In my very sour moments (too frequent these days) I think that so much Christianity in America is infantilized adults praying to a great Santa Claus in the Sky who carries a sack of toys in one hand and a whip in the other. If we're good children and obey Daddy, then our wishes will come true. Sometimes, I think "Jesus is Lord" and "Jesus is My Personal Savior" are just different ways of saying "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."
As for Prosperity Gospel, it's a cargo cult with Christian trimmings.
How else to explain why so many Americans keep the Bible and Atlas Shrugged on the same shelf?
BINGO!
ReplyDeleteTo many in the US, Jesus seems to be their personal (hell) fire-insurance policy and as long as they are personally "saved" they can treat everyone else like cr@p.
ReplyDeleteMoaning.
ReplyDeleteAs I said over at Episcopal Cafe the other day, I'm reminded of the parable, of the Father who says to his two sons "Go and work in the Vineyard."
ReplyDeleteToo many Christians are like the first son: they say they'll go, then don't (often, they only beat up the vineyard workers and piss on the grapes! :-0)
...whereas (many though by no means all) secular humanists are like the second son: they say "No"...but then they do go work in the vineyard (For peace, for justice, for Planet Earth).
It's discouraging to be associated w/ the first son. :-/
Hey, "We were promised jet-packs" . . . and FOJ promised us that *you* had posted about "The Renaissance". Where is it?
ReplyDeleteMy! People work fast! I posted my study pictures for my students on this blog by mistake for all of 20 seconds. We are just starting the Renaissance. If you're curious, here it is:
ReplyDeletehttp://profblanchardclass.blogspot.com/2011/03/renaissance.html
Of the folks who keep the Bible and ATLAS SHRUGGED on the same shelf, most have never finished reading both of them ... in fact, most of those have never finished reading EITHER of them.
ReplyDelete... and they fall squarely in the first category ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes, I too clicked through looking for the Renaissance. Unfortunately the blogger feed that goes to the blogrolls is very, very fast. I've misakenly posted on a number of occasions!
ReplyDeleteDoug,
ReplyDeleteLoved the metaphor of "anti-redemption", there are so many we've ID-ed over the years. It's also a profound frustration that people really believe "USA christianity" and have the nerve to expect clergy (comme moi) to affirm it!
But on the other hand, it's fortunate that for some of us the only atlas I've shrugged is the ol' paperback Rand McNally for Mapquest.
Can't wait until the parade of panderers to the religion you describe are on the trail out here on the Iowa prairie.