Religious, I Just Love the Lord." I'm now an agnostic Reform Jew, and enjoy telling people that I'm not spiritual, just religious.
Posted by: MizDarwin | September 21, 2007 11:25 AM
Right. I should have said the current usage picked up steam with the emerging church, though it was (I'm pretty sure) started in the 60s and 70s by the Jesus Freaks and seeped pretty quickly into the church as a whole.
Posted by: radosh | September 21, 2007 11:34 AM
Is a "Reform Jew" anything like a "Jew for Jesus"? I was raised in an evangelical church where that movement was like "Jew 2.0." Very cool. I guess it was like a big, in-your-face to every other religion.
Anyway, I see the "spiritual not religious" movement as an answer to the man-made nature of Catholicism.
These days I guess I am agnostic, but I prefer the term "sack of meat," as it leaves less to the imagination.
Matt
Posted by: Matt | September 21, 2007 12:20 PM
Fascinating stuff! You can always TiVo the season and skip all the stuff that doesn't have to do with her.
Posted by: Martin | September 21, 2007 12:35 PM
I see the "spiritual not religious" movement as an answer to the man-made nature of Catholicism
That's certainly the historical antecdent, and probably why it found fertile ground when reapplied to the evangelical protestant church by its own members.
Is a "Reform Jew" anything like a "Jew for Jesus"?
I'm reminded of Woody Allen's line about how he was married by a Reform rabbi: "Very Reform. A Nazi."
Posted by: radosh | September 21, 2007 12:38 PM
Is a "Reform Jew" anything like a "Jew for Jesus"?
No.
Posted by: John Tabin | September 21, 2007 4:16 PM
Just when I thought those assholes had run out of ways to MAKE MY BRAIN EXPLODE...
Posted by: Jim | September 21, 2007 4:46 PM
Matt--Reform Jews are Jews. The so-called Jews for Jesus are, more accurately, Christians for Kashrut.
Posted by: MizDarwin | September 21, 2007 6:37 PM
I wiki'd "reform judaism". What the average US citizen knows as Judaism is most likely Reform Judaism, right?
I'm far less comfortable with "cool evangelicals" than with traditional: at least with the big hair, gold microphones, full-length dresses, white and gold guitars, bad hairpieces, and southern accents they were being themselves.
Matt
Posted by: MAtt | September 21, 2007 7:43 PM
I suppose these ads are intentionally preaching to the choir, if you will. As an outsider (and I should say I've only ever seen, like, two of the real ads) I was confused initially - yes, even with your intro - as to whose side I was supposed to be on. The "Christianese" quip and accompanying smirk by the schlubby guy, as well as his continued mugging and/or cue-card reading, seemed to indicate that he was just a clueless jerk.
Isn't an ad for something supposed to contain some reference (imagined, exaggerated or otherwise) to the product's positive benefit? I think I have a vague idea of the "Christ-followers"' view of "Christians," but I have no idea of what, particularly, a "Christ-follower" is or does.
Posted by: Vance | September 22, 2007 12:09 PM
I was confused initially - yes, even with your intro - as to whose side I was supposed to be on.
The real Mac ads have exactly the same problem.
I think I have a vague idea of the "Christ-followers"' view of "Christians," but I have no idea of what, particularly, a "Christ-follower" is or does.
The embedded ad is actually the weakest of the four. I just chose it because of the "Christianese" line. Click the first link to watch one of the others and you'll get a better sense of it.
(The jPod ad also has some unintentional humor, but I'll save that for another time)
Posted by: radosh | September 22, 2007 3:43 PM
"but these ads [...] only illustrate that the more some evangelicals think that they can "be cool" in order to "connect" with the rest of us, the more disconnected they sound."
Hey bro, don't get all buzzy just 'cause they're hip to the lingo all the hep cats sling...
Posted by: Michael | September 22, 2007 5:35 PM
How does it help "Christ followers" to insult the faith of fellow Christians?
Posted by: Dashiell | September 22, 2007 9:00 PM
How does it help "Christ followers" to insult the faith of fellow Christians?
If I understand it mostly, it's a case of "Hate the methodology, love the methodologist." ... No?
Posted by: Vance | September 23, 2007 1:29 AM
I'm an atheist, but now I'm thinking of becoming an agnostic so I can use Matt's term "sack of meat."
Posted by: Rachel | September 24, 2007 1:03 AM