I was scrolling through facebook today, seeking spiritual, political and moral direction in the form of those grammatically weak sentences (or fragments) better known as memes. Desiring brief, empty but catchy slogans that would tell me what to believe and how to live, I was, certainly, not disappointed. I suppose a culture that gets its worldview from meaningless memes deserves a President who communicates through trite tweets, but I digress. In a matter on mere seconds, I saw this repost from a former student, now in her 30’s:
“The next time I hear a bigoted Christian say, “All lives matter” Imma look them in the eyes and say “All Gods matter” Pointed, pithy, and penetrating, but, like any slogan that tries to communicate a universal truth in 25 words or less (assuming ‘imma’ is a word??) it lacked any real depth. So I did something I don’t normally do, and I replied with a rebuttal:
“Unfortunately, the phrase 'bigoted Christian' is itself bigoted. Certainly some of the old guard religious right fit this stereotype, but that’s changing back. I say changing back because the church led the fight for freeing the slaves and civil rights even as other sectors of the church resisted these same movements. Also, I like many believe that African and Latino immigrants will save the American church, as statistically, these groups have a much higher likelihood of being Christian than those born here, especially Caucasians. So, yes, I apologize on behalf of my naive, ignorant or bigoted fellow believers, but let's not stereotype. Not all Christians are like Jerry Falwell Jr. any more than all atheists are Josef Stalin or all Muslims are Osama bin Laden.”
Not my best work, but certainly longer than most facebook communication. I was relieved to see that the woman who had put up the meme gave me a thumbs up a few minutes later. Adequately high on dopamine from her ‘like’ I moved on to see what other wisdom my friends, including many I’ve never actually met, had to say in witty, biting or just plain stupid memes. Then I went to mow my lawn, comforted by the knowledge that, through faith in facebook and the Gospel of .Google, I understood exactly what to think about everything.
But while mowing the lawn, I thought more about my exchange with my old student - a kid I really loved as a student and kept at least a little contact with after she moved on. Specifically, I pondered the prejudiced belief that all Christians are prejudiced. Certainly, we have brought some of it on ourselves, e.g. Westboro Baptist. And, while it may be overstated to say that a significant portion of the American church sold its soul to conservative politicians, I can say confidently that the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world have formed alliances that have always made horrific bedfellows. Even with honorable intentions like defending the right to life, we were wrong to, simply put, trust -and thus serve - a political party more than the King of Kings. This unholy compromise between the brethren and the budget cutters, the God lovers and the gun toters, the righteous and the racist, was bound to lead us to the ugly point we are at today.
But I also think the media has a role in creating this image of heavenly hypocrites. The truth is, we visit many churches and parachurch settings in a year, andmost of the fellow believers we encounter are really just trying to live a life that honors God and blesses others. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are not, thank God, the norms. Now, I’m not proposing a left-wing-godless-media-in-league-with-the-anti-christ conspiracy theory. But neither am I naive enough to think the media has NO bias. Let’s face it, any 9th grade English student understands ALL writers, reporters, speakers and artists have a bias. (I'd hope my seventh graders get that, but we'll let standardized testing determine if we've met that goal.) But I honestly don’t think there’s this real, intentional effort on the part of Lester Holt and Wolf Blitzer to undermine religion belief. Rather, I think it has to do with the types of stories the media knows will bring in viewers
People are intrigued by stories of church members protesting at soldiers’ funerals and raffling off weapons of war. And let’s face it, it SHOULD be news when Christians don’t act as Christians are commanded to act. I wish it was a rarer occurrence. But another part of this PR problem is due to the fact that stories of the things we do right simply wouldn’t sell. A church welcoming a first time visitor, a Pastor working full time at the local factory so he has the honor of leading a church that can’t afford to pay his salary, a college kid giving a water bottle to a homeless person: these aren’t stories that would bring in the viewing public. Of course, every Thanksgiving every news feed does its obligatory story about the local church food kitchen. Tis the season to be sentimental, but that passes quicker than November daylight in New England, and it's time to sell cynicism again.
Honestly, in a way I’m glad the world holds us to a higher standard, as they do. For example, the Apostle of prosperity, Joel Osteen, has been slammed in the press often for his extravagant lifestyle, and, if the church won’t speak out about his message of materialism, it is right for the press to do so. He is living hypocritically.
On the other hand, the media wouldn’t and perhaps shouldn’t call out similar hypocrisy in Mr. Osteen’s secular contemporaries. For example, by owning five luxurious houses, each staffed with servants, Ellen Degeneres is living exactly how one would expect a Hollywood star to live. And the fact that she makes more money for the shows where she gives away lots of money isn’t a contradiction for someone who claims a secular worldview; it is simply a win win situation. Neither does anyone bat an eye when Bernie Sanders, whose personal worth is an estimated 2.5 million dollars, demands that the "wealthy" share their wealth. Apparently Bernie, like the rest of the world, defines the wealthy as anyone who has more than he has. People can accept that without challenge, because that’s how EVERYONE defines the wealthy.
Still, somehow the world inherently knows the church is expected to do better. And they’re right. Let’s press on to a time when fellow believers aren’t so wishy washy about calling out their erring brothers and sisters- redemptively and in love. Always in love.. Then perhaps the secular press, and meme posters, will focus a little ore on the things Christians are doing well.