In his book Amusing Ourselves to Death Neil Postman makes a most interesting observation about Christianity today saying: “There is no great religious leader–from the Buddha to Moses to Jesus to Mohammed to Luther–who offered people what they want. Only what they need…I believe I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.”
So, what kind of religion would Christianity be if it is presented as easy and amusing? I think his point is that the American persuasion of Christianity fits that description well. By his observation, the American Christian on average is a different breed of Christian than the historical kind. In the book Postman argues that we are, as a nation, the most misinformed people in the world, and that applies as well to the knowledge and application of our so-called faith.
American Christianity has become to the world something of a caricature of its historic self. In other words, the Church in America today has been qualified as a lightweight version of a heavyweight institution because for the bulk of its history, the Church has leaned hard on its people and demanded much from them whereas today very little is asked or demanded of people by their Christian faith at all.
Yes, we hear sermons about taking up our crosses by being willing to suffer or even die, but almost none of us will ever be called upon to do so. We also hear about hating our mothers and fathers in comparison to loving Jesus, and still very few of us will ever really choose to do that. And, we are told that we should forsake the world in exchange for eternal glory, and yet only a small segment of us will be serious enough about our commitment to follow through with it.
The simple truth is that we are the most comfortable, self-centered and affluent generation living in the most protected, egocentric and excessive nation in all the world, and we have chosen a version of Christianity that fits our paradigm perfectly. Our persuasion of the Christian faith is very much a reflection of ourselves and our culture, and one of the distinctives of that reflection is a relatively easy and amusing Christianity.
Even Neil Postman is cynical about how Christianity is sold and exchanged in our country as a form of shallow entertainment and dedicated a whole chapter in his book to the embarrassing subject. His conclusion is that we have created this brand of Christianity by treating the church like we treat listeners or viewers on radio or television, as demographically monitored consumers to be studied and marketed to. In other words, Christians in the pews are not so much soldiers of faith or servants of righteousness but clients with felt needs as well as thick wallets and open calendars.
The suggestion is that we are responsible for creating this thimble deep Christian consumer culture because we do try to give people not what they need but rather what they want. And, as Postman pointed out, that is not what religion is for. As he rightly said, no recognized worldwide religion in history has offered people what they want, only what they need. And, what people need is not more forms of entertainment but answers to real problems, which aren’t losing weight, making money or having a happier marriage, by the way. No, real problems are personal corruption because of sin, self destruction because of immoral choices and self consumption because of poor stewardship.
Postman rightly observes that Christianity is actually a very demanding and serious religion, but one wouldn’t necessarily get that from a cursory overview of the average church experience. Nor would they get that from the average sermon or book or television simulcast. Though there are obvious exceptions, the usual message sent across pulpits, through pages and over the airwaves is usually a non-offensive user friendly message intended to appeal to and offer something positive to the masses.
Now, it’s not that there isn’t something very positive in the message of the gospel, which is that there is genuine forgiveness, life and purpose for all who believe in Jesus Christ, but that promise is often attached to personal sacrifice, societal rejection and even global persecution. Jesus never offered his followers promises of or keys to prosperity and health but rather guarantees of and invitations to suffering and death. Admittedly, that message doesn’t sell very well to an opulent, egocentric culture, and one can understand why the message has been softened and translated the way that it has today.
However, understanding why and how the message has been changed doesn’t make that aberration acceptable or even tolerable. In fact, accepting and even tolerating that message is precisely the reason why we are in the dilemma we are facing now. Perhaps if we had followed historical precedent and carried on the tradition of keeping the message pure, then we would be in a very different place in the world than we are today.
Postman’s assessment that the message of Christian faith is largely easy and amusing today is primarily why the Church is so large in America in comparison to the Church elsewhere in the world. America has long billed itself as the Christian nation of the world, and it is still perhaps true to make that statement only in the sense that more people call themselves Christian in America per capita than any other country in the world. Now, that number would absolutely plummet to the point of being realistically on par with other nations around the world if we dropped the label and counted genuine disciples of Jesus rather than professing cultural Christians.
I, for one, am convinced that the Church in American is probably nothing close to the size that we boast. And, though I am admittedly skeptical by nature, I feel in my spirit that there are a great many people who fill churches around this nation who neither know Christ or His Word in any sort of personal way. Though they may squeeze attending church into their public life as part of their American social portfolio, the truth of the matter is that likely nothing seismic has occurred in their hearts that would call them to genuine radical and sacrificial faith.
I’m convinced that if we started to call people to make a choice between the two, then the Church would start to take its real form and begin to function as it should. At the same time, I believe that if we did this, then Christians would have to get used to the realization that we are and have probably always been among the religious minority in our country. The truth is that the public face of our nation has always been Christian, but the private practice of our people has really always been something different.
So, perhaps what we need to do is take another look at ourselves in an honest mirror and see what we really look like. Though, we should be forewarned and prepared for the fact that we might not look like we thought we did and might not actually like what we see. But that, after all, may be just the kind of motivation that we need.
