Got Faith?
"The Great Big Vending Machine in the Sky"
(from Issue #1 - March/April 2010)BY ALDRA ROBINSON
photo by Bianca MillsThere has always been a synergy between solidarity and solitude within religious traditions. Christians speak of a personal relationship with Jesus, in addition to the communal context of existing within the metaphorical body of Christ. Jesus told us that the kingdom of heaven could be found within, and that anytime two or more of us are gathered, the divine is also present. The individual and the community have long been interwoven in a healthy balance within religious traditions.
But there is something new afoot within the modern landscape of religious life. Within Christianity, the social gospel movement that spurred activists and preachers, such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to stand in peaceful opposition against injustice and poverty has been usurped by something far less noble. The prosperity gospel movement, with leaders such as “Pastor” (an informal title, as he has no credentials in theological studies) Joel Osteen, has galvanized hundreds of thousands of followers not on the basis of justice—as did the social gospel movement—but on the supreme importance of the individual and materialism, rendering community virtually irrelevant.
Christianity’s prosperity gospel has found an ally in some new-age spirituality movements, such as the New Thought movement’s popular “Law of Attraction” devotees. The law of attraction ideology attempts to marry science and spirituality, placing the individual and positive thought in the forefront while regulating the divine to little more than a vending machine dispensing various wants (but only if you really want them).
It’s not that feel-good spirituality and a deity-as-vending machine are inherently bad. Positive thinking and a generous god are infinitely more beneficial to the psyche than the hell-fire-and-brimstone theology of fear, backed by a hate-filled oppressor in the sky. Fundamentalist Christianity has long touted an angry, male god sitting on a throne in some ethereal nebulous, reigning down blessings on wealthy nations and calamity upon the poor. The supporters of this bipolar Divine One give various reasons for their unjust deity. Pat Robertson most recently attributed the horrors of Haiti’s earthquake to its citizens’ “pact with the devil.” Devil pacts, gays, divine jock itch ... the story changes to suit the prejudice of the messenger.
Mainstream media has done much to promote such lunatic interpretations of god as the one and only voice of Christianity. Progressive religious leaders who advocate equal rights and social justice are given little consideration, while conservatives such as Rick Warren and Pat Robertson receive ample prime-time attention. With devil pacts and the denial of basic civil rights to the LGBT community, it’s no wonder many seekers run screaming to the first warm fuzzy message they can find.
The popular DVD The Secret has become a bible for adherents to the law of attraction philosophy and was promoted as “groundbreaking” by America’s favorite oracle, Oprah Winfrey. If the only other option presented is gay bashing and hate, who wouldn’t opt for a lovely trip down Me and My Goodies spiritual lane?
But there are significant problems in setting our compasses toward this shiny new star. Prosperity gospel appeals greatly to Americans, as our once rugged individualism has morphed into a hyper-individualized society defined by materialism. Studies have shown that our mantra of equating happiness in the next purchase has left us depressed, disconnected, and in danger of destroying our environment. The law of attraction philosophy has taken a full-stomach solution to full-stomach problems (if you think happy thoughts, you’ll have more positive interpretations of life’s events, make better choices and create happier life scenarios) to ridiculous proportions, reestablishing an oppressive blame-the-victim paradigm that the civil rights and women’s movement spent decades trying to overcome.
Prosperity gospel preachers don’t burden their flocks with difficult questions. Despite the fact that Jesus fought against oppressive Roman rule and commanded that followers leave all their worldly possessions behind in service to humanity, prosperity gospel adherents are never asked to do more than think positive thoughts and expect that god desires only the best for them and will intervene on their behalf. This selective divine intervention is never questioned in the face of global poverty or violence, because such difficult questions would move followers away from the megalomaniacal focus on self. In mega churches like Osteen’s, it might also siphon money away from church coffers or retailers pitching their products as congregants leave services. In these churches, Jesus isn’t kicking the money changers out of the temple; he’s asking them about cross-marketing potential. If there is any mention of spiritual and social obligations to community, it’s only given as an afterthought (oh yeah, remember to give back once you have all your goodies, children. Just remember, more is better!). And if you find yourself jobless in the current economic crisis? Well, just turn that frown upside down and think positive!
Positive thinking as a primary solution to all that ails is a cornerstone of the philosophy behind the law of attraction. The Secret teaches that everything in life that happens to us is a result of our thinking: “thoughts become things.” In the film, Bob Proctor (credentials: “philosopher”) poses the question, “Why do you think that one percent of the population earns around 96 percent of all the money?” My response was: inheritance; slave labor; unfair tax laws; the chance of nation of origin; and an unequal playing field. But apparently I’m wrong. According to Proctor, it’s because “they understand ‘the secret,’ and now you are being introduced to ‘the secret.’” Nevermind the fact that much of the wealth of the top one percent has been built on the backs of the poor. Unethical business practices didn’t make banking executives rich; it was their ability to manifest through “the secret.”
When the producer of The Secret, Rhonda Byrne, was asked how such logic could apply to something as horrific as the Holocaust, she gave a disturbing answer about how cultures of fear can manifest their own demise. Byrne insists, “the frequency of their thoughts matched the frequency of the event. … Thoughts of fear, separation, and powerlessness, if persistent, can attract them to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” (Surely this means that the United States, with one of the most fearful cultures on the planet, will be razed to the ground shortly.)
Right. So, in the world of prosperity gospel, we have no obligation to our communities because the spiritual life is devoid of anything outside of the self and the want of material gain. God no longer calls us to seek justice for our fellow humans; we need only turn to god to help us gain material riches. Got it.
For “new thought” adherents, Jews are responsible for the Holocaust and rapists are excellent at manifesting their desires while their victims aren’t actually victims but, rather, people who have attracted the violence they endured due to their funky thought patterns. Darfur? Culture of fear. Global poverty? These folks just aren’t in tune with their ability to manifest. Slave trafficking? Some really talented dudes able to manifest the world’s second largest criminal industry because those trafficked deeply desire their fate. If you want to gang-rape a child badly enough, the universe will set what you need in motion to make it happen. Awesome!
Within both of these movements, the adversary is absent. The quest for positivity is so strong, the desire to move from being “against” something to being “for” something so intense, we are absolved of any responsibility on a communal level but are ultimately responsible for every harm and joy we may experience. Megalomania abounds, giving absolute power to the individual with no regard to the greater whole. There is no rapist, no human trafficking ring—just folks manifesting their deepest desires, thus relieving us of any collective responsibility to change horrifying paradigms. Women don’t need economic opportunities globally, they simply need to change their stinking thinking and pray harder.
A friend of mine was raped as a child but clings unwaveringly to such principles. When I asked her how she could possibly have “manifested” a rapist, she told me: “The soul makes agreements before we enter into this material plane. I remember agreeing I had lessons to learn and suffering that abuse was one way to learn them. It’s part of our duty here on earth.”
Her belief, sadly, is not uncommon. It is perhaps the most disturbing kind of internalized oppression. After decades of battling notions like “it’s all in your head, dear” and “you shouldn’t have worn that dress” and “that little girl acted in a very seductive manner,” we have come to accept them as fact by wrapping them in a blanket of pseudo-spirituality. What could have been a purely positive experience of adding concepts of the power of thought and a loving, generous god to a more complex system of belief that retains the importance of community and working to ensure that all of us on this spinning blue ball are sheltered, safe, and fed has instead become an oppressive force that reestablishes a dangerous paradigm that blames the victim and absolves violent aggressors of any responsibility. Most disturbingly, it releases us from any collective responsibility to name the adversary and work for change.
It’s time for a new integration of spiritual and religious thought that does not rely on simplistic absolutes and rampant narcissism. We must embrace the positivity of these new movements while maintaining the call to activism of Dr. King’s social gospel. Positive thinking and a loving god are important, but we cannot delude ourselves into thinking that women and children across the globe desire or are responsible for the unrelenting pain of the poverty and violence that they endure. Nor can we dismiss our collective responsibility to ensure that all of humanity has a fair and decent chance of living a long, healthy life.
................................
ALDRA ROBINSON
Aldra Robinson is a Midwestern misfit who feeds her messianic complex as a grant writer in the concrete sprawl of Los Angeles. When not toiling away in the nonprofit industry, she can be founding writing about frugal living and social justice on her blog, www.consciouslyfrugal.blogspot.com and telling the truth about “doing something meaningful with your life” at www.martyrsmanual.com.
e-mail: aldrarobinson@yahoo.com