From Randy Thomas’ blog two days ago:
At church today Pastor Clark Whitten said “The church needs to get out of the cruise line mentality and into the battle ship mentality.” I stifled a big amen to that! This consumer mentality toward church has got to go.
Ironically, the religious-right alliance that includes Exodus opposes democratic restraints against big-business commercialism. And it is arguably the religious right that commercialized American Christianity via:
- Pray TV
- direct-mail fundraising
- patriotic merchandising
- the disposal of Jewish and Christian history and tradition predating fundamentalism and World War II
- cut-throat competition against mainstream, traditional Christianity.
In this context, Thomas’ desire for a faith “mentality” based in American battleships makes some sense to me. However, the faith advanced by this mentality is arguably that of Bonhoeffer’s joyous secularism, not traditional Christianity.
I commented on the religious right’s joyous American secularism on April 10 and May 1.
Thomas’ spiritual model is presently a $10 billion weapon of massive destruction. My spiritual model is St. Francis of Assisi:
“Sell what you have…give to the poor…preach the Kingdom of peace…and come, follow me.”