Found this quotation in Collide Magazine, which I know nothing about – it was a free handout at the conference I was at last week. Anyway, I love the quotation. It helps identify my own misgivings about “Christian Media.”
We have created a phenomenal subculture with our own media, entertainment, educational system, and political hierarchy so that we have the sense that we’re doing a lot But what we’ve really done is create a ghetto that is easily dismissed by the rest of society.” – Bob Brine, Roaring Lambs
I think in the stuff I read, and the conversations I have, this is a pretty common sentiment. And yet, the Christian music/entertainment/education industry is booming. I’m not sure why. Thoughts?
Interesting topic! (now that I re-read this, I realize I’ve written way too much. Sorry)
The term “ghetto” might stir up images of public housing, run down high-rises, or slums. It’s often a view from outside of the “ghetto”. That’s an important point. To most of the people on the inside of the group, they aren’t part of a subculture; “isn’t everyone like us?”, “I can’t imagine someone living differently than us or having different viewpoints”. “Ghetto? We aren’t in a ghetto!” So, it can be a physical ghetto and even a social ghetto. M. Knight Shamalamanalan’s “The Village” comes to mind as a physically AND socially isolated group. A socially isolated people may go totally unrecognized by the rest of society.
The invisible social isolation barriers may be even of the group’s own doing. The Quakers, Amish, and Exclusive Brethren choose to not participate in many common secular activities and customs. People on the outside don’t really know much about them, but may know “of” them. Outsiders are content with the label and don’t need to look any further than the label and the associated stereotypes. The internal trends, slang, music, and inside jokes of the Amish “ghetto” (I assume that they have them), may exist in complete isolation from those outside the particular subculture.
Modern American Christianity is a target market. What are they targeting? Our holy heartstrings of generosity and compassion, for starters. The observation that it is a somewhat contained “ghetto” target market is very insightful. Marketing groups use labeled target markets to predict spending habits. The easier it is to classify a particular group, the easier it is to raise funds and to make PROFIT. The ease with which a group can be labeled can make the marketers job “like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Is it easy to classify modern Christians? I don’t think so. If we all followed the Bible, it would be really easy. But modern Christians don’t follow the Bible. Modern Christians follow Coldplay. Modern Christians follow DMB. So if they make Christian music sound like Coldplay or DMB, it will sell! But seriously, defining what makes a person Christian in the modern world is a tough task. You can’t figure it out from the Bible and the Bible’s rules for following Jehovah/Christ. In many ways, the modern American Christian life and the Bible (Old & New testaments) are in complete disharmony.
Christianity is big business. Religion is big business. Considering the tax breaks, I can see why. The Lake Family Institute on Faith and Giving produces yearly data on what is called The Philanthropic Giving Index. This is an overall measure of the fundraising climate in the US, including data from religious organizations, non-profits, and a survey of 405 fundraising executives. They appear to have faith-based fundraising down to a science (http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/Lakefamilyinstitute/docs/200902_InsightsFaithGivingUncertainTimes.pdf).
Now, some of these funds do go to legitimate causes, especially in the cases of humanitarian efforts and child education. Helping fellow humans, being compassionate and generous towards others… I am all for it. But the way that charity and giving is analyzed makes me feel uncomfortable about the motives of these groups. For instance, the following paragraph gives advice on how a church can cope with economic uncertainty:
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Know the demographics of your congregation, as every congregation is unique. Age, geography, frequency of church attendance and economic situation all affect religious giving.
Carefully analyze the giving patterns of your congregation. Where do you find increases and decreases in giving? Does the portrait of giving surface needs and anxieties to be pastorally addressed?
Review your sources of income. If significant dollars come from older people dependent on IRAs or from family foundations or endowments, you should prepare for a greater shortfall in giving in 2009.
Revisit the moral and ethical issues embedded in your religious tradition. Ask the neglected questions that sit behind much of the current economic chaos. Theologian Sondra Wheeler suggests four such moral questions growing out of the Judeo-Christian tradition:
(1) The question of freedom: Am I free to hear God’s call or am I encumbered by my possessions?
(2) The question of worship: Who or in what do I ultimately trust?
(3) The question of justice: How do I use the power of my wealth?
(4) The question of care: How do I determine what I will keep, what I will share, what I will give away? Remember, people will answer such questions in ways that reflect their situation in life. As the poet Rilke wrote, “Dare to live with the question and in time you will live your way through to the answer.”
Embrace the current crisis as a teachable moment! Help people learn money’s language by inviting them to rethink their own money story. Ask questions that invite autobiographical reflection: How did they come to have what they have? How much is enough? What do they do with their “more than enough”? What does it mean to be “faithful” in the use they make of their possessions?
Tell stories that illustrate faithfulness and inspire the moral and religious imagination.
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These statements would make me feel a little manipulated, as if they are using one’s desire to be a “Good Christian” as a means to separate you from your hard earned income. No different than any other marketing machine, I guess. But some of the statements above show intent to make a person feel like they don’t deserve what they have, or that they have more than what they need and would be better off handing over some of that extra cash in their savings accounts. Rather than saying “Hey Keith, you want to make a good investment. Spend your money on one of our Florida Time-shares!”, these tactics shown above are saying, “Hey Keith, are you sure you really deserve those extra dollars in your pocket? Wouldn’t that money be better spent on your eternal salvation (by handing it over to us. We’ll take care of the rest)?” According to the financial forecasts touted on TBN, I will make ten-fold on my investment. Should I fall prey to their strategy?
I was saving up for that new 27” iMac, but… my eternal salvation is pretty important I guess. As a Christian, the 10 commandments say I am not supposed to covet things or put “other gods” before Jehovah. With this in mind, I conclude that I am being selfish. I should use the power of my wealth towards what these people say God wants. God’s desires over my desires, right? That reminds me of my kid’s college fund. I guess the church… um, I mean God… could use that money for a higher purpose. I was coveting a good education and future life for my kid, but that’s selfish, right? If God wants my kid to have an education, be smart, and have a good life, God will make it so. Only through Him will it happen, right?
Man… I realize that my love for Apple products makes it impossible to follow God’s rules. Does Jehovah really want me to settle for a mediocre PC running Windows 7? He said following Him wouldn’t be easy. If suffering gives me an edge on getting into Heaven, then Microsoft may be the key to my salvation.
Anyway, back to the ideas of the Christian media market. The Christian subculture, or ghetto, as it was called… it can suffer from the same myopia that all subcultures can face. It has little context to honestly look itself in the mirror. It can be oblivious to how it comes across to the rest of the world. Self-awareness can be distorted or totally missing. And so, from within the subculture, it may seem like it’s own music/entertainment/education industry is booming. But from an outsider point of view, it may be just a tiny slice of the whole picture. Indeed, it is suggested by Bob Brine in your post that the rest of society may be totally oblivious to what is going on in Christian world.
Imagine a Jay Leno “sidewalk all-stars” skit in which you go around and ask people to name the top Christian music groups/singers. I suspect that you would get some blank stares and some bad guesses. You might get some close answers like “Amy Grant” or “Stryper”.
Stryper rocked in their time. Amy Grant… I was never a fan.
Keith
Sent from my iPhone
Charlie,
I think it’s because the Church has an inferiority complex. We simply don’t think we are legit. Oh, we have the truth. We have the Bible. We even have Jesus. But somehow that isn’t enough.
Since I was a kid, we have always been trying to get in the cool crowd of the arts and entertainment. Whether it was BJ Thomas, Mel Gibson, Bono, heck, even Kirk Cameron, we have been searching for someone to legitimize us in the eyes of everyone else.
Now does that mean we stop being creative, using our gifts/skills/talents/expertise to reflex our imago dei? No way. You and I have talked about that mystical and internal calling of Christians to create music, litergy, experience that help us fulfill our calling as Christians/Christ-followers. But somehow we have to get back to who we are and how that manifests itself in the arts (maybe it’s about getting away from the entertainment factor…i don’t know).
Just a couple of thoughts.
First, I’m impressed that Keith typed all of that on his iphone. Can anyone say thumb cramp?
I think the birth place of the Christian subculture is the division between secular and sacred. Add to that an uncritical assessment of America’s dominant script (technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism per Brueggamann), and you get consumerism in Christian garb. We are told we must separate from the secular (even thought Tommy Lee is an awesome drummer) and we must engage the sacred/religious. The result is that a new market is created that allows a band like Rage of Angels to get a record deal just because they say they love Jesus. My t-shirt with a pepsi symbol must be transformed into a t-shirt with a pepsi symbol-like logo that says something clever about sinners going to hell. Bad breath? Have a testamint!
Until we start challenging America’s dominant script with an alternative script rooted in the Scriptures generally and the life and teaching of Jesus specifically, a baptized version of pop culture (or a second rate rip-off of pop culture) is what we are left with.