The Rise of Christian Atheism in America
It began in reaction to a groundswell of popularity enjoyed by mainline Protestant churches in the 1940’s. Little conclaves of fundamentalist churches became the social outlet for millions of Americans who had walked the sawdust trail to the altar. A young, fiery evangelist by the name of Billy Graham began in 1949 to set a new world standard for what became known as the “Invitational System.”
Escape from Liberalism:
Fundamentalist churches became ghettoes of escape from liberalism, unbelief, and the encroaching hedonism of drugs, sex, and rock-and-roll, while their youth fell victim to all three with the arrival of the cultural revolution of the 1960’s. Supreme Court decisions began drifting toward equal rights and equal treatment for all, further threatening the security of Christians already the object of contempt and derision. Christian prayer and Bible reading in school, later outlawed, became a rallying point for those convinced that they were being singled out for marginalization by a government controlled by the “liberal, atheistic elite.”
The 1970’s saw a resurgence of End Times theology among fundamentalists. Books such as Late Great Planet Earth sold millions of copies, feeding into the myth that Jesus was about to rapture true Christians into the heavens, typified by such bumper sticker slogans as “Jesus is coming, and boy is he mad!”
The Unholy Merger of God and Caesar:
With the 1976 election of born-again President Jimmy Carter and the rise of converted Watergate conspirator, Chuck Colson, it suddenly became popular to be identified as “Christian,” a previously pejorative term reserved for fundamentalist cultists. Fueled by the legalization of abortion and the women’s movement, the Moral Majority swept Ronald Reagan into office in 1980, thus initiating the unholy merger of God and Caesar.
Following in the wake of a popular Christian expression no longer referring to itself as fundamentalist but now as “Evangelical,” whole industries of pop-Christian products and religious experiences emerged. With that, the worst of human behavior was exhibited by movement leaders. Infidelity and divorce became common among Evangelicals and their leaders. Fraud and embezzlement often made the headlines. The “Health and Wealth” gospel insisted that poverty and illness were symptoms of unbelief. Megachurches equated prosperity and success with God’s blessing on the faithful.
God as the Great Gargoyle in the Sky:
The sovereign God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus became the Great Gargoyle in the sky whose purpose was to glorify Himself through the success of His people. The Sermon on the Mount became irrelevant, thus marginalizing the message of the Christ whom Christians professed to worship.
What are we to make of this theocratic drift toward nationalizing a religion described by its Founder as being the assembly of the meek, the poor in spirit, and lovers of their enemies? As an Evangelical pastor, I have no answer to that question. I ask myself if this Christian Right expression is truly Christian or simply a spirit of anti-Christ. Still no answer.
With the rise of the Bush era “neocons,” I became horrified by how much pain and suffering could be meted out in the name of Jesus. Those decidedly pro-birth showed themselves to be anti-life. Those called by their Founder to turn the other cheek took up arms to pummel the world into submission. Those who are called to suffer for the sake of Christ drove to their churches in luxury cars and fancy clothes.
The Scourge of Dominionism:
I cannot reconcile hate spewing from the lips of a professing Christian, including mine. I cannot reconcile the litmus test for Christianity being abortion and gay marriage rather than the fruits of the regenerated life. I cannot reconcile global power as a tool of strength with God’s people. I cannot reconcile a Christian public insisting on Dominion over the earth through politics, war, and wealth, applauding the rape, pillage, and desecration of the earth and its other-than-us inhabitants.
I coined the phrase, “Christian Atheism,” as a term to describe a Christian depending on the Sinner’s Prayer for hope and the American Dream for security. Somewhere along the way, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus has lost His sovereign power. Somewhere along the way, people who believe in Jesus no longer believe in God nor trust in either. Our trust is in our money, our political affiliation, our nation, and our theologies, however warped any of the four.
The Future:
The American Dream ethic of prosperity and success has its merits that have given rise to one of the greatest national experiments in human history: “of the people; by the people and for the people.” Where we as professing Christians have fallen tragically short, however, is in perverting that God-given experiment into an opportunity to win, driven by fear of losing.
The story of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness is the key to His fulfillment of the Old Testament law and the prophets (Matt 5:17). He was sent to inaugurate the long-awaited Kingdom of God as the present, dynamic and triumphant alternative to nationalism, the sin of nation worship. The devil, we are told, took Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; he said to Him, “All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me” (Matt 4:9). What was Jesus’ answer? “Go, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone.”
What we learn from this exchange is that it should be no surprise to professing Christians that the nations of this world, including America, are under varieties of evil authority. The eternal God, however, is the only legitimate object of service.
If Jesus could turn down power over the nations of the entire world in favor of the Rule of God, MAGA has to be from the pits of Hell, does it not? Where, then, do we claim our citizenship?
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