Amid the cries to Make America Christian Again, the truth is, Christianity never had a chance.
Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart said as much in an interview provocatively titled, “David Bentley Hart: The Theologian is a Quiet Rioter.”
Here are his words: “Christianity never succeeded in America. Most Americans think of themselves as Christians. But the only religion in America that ever flourished was America. And it twists everything in its own image.”
Stephen Shoemaker
Speaking of this religion of America, he says: “Our religion is a kind of … post-Christian mystery religion based on wealth, power and one’s personal relationship with a kind of gnostic Jesus.”
By “gnostic,” I think he means a nonhistorical Jesus who means what we want him to mean and who invites us into a cozy private relationship with him, our certifiably crucifiable Lord.
In our day in America, we see little difference between Jesus and Caesar.
In the American version of the gospel story about someone taking a Roman coin with Caesar’s image on it to Jesus, they ask: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” Jesus says, “Show me the coin used for the tax.” They bring a Roman coin. “Whose head is this?” Jesus asks coquettishly, “The emperor’s,” they answer. Then Jesus asks, “Don’t you think my face would look better on this coin?”
Roger Williams, founder of the Baptist movement in America, was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his irregular theology, not to mention his befriending of the Native Americans. (He said they should be paid for their land. And he created the first English/Native American dictionary.)
He named in his colorful 17th-century language the false gods of his day: “The truth is, the great Gods of this world are God-belly, God-peace, God-wealth, God-honor, God-pleasure, etc.”
“The truth is, the great Gods of this world are God-belly, God-peace, God-wealth, God-honor, God-pleasure.”
He would not be asked to preach in the White House today, nor would he entertain the invitation.
The irascible Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan, who with eight others poured homemade napalm on draft files in Catonsville, Md., during the Vietnam War, named in a poem the American Trinity: General Motors (the Unmoved Mover), General Foods (the Son) and General Electric (the Holy Spirit).
What about the three persons of the American Trinity today?
- Musk/Tesla
- Zukerberg/Facebook
- Bezos/Amazon
Surely today,
- God-Power
- God-Wealth
- God-Race
John Calvin called our human hearts “perpetual idol factories.” The prophet sings, “And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made.”
“In this time of spiritual and moral emergency we must not despair.”
Yet, in this time of spiritual and moral emergency we must not despair. An episode in the life of Elijah the prophet helps us at this point. Elijah was in mortal danger for having publicly opposed King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, not to mention the prophets of Baal whom Ahab and Jezebel had appropriated for their purpose. Ahab and Jezebel were out to kill him, and he was in full flight. God told him to go to Mt. Horeb — also named Sinai — where God had delivered the Ten Commandments amid earthquake, wind and fire.
Elijah went and hid in a cave at its base. Yahweh, the Lord, spoke to him: “Elijah, what are you doing here?” (The God of the Bible often asks such a question.) Elijah answered, “I have been zealous for Yahweh, Lord of hosts; yet the Israelites have forsaken their covenant, ruined thy altars and killed thy prophets. I alone! I alone am left, and now they seek my life!”
God commanded him to go up the mountain to the top.
So there was Elijah, terrified and despairing, hoping, waiting for God to appear as God had appeared to Moses. Here came the earthquake, wind and fire, but God was not in them as before. Then came what the Hebrew language describes as “crushed silence.” Elijah covered his face with his robe, for in the silence, Yahweh. God was there.
Then God recommissioned Elijah to go back to his people as their prophet. Elijah had thought he was all alone, martyr’s complex in full swing. But this is what God said to him and why I tell his story: “Go back to your people! There are 7,000 left in Israel whose knees have not bent to Baal nor whose lips have kissed him!”
Now there’s a bracing thought for us this day amid the religion that is America.
Stephen Shoemaker most recently served as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Statesville, N.C. He previously served as pastor of Myers Park Baptist in Charlotte, N.C.; Broadway Baptist in Fort Worth, Texas; and Crescent Hill Baptist in Louisville, Ky.