I read an interesting and sensible article today written by Chuck Colson. I don’t think highly of Colson simply because I doubt his sincerity—he seems to have discovered that he could come to Jesus and get out of a lot of trouble, and rescue his reputation somewhat in the process. But he is eminently qualified to write on the subject that was featured in the Christian Post online today: the undue influence of celebrity in evangelical religion.
Colson writes: “People used to be celebrated in our culture for accomplishing something special. George Washington won the Revolution; Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic; Wilma Rudolph set a world record in the 100-meter dash. Now, people are famous for, well, being famous.”
I agree with that wholeheartedly. The superstar preachers of today seem like small potatoes to me, though, compared to someone like Jim Bakker, which calls for a bit of historical perspective.
Before the televangelist scandal, Bakker and others like him had spectacular media success as they preached their un-Christian beliefs. They were the front-runners of the Moral Majority, that moneymaking operation that was put together by Francis Schaeffer and other religious hucksters who saw that they could sell their endorsements.
They flamed out in a tidal wave of revelations focusing on their sexual immorality and hypocrisy. I don’t think that would have done permanent damage to the movement if the first group like Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart had been swallowed up in a movement that quieted down and offered no further scandals. But nothing could be further from the truth: television preachers have blown up regularly, usually a short time after they achieve prominence. They are caught with women who are not their wives; they are caught with men who are not their wives.
The odd thing, though, is that television preaching as a career choice hasn’t gone away; right up to this past year we have seen more of the same right through the months. Preachers are still fooling around, trying to lend a (false) prestige to those to whom they offer their endorsements (for a price).
This pattern spilled over into political scandals with prominent politicians as well; it has continued with such monotonous regularity that nowadays you can tell which of the television preachers are gay by observing how homophobic they are. As Colson says, the pressure on evangelists is enough without the celebrity that provides constant temptation:
“According to theologian Os Guinness, we expect the pastor to be a shrink in the pulpit, a CEO in the office, and flawless in his family life. Heap on top of all that our desire that the pastor be a spiritual rock star, and these expectations can lead to pastoral frustration, burnout, and even financial and sexual immorality.
“Is it any surprise, then, that the Church has been rocked over the last few decades by clerical scandals?”
In Tucson the members of un-Christian evangelical churches have endured rather well considering how their movement is organized. One of my friends just recently tore herself away from a group that did not allow her to use the Internet or watch television, or even to listen to the radio. It kind of reminded me of living in North Korea—and if you can’t live in North Korea I guess you can bring their lifestyle home and isolate yourself lest you be contaminated with actual news and information.
The whole episode was very depressing to me because a whole generation ago I helped my surrogate son, Larry, rescue himself from such a group. It seems that people never get less gullible than when they are involved with rip-off religions.
I noticed how the celebrity culture spread first from film stars to politicians, and it seemed to me that the administration of John F. Kennedy was the turning point. It is often said that politics is Hollywood for ugly people, and obviously “beautiful people” like the Kennedys can move in the circles of the jet set on an equal basis (and they continue to do so).
It wasn’t that much later that television preachers started living high on the hog, with the Bakkers’ famous air-conditioned doghouse and other perks that were made possible to them by the amount of money that their deluded followers mailed in. At least the film stars don’t need other people’s money to live their lives. Personally I have always taken notice of the actors and actresses who make it a point to stay away from the Hollywood scene: people like Robert Stack and his best friend Peter Graves, Graves’ brother James Arness, Jerry Lewis and others. There are people in Los Angeles who think of themselves as normal people, embodying William Shatner’s remark at the height of his Star Trek fame that he was just a working actor.
But nothing so modest is called for in evangelicalism. There has been a certain amount of complaining about the appointment of a preacher named Paula White to a prestigious position in the wake of a scandal that involved an affair with another evangelist, Benny Hinn. The fact that some of the flock have complained is kind of a first as far as I can see, and I hope they make their opinions known in the collection plate.
Now Chuck Colson is warning that celebrity might be a hindrance and not a help to the evangelical movement in America. If you would like to read his article, you’ll find it here: http://www.christianpost.com/news/keep-it-out-of-the-church-66348/
For more info: and if you’d like to know more about the rise of the Moral Majority, read Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer to find out in Schaeffer’s own words what it was all about. He had a front-row seat for all of it; Francis Schaeffer was his father.
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