Some statistics every parent should know:
Age of born-again Christians most likely to have engaged in evangelical behavior in 2004: 18-t0-20year-old (88 percent).
Percentage of high school students who support prayer in public school:84
Percentage greater than Americans overall: 8
Estimated number of Christian music festivals held in the summer of 2000 attended by more than 5,00 youths: 35
Percentage of the estimated 98 million adult bonr-again Christians who say they made their commitment to Christ before their eighteenth birthday: 64
SOURCE: Sandler, Righteous p.ix
The Christian Right wants your sons and daughters---and they are actively pursuing them.
While I was on forced hiatus (damn you, Internet Explorer 7), I did a lot of reading. My library system seems to have gotten a new breath of life since the old director left (technically, she resigned, but it was under a great deal of pressure after she decided not to buy an Spanish language books for recreational reading, despite the fact that the Hispanic population here in Gwinnett County is increasing) and has actually begin to order books with a liberal bent as well as books which are critical of Christian fundamentalism and evangelicalism. One of the books I read was called Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement (Lauren Sandler. Viking: 2006), and it is scary as hell.
Sandler has interviewed many members of what she calls the Disciple Generation (or Generation Joshua, as they refer to them at Regents College). She defines them as
an ever-growing population of people ages fifteen to thirty-five who are equally obsessed with Christ and with culture as a means to an Evangelical end. People withint his age bracket are defined by a shared culture whether Christian or secular...This is an age group whose transgressive actions—regardless of faith or demographic, whether in the form of an inked bicep, high school detention, or a fundamentalist credo—are easily slapped with the label of rebellion. But for Christians are within this generation, behavior and beliefs are unlike any archetypal rebellion that has come before.
They come from all sorts of homes—from communes to traditional Christian homes—and have all sorts of parents—from lesbian Moms to fathers who were church elders—and they often don’t look that different from their secular kin. Many are tattooed or pierced Goths, others are skateboarders, others wear concert Tee shirts with worn jeans, while still others would fit right in at any Young Republicans forum. Unlike earlier generations, they don’t feel they have to give up secular interests like rock music or skateboarding nor do they have let their piercings close up and cease wearing Goth clothing to be good Christians. What they share is a passion for Jesus Christ and for doing His work, as they interpret it, from picketing abortion clinics to forming Christian rock bands
Some churches have begun to welcome them and cater to them, like Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Founded by thirty-five-year-old Mark Driscoll, it has almost six thousand members (and is expected to reach 10,100 within 3 years). Driscoll preaches in jeans and his worship services feature rock bands. His megachurch in a former warehouse in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood contains a an art gallery cum coffee bar as well as a bookstore ; its lobby is decorated with canvases done in graffiti style by a church member. His congregation mingles Goth and skate kids with upper middle class couples with children. Here is how it describes itself:
When it comes to doctrine, culture, preferences, traditions, lifestyles, politics, behavior, etc., Mars Hill Church takes a "closed-hand/open-hand" approach. The closed hand hangs onto the non-negotiable tenants of Christian orthodoxy: sin is the problem, Jesus is the answer, the Bible is true, and Hell is hot.
The open hand, however, allows room for differences when it comes to secondary matters; we liberally allow freedom for conscience and wisdom to guide where the Bible is silent. The open hand fosters unity among the diversity of expressions found in the Mars Hill congregation: Democrats and Republicans, soccer moms and indie rockers, carnivores and vegans, trendy bohemians and Microsoft nerds.
Hence, Mars Hill Church is in favor of good beer (in moderation), great sex (in marriage), and even tattoos (Jesus has one). But our goal must always be love and concern for our friends so that we don’t enjoy our freedom at the expense of their faith.
In this way, we are seeking to simultaneously heed the Bible’s commands to have sound doctrine (1Timothy 4:16; Titus 1:9, 2:1), to love our Christian brothers and sisters (1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 4:7-21), and to avoid unnecessary divisions (Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 1:10, 12:25; Titus 3:10).
http://www.marshillchurch.org/...
Doesn’t sound so scary, does it?
Except that under the mantle of acceptance, it preaches the same tired line as Jerry Falwell and other conservative ministers. It’s just couched more acceptably. His church relies on "manly men" who lead their families and their church, while women are submissive to their husbands and are stay-at-home Moms once the children come. Many women who are members tell Sandler :
they mourn the loss of their freedom, independence, education and hope for a fulfilling future, but....it’s their duty as prescribed by the Book, by which they mean Mark’s interpretation thereof; their liberty,t hey say, is a fair trade for community and salvation. Sandler, p. 46
And women are expected to have babies. At a Father’s Day service, Mark prays for the fertility of his congregation. The way he views it, since Seattle is a city with less per capita than any other city in America other than San Francisco, the more children born-again Christians have, the more influence they can have. One woman told Sandler that t he plan was simply to outbreed the secularists and liberals. At last I understand why so many conservative Protestant Christians are speaking against the use of contraception—they’ll simply take over by having more kids (assuming the kids stay faithful to the faith of their manly fathers). This is not a church which would welcome someone like my husband and me whoa re childless by choice.
And how accepting is it, really? The church has activities for almost everyone from traditional Bible study and Children’s Worship to community groups which provide support and networking and friendship. There are houses for single women and single men (sexually segregated, of course) whoa re students. They even have an in-house real estate broker. They provide each other with prayer, help, babysitting, friendship and dinner parties. But these community groups are created by zip code, and Seattle is a city of neighborhoods. The artsy section is where you’ll find the musicians, artists, Goth kids. They won’t be in groups with the middle class professionals. One wonders how much the groups mix, other than at Sunday services.
I also can’t help but wonder how since Mark Driscoll’s acceptance of the Goth and punk kids and skateboarders is. When he trains other manly men (no t-others need apply) to go out and found their own churches, he teaches them to learn the language of the area and its people—what will work in Seattle won’t work in the burbs or a rural area. But there are people with tattoos and piercings in the suburbs—will these guys welcome them as Driscoll does, or will they prefer the well-heeled professionals who make up the majority? Will his trainee pastors teach their congregations that Goths aren’t the anti-Christ and that piercings aren’t sending you directly to hell, when such teachings might alienate the majority? I am not very sanguine that the suburban churches will welcome the outcasts the way Mars Hill does. I can’t help suspecting that it’s just a marketing strategy to gain converts.
And if you don’t belong to the church, you are out in the cold. As the real estate broker tells Sandler, a secular Jew:
We have a really nice rapport. But we believe different things. And, let’s face it, because of that, you’re never going to feel like family to me." Sandler p. 67
Community only extends to those who belong to the church.
More interesting to me was the example of the Extreme Tour, a group of musicians and skateboarders who travel the country ministering to teens through their music and their skateboarding prowess. Their leader, Ted Bruun, was a youth pastor at a TwinFalls Idaho, church where gangs ruled. Bruun went out and talked with the gangbangers, and lured them into church—much to the dismay of his staid congregation, whop were terrified of these new Christians. And so Ted decided to go find the tens where they lived—and recruited a group of skateboarders and rockers to tour with him in a communal caravan. They sleep in church basements and eat potluck dinners provided by sponsoring churches They hold skateboarding demos and rock concerts—and, not until, the end of t he concert, do they being to share the Gospel. They are as far from the affluent, well-to-do Mars Hill church as it gets, and, perhaps, far closer to the original disciples whom Jesus told to sell all they had and follow Him.
This is how the Christian Right is recruiting young people: by using the trappings of events that they’d want to attend. Sandler views it as borrowing from the 60s, 70s and 80s secular communities when liberals raised money for and drew attention to causes like Bangladesh and Ethiopia. In 2005, there were 35 Christian music festivals which attracted 5,000 people or more. The Pro-Life movement has begun to hold music festivals with classes in how to persuade pregnant women to choose adoption over abortion.
The classic example are the Battle Cry gatherings and Acquire the Fire run by Teen Mania Ministries, a group which ministers to teens and 20 somethings. Here is how they describe their events:
Join Ron Luce, Joel Johnson, Mike Guzzardo and Lakita Garth plus today's top bands as they challenge teens to boldly live every aspect of their personal life as a Warrior for Christ.
There has never before been a time of urgency like this in our Christian history. Our youth are under assault and many are just now realizing it. We need leaders who will rise up, be branded by God and stand strong in their commitment to follow Christ. This year’s ATF tour will be about the making of these warriors.
ATF bands are serious about reaching this generation and they have a passion for young people. Don’t miss hearing their hearts and their awesome music. This year’s ATF bands include KJ-52, Skillet, Pillar, Grits, Falling Up, Sarah Kelly and The Autumn Ashley Band.Don’t miss this opportunity.
http://www.battlecry.com/...
Battle Cry became infamous after they chose San Francisco as a location and demonstrated on the steps of cityhall
Luce's approach has been praised by conservative leaders from the Rev. Jerry Falwell to Fox News commentator Sean Hannity. Much of the statistical backing for the horrors Luce sees on TV is provided by the Parents Television Council, which is funded by conservative foundations such as the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
Those alliances weren't lost on the 50 protesters representing a rainbow of San Francisco's left -- from abortion-rights advocates to anti-war activists to atheists -- who staged Friday's counterprotest.
"There is a real intolerancy to homosexuality in a lot of these organizations," said Peter Cobb, an organizer with Not In Our Name.
Earlier this week, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution condemning the "act of provocation" by what it termed an "anti-gay," "anti-choice" organization that aimed to "negatively influence the politics of America's most tolerant and progressive city."
Luce said it was the first time one of his events has been officially condemned.
A Battle Cry invitation to teenagers made plain the symbolism of gathering in San Francisco for a pre-event rally at "the very City Hall steps where several months ago, gay marriages were celebrated for all the world to see."
Same-sex marriage "is another sign of the end of times," said Sherilyn David, referring to the apocalypse that some fundamentalist Christians believe is foretold in Scripture. The 22-year-old San Jose administrative assistant came to Battle Cry with 15 other young Christians on Friday and will be joined by 60 other friends Saturday.
Even if it is done by a Barnum & Bailey crowd with a tent and some snake oil, I think we need to pay attention to it," said Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who authored the condemnation resolution. "We should not fall asleep at the wheel."
http://www.sfgate.com/...
While Sandler likens these events to the earlier secular consert festivals like Woodstock and Band-Aid, I see a for less appealing comparison. Battle Cry and Acquire the Fire, in particular, remind me of the Nuremberg Rallies under Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Goebbels and his skill at masterminding propaganda is best remembered for his night time displays at Nuremberg. Here, he and Speer, organised rallies that were designed to show to the world the might of the Nazi nation. In August of each year, huge rallies were held at Nuremberg. Arenas to hold 400,000 people were built. In the famous night time displays, 150 search lights surrounded the main arena and were lit up vertically into the night sky. Their light could be seen over 100 kilometres away in what a British politician, Sir Neville Henderson, called a "cathedral of light".
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...
An even better desription comes from an American journalist who attended one of them:
It was Shirer's first experience with Nazi pomp and pageantry.
"I am beginning to comprehend," he wrote, "some of the reasons for Hitler's astounding success. Borrowing a chapter from the Roman [Catholic] church, he is restoring pageantry and color and mysticism to the drab lives of 20th Century Germans. This morning's opening meeting...was more than a gorgeous show, it also had something of the mysticism and religious fervor of an Easter or Christmas Mass in a great Gothic cathedral. The hall was a sea of brightly colored flags. Even Hitler's arrival was made dramatic. The band stopped playing. There was a hush over the thirty thousand people packed in the hall. Then the band struck up the Badenweiler March...Hitler appeared in the back of the auditorium and followed by his aides, Göring, Goebbels, Hess, Himmler and the others, he slowly strode down the long center aisle while thirty thousand hands were raised in salute."
To Shirer, the intoxicating atmosphere inside the hall was such that "every word dropped by Hitler seemed like an inspired word from on high. Man's - or at least the German's - critical faculty is swept away at such moments, and every lie pronounced is accepted as high truth itself."
Not all that different from the Battle Cry approach. Except that the Battle Cry events glorify Jesus Christ and a narrow interpretation of His teachings, not Hitler.
The Christian Right knows the value of propaganda, and they have used it since the earliest days of fundamentalism and evangelicalism in the 1920, when revivals were held in tents (and revivals are very much alive and well in 2007; every so often I’ll pass a right-wing church and see a sign advertising a revival being held there) and were part entertainment, part religion. They use this format because it works--- music and lights and propaganda speeches combined to create an emotional atmosphere conducive to conversion experiences. Indeed, Sandler, tired and feeling depr4essed from her period, almost succumbs to it—but is able to realize just what influence are being used to make her feel the appeal of the altar call ( giant neon crosses where already born-again teens wait to embrace the new converts, while inspirational rock music plays and the crowd sways in rhythm with uplifted arms).
This is what we face: committed conservative Christians who are determined to win the battle for America either by outbreeding secular and liberal Americans, or by converting our children.
Why are teens so susceptible? Sandler thinks it’s because they hunger for community and a sense of being part of something greater than the secular world provides. They want rules to live by and the feeling of security those rules give. To many, our tolerance of those who disagree with us religiously seems like moral relativism and lack of concern. And when the Christian Right gives them all of that and still allows them to listen to the same music as their unsaved brethren and to keep their tattoos and piercings and clothing—they succumb all too easily.
It is our job as Democrats and liberals to create an alternative to the Christian Right that gives them the same acceptance without the right-wing brainwashing. Liberal Christians need to step up to the plate and start working seriously with tens before we lose them. Liberal churches need to provide close-knit communities like Mars Hill does, without forcing men and women into strict gender roles. Liberal politicians have to appeal to youthful idealism. And this is why Obama says we can’t ignore religion, no matter how much we want to.
Because if we do, we will lose. I am NOT suggesting that we turn Dem groups into Battle Cry, or that all politicians should speak in religious terms. We are secular, and we are liberal, and we are tolerant and we don’t require acceptance of religious creed to be one of us—and we shouldn’t. But we cannot ignore that the other side IS speaking out, and they’re doing a better job of it than we are. We need to articulate our belief in the first amendment—that freedom of religion applies to all believers (and non-believers) and that separation of church and state protects ALL religions. We must set forth an agenda that is idealistic and every bit as powerful as the "values" crowd proposes: that we are the true party of life who prefer to prevent abortions by preventing pregnancies, not forcing women to carry an unwanted child to term; that we care about those children after birth, not just before, by caring for social justice and helping the poor; that we wish to be good stewards of the planet by caring for the environment and ending global warming. These values are as much secular and humanistic as they are Christian, and we need to reclaim them from the Right—which is strongly split on social justice issues and environmental concerns.
We need to meet them head-on. Because this isn’t a war we can afford to lose. And we need to meet them on their own ground, speaking their language. Or we will lose.
As Goebbels said, ""The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it." And that is precisely the goal of the Christian Right when they target teens and younger men and women. Where are the large musical festivals for Pro-Choice and other liberal causes? Where are the rallies where we teach liberal young people how to approach potential voters?