Preservings $20 No. 25, December, 2005 - Plett Foundation

Revivalist-Fundamentalist-Evangelicalism. By
denying the foundational truths expressed in
the Gospels, they neatly excise Christ’s teaching
about non-violence and treatment of the
oppressed. Thus Fundamentalist/Evangelical
Bible Schools and media empires often seem
to echo more about American secular culture
than genuine Biblicism.
Believers should respect the people that
made the traditions and study and understand
why they evolved and came about in the first
place. Traditions should be carefully evaluated
and decisions made to reform them should
be informed decisions to avoid throwing
out the good with the bad, the baby with the
bathwater.
Culture Sustains Faith.
In the never-ending tension between faith
and culture, faith should articulate culture not
the other way around. This statement might
be true in the ideal world. But there are many
instances where genuine faith has survived
because of the cultural platform in which it
was carried.
The Hutterian Brethren in the 19th century
are a good example. Hutterites in Reformation
times were highly literate and articulate with a
sound intellectual understanding of their theology
and faith. Over the centuries they were
persecuted and driven from one place to another.
By the time they arrived in Imperial Russia
in 1842, near the Mennonite Molotschna
Colony, they were poverty stricken. They were
no longer practising community of property,
one of the primary tenets of their faith.
In 1874 Hutterites immigrated to the United
States and from there to Canada in 1917.
During at least part of this time they followed
their faith by rote, through the replication of
practices which had become cultural norms.
But notwithstanding the “frontier” pioneering
experience and the onslaughts of predator
religious cultures, Hutterites did survive where
other Anabaptist based groups and numerous
“old-line” Protestant denominations failed and
disintegrated.
The Hutterian Brethren have an enviable
record of growth, from 1500 at the time of
emigration in 1874 to some 30,000 today.
They serve as an example where faith survived
because it was sustained by a religious culture
that was thoroughly Christian (Gospel-centric)
and Bible-based in its historical formation.
Culture and Salvation.
What are some other positive features of
a culture? A culture tends to hold people and
communities together. A culture preserves the
proven ideas and practices of the past. Why
reinvent the wheel at every turn, every time a
decision or interpretation is needed.
Pentecostals do not agonize each time they
want to speak in tongues. The heathen practice
is firmly enshrined as the trademark of their
religious culture and a sophisticated liturgy
and ritual has developed around it.
In some so-called Evangelical denominations
it is required to clap hands, undulate the
body, sing jingoistically, and take part in other
rituals, all designed to establish zombie-like
control over adherents. In some T. V. religious
programming adherents are seen in spasms
on the floor, succumbing to trances and fits of
hysterical laughter, reminiscent of Voodoo and
other heathen practices. Through repetition
common usages such as these become integral
to a religious culture.
Over the centuries, for example, God may
lead His people to adopt various styles of worship
and piety which can and should become
sacred to that community--at least if they have
a biblical foundation.
Past decisions over time become the practices
and rituals which guide and inform the
decisions of the future. Although individuals
may disagree with various protocol adopted
from time to time by conservative Mennonite
and Hutterian Gemeinden, it is important to
acknowledge that these decision were adopted
democratically by majority vote by genuine
believers who did so in a prayerful and soul
searching process. As such these protocol
legitimately inform and articulate the lives of
community members.
It is evident that culture can play an important
role by serving as a vehicle sustaining
faith through periods of internal decline and
decay or stress from the outside.
“Pop” Religious Culture.
While faith can articulate culture, the
reverse can also be true, namely, culture can
articulate faith. This can have positive as well
as negative manifestations, as already seen
above in the case of so-called Evangelical
religious culture.
The dominant culture in North America is
very much controlled by the media. Through
TV, radio and print media, young people are
influenced and socialized by a constant bombardment
of ideas and cultural mores passed
on in the form of music, advertising, and news
reporting.
In the religious sphere charismatic leaders
frequently arise capitalizing on the techniques
of mass media merchandising to create megachurches
and powerful “ministries”. These
movements use the popular culture of wider
society as a vehicle or platform upon which
to build and inject their particular religious
creed. The goal is to adopt a range of popular
attitudes and beliefs in order to win as many
adherents as possible. In short, they emulate
popular culture, hence the term “pop” religious
culture.
Many of these religious cultures are articulated
by one dominant individual or personage,
forming a “personality cult”.
Civil Religion.
The 17th century flight from religious
intolerance in Europe and the immigrant experience
common to white Protestants have
contributed to a notion among Americans that
they are the chosen people--the new Israel, so
to speak. This notion is an important underlay
in making North American Protestant Funda-
mentalism its unofficial civic religion.
Religious denominations which accept the
dominant themes in what has been referred to
as North American “pop” culture clearly do
best. Any movement offering instant sensual
gratification is guaranteed popularity. Almost
everyone seemingly dreams of becoming rich,
a human trait exploited by certain denominations,
known as “success theology”. Those
religious cultures thrive which emphasize
competitiveness and that their adherents are
better or more saved than others. These ideas
are popular because they are evocative of
North American society.
Free market capitalism is widely accepted
as the cornerstone of North American culture.
It is also the foundation of the “new” global
economy. The vast majority of North Americans
equate capitalism with basic Christian
values.
American culture is much influenced by
19th century small “l” liberalism. Individual
freedoms were glorified over corporate and
community responsibilities. Such ideas dovetail
nicely with the concept of salvation as an
individual internal act.
“Pop” religious culture impacts negatively
on conservative Mennonites and Hutterites
as their ethos is based on Renaissance communitarianism
and discipline. Hutterites,for
example, stress the teaching of community of
property as found in the Jerusalem Gemeinde
at Pentecost, an idea which is anathema to free
market capitalism. By defining salvation as a
life-long experience and way of life, focused
on living out the teachings of Christ, Hutterites
and conservative Mennonites are swimming
against stream in terms of a consumer articulated
religious market place.
Religious Consumerism.
The most successful players in “pop”
religious culture are those which succeed in
evoking core values and beliefs which resonate
harmoniously within the wider secular
society.
Strategies for expanding individual religious
empires are adopted from successful
marketing enterprises. Promotional techniques
often mirror those of door-to-door sales empires
such as “Amway” or “Wal-Mart” and
that of many successful social movements.
The reverse is also true with some business
enterprises adopting the marketing strategies
of so-called Evangelicalism such as inspirational/motivational
rituals frequently repeated
in small groups, promotional videos, colourful
literature, etc.
By defining salvation as an internalized
individual act, so-called Evangelicals
have successfully created a religious culture
dovetailing painlessly with North American
societal values. The object has become to
preach that which will be the most popular
with the maximum number of people, with
individual sub-cultures thereby defining their
own self-worth.
Subculture
Preservings No. 25, December 2005 - 17