more food for thought

The Jesus-movement always tends to thrive in marginal social contexts. Conversely, it tends to grow stagnate once it gets embraced by those within the dominant culture.

As the history of the Church repeatedly shows, as soon as Christianity comes into power and respectability, it starts to decay. The church invariably stops contrasting with the dominant culture — manifesting a radically different, Jesus-looking, way of life. Rather, as it gains acceptance, respectability and power within the dominant culture, the church invariably starts to blend in with the culture. Indeed, it is eventually reduced to the role of providing religious legitimization of the culture. For example, rather than showing a different way of life by opposing all violence, the Church that has been acclimated to the dominant culture has more often than not served to assure people that their nation’s use of violence is divinely sanctioned.

White American Christianity has tended to exemplify this trend throughout its history. It’s why, in the minds of many, faith in Christ has been, and continues to be, inseparable from faith in the goodness of our nation, the righteousness of our military, the sanctity of our political freedom and the wisdom of capitalism. It’s also why so much of conservative American Christianity in particular is focused on preserving certain religious symbols in the culture and gaining as much political power within the culture as possible.