In 2012 I was hanging out with a bunch of New Age types. They were waiting for the Mayan Apocalypse to usher in an enlightened era in which everything was going to change for the better.
A funny thing happened. The closer we got to that special day, the more people lost interest in it. Maybe except for the ones who booked a special night in the bowels of the Great Pyramid.
Now, try to find a New Age shop. The whole movement wafted away like the last trace of smoke from a spent scented candle.
I have a feeling American Christianity may be having a similar moment.
The wave of people—most of whom couldn’t tell Ezekiel from Elijah—who joined suburban megachurches during the boom years for the child care, gym facilities, or (ha, ha) to find drug-free people to date have figured out by now that Jesus won’t cure your cancer or make you rich. (Unless you own a church.) The supernatural claims of Christianity, as we know it, are as hollow as the promises that crystals will ease your arthritis.
So, the churches (most of them) have become political institutions. They are the potent secret weapon for the GOP, in the way the unions (now weak and about to be made even weaker) used to be the Democrats’ secret weapon.
Last Sunday, all over this once great country, naves resounded with the voices of pastors exhorting the faithful to vote Republican. Probably only a few broke the law by actually giving a party name (and, if they did, there won’t be consequences). Mostly they said, vote against godless Marxism and protect the poor widdle babies (i.e. embryos).
But even in the nice liberal churches, you can be certain that the young female pastor didn’t dare say, don’t elect a proven sex offender and thief. Half the congregation would have walked out mid-sermon.
So, now that their political agenda has been attained, the churches don’t have much to preach about. Their mission was never one of spirituality; it was all just good business.
And I feel like they may finally be victims of their own success.
While we won’t see the last tech bro strangled with the guts of the last televangelist, I can imagine one church after another closing up shop because everyone got tired of their shtick. Suburban yuppies can find mates online, and the gym is actually cheaper than a tithe of 10% of your income.
Just like the New Age shops that are now barely remembered, imagine a future without institutionalized fascism dressed in sumptuous robes. It’s easy if you try.
With all three branches of government overrun by theocrats, headed by a rapist who never read a page of the Bible but is hailed as a King David for our time, there isn’t a lot we can do to resist the wave of he-man woman haters ready to beat their enemies to death with The Old Rugged Cross.
But there’s one thing we can do.
Stop going to church.
Just stop it. Stop pretending to worship their ugly image of Jesus. You don’t have to tell them to go screw themselves. You don’t have to be nasty. Just refuse to show up.
Don’t give them any money. Don’t go along with public prayer. If you want to celebrate Christmas, that’s fine, since American Christmas has little religious meaning and is mainly a reason for lousy music in Walmart. But politely, quietly, refuse to participate in their worship, just like you might politely decline an ear-candling session or being anointed with patchouli.
If you really believe in Jesus Christ, follow His advice in Mt 6:6: “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (NIV).
It’s time to turn our backs on a political movement that is just as harmful as Amway (and run by some of the same people).
Just as the churches helped to create the Third Reich, then faded away as a neo-pagan movement took over Germany, I expect the holy fathers of our Fourth Reich will be perceived as irrelevant, and the populace will find a new bauble to play with, as surely as Netflix put an end to Redbox.
Thank God.
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“Leaves of Oak” © MMXXIV Lindsey D. Eck. All rights reserved.
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