I used to know an old lady, now dead, who was the proud owner of no less than five university degrees. She seemed to be alert and extremely intelligent but there was one thing she could not do which was to spot a scam artist. So she would be sending money off to all kinds of companies who promised her that she had won or was about to win a large prize in a foreign lottery. She would tell her relatives that when this money arrived she would give it to them. The relatives pleaded with her to stop sending off all this money but the letters she received were so convincing that she could not help herself. It was only when her relatives found a way of censoring her post that the nuisance finally subsided.
In many ways the quality that drew this old lady to be taken advantage by the scam artists was an attractive quality, the ability to trust another human being. We think of Jesus commending the capacity of the child to trust as being something worth striving for. We might commend this quality in our churches. It is certainly a more attractive quality than the opposite, the ability to question, to be cynical and mistrust others. Christians somehow, we think, are meant to be people who love, are kind and extend the hand of friendship to others. But sadly the same qualities are easily turned into a naivety, gullibility and vulnerability to every charlatan around.
This ready cross-over from something essentially good to something that is sad and unfortunate is a dilemma for Christians. Christians are themselves victims to their own special brand of scam-artists. At Chris’ suggestion, I psyched myself up to watch on the God Channel some of the people whom I would call Christian scammers. It was a creepy experience. How anyone would want to give money to some of the people who speak on the God Channel, I do not know. Clearly they are skilled practitioners as loosing the heart and purse strings of those who watch. Chris spoke to me about a lady he knows who in spite of living on very little was sending every spare bit of money to a Television evangelist in the belief that she was somehow serving God. This is very sad as no doubt she was depriving herself of comforts in order to enrich an evangelist. He was then using the money to ‘prove’ that God was blessing him by allowing him to have every kind of luxury and indulgence. There is something deeply offensive about this scenario.
In talking about this pattern of exploitation that affects many Christian individuals up and down the country, Chris reminded me of another pattern of persuasion that is freely used. This is the ‘parading’ of Christian celebrities in churches, large and small to give their testimonies. The celebrities are individuals who have become household names in, for example, acting or sport who are also Christians. By arriving at a small church to share their story of how they became a Christian, the celebrity scatters a little star-dust over the congregation. But other things seem to be going on as well. By being brought face to face with a ‘successful’ individual who is a Christian, the church member is given the message ‘you too can be like me’. Of course this subliminal message is total nonsense but many people buy into it. They take on the belief that by being a Christian like the celebrity, they too can be rich and famous. Their feelings of well-being through being Christian men and women are enhanced. ‘We can be winners like you, because we are on the same side’ is the thought that is given.
Celebrity testimonies given in church apparently cost the churches concerned a great deal in financial terms. I have heard of fees of £1 -£2,000 being paid out for a 20 minute witness. Clearly the leadership believe the investment to be worth-while. But their investment can ultimately be seen to be buying into something that is a fantasy. By allowing the congregation to boost their self-esteem through contact with these Christian celebrities and the subliminal messages they bring, the leaders are in fact colluding in a scam. To repeat, the scam that is being sold is not directly a financial one. It is selling to people the idea that being a Christian can lead to earthly riches and success like that of the celebrities. It is a scam because it is a message that has no basis in reality but feeds frustrated ambition and a sense that life may not have delivered all that was promised.
One of the things that retirement and increasing age gives to one is the sense that you do not need to look up to other people as though they are ‘superheroes’. Most people, even though they may have extra responsibilities in life are no better or worse than you are. Their extra status, if they have it, brings added burdens. The life of a ‘celebrity’ whether in the church or in any other walk of life is not one to be envied. The further up one climbs a particular ladder, the more difficult it is to climb down again. There is an old joke about a man who spent his whole life climbing a ladder of success and recognition only to discover when he reached the top that he had set the ladder against the wrong wall. Fame brings isolation, not to mention the envy of people who may resent your success. Perhaps Christian leaders, who are tempted to ‘buy-in’ Christian celebrities to speak to their congregations, should use their time and energy of helping their members to celebrate the ordinary but immensely valuable gifts of compassion, empathy and the ability to listen to others. These gifts are far more needed in our divided world than the capacity to be a celebrity.
Good points well made. I won’t be able to join in the conversation for about a week, as we are off out of broadband range!
Again Stephen has hit the bulls eye. The whole mentality behind christian celebrity needs to be rejected utterly and with contempt, its time to take the tinsel off the tree and let Noddy and Big -Ears go back to toy – town!
Even in my present state of doubt I find it hard not to assume some force at work behind this. Apart from a few nice ‘churchie’ country parishes and cathedrals this celebrity testimony thing is accepted as the norm. What you get is an emotional talk with a beginning, a middle and a end. The end is of course, ‘Success!’ ‘come and let us skip off down the primrose path to a wonderful future!’ This leaves the young feeling that all you need is to have a similar experience and then ‘all will be well’. Of course corrupt and deluded individuals will milk this into a scam if they get half a chance. Take a look on the internet and you will see a long history of this, look on the God channels if you need more proof.
The most worrying thing is the way in which this thing has now been legitimized in this Country. I may sound like a tired old gramophone going on about these issues but, I refuse to exchange my brain (What’s left of it) for a cornflake. There are real dangers here, more complex and networked than what I can describe. I appeal to all those who read this to really think hard, because if you don’t then ten, twenty years down the line the christian faith may degenerate into a pub singalong.
Chris
A thought about this:
“the ability to question, to be cynical and mistrust others” which you say is unattractive. However I would like to suggest that these are not all one and the same as you seem to imply. The ability to question isn’t the same as being cynical and mistrusting. They may go together – or they may not. Children naturally question, just as they naturally trust. In fact it might be that children are more able to have enquiring minds when they are able to have justifiable trust and confidence in the goodness and openness of those around them.
This quote from Noel Moules would seem apposite: ‘We are required to question, search for answers, engaging in discussion, argument and debate. We need to experiment; truth like wisdom is robust, needing to be tested intellectually and practically. We are to be an inquisitor – relentlessly searching and enquiring, persistently and painstakingly questioning and struggling with truth’ (from ‘Fingerprints of Fire, Footprints of Peace’). So many of these blogs seem to go back to the alternative, which is ‘Please leave your brains at the church door on arrival. Here you will be told what to think’.
Thank you James. Well said; ‘Here you will be told what to think.’ Can you tell why this subject is is not even recognized as important enough to discuss in mainstream church life? It absolutely bewilders me. This whole question of christian celebrities doing the rounds, singing the occasional song, telling a few jokes and then putting in their time sheet > £ 2000 Cash! ‘Very kind, thank you!’ believing christians actually supporting it!? Well, I am utterly amazed that Stephen seems to be the only Churchman with enough moral fibre to publicly question this creeping consumption of crap. My present dilemma seems to rest on the vexed question, ‘Have I been looking for God, integrity and truth in a place where only the absurdities of the human race are at work?’ Human fantasies played out in an Enid Blyton arena of delusion? A place where nice smilie people sing; “Shine Jesus shine,” until they get hernia of the ear drum? Please answer me if, I haven’t gone toots up the maypole in the meantime.
Chris Pitts.
Chris I’m tempted to say that there is a large part of the church – the part I inhabit – where none of these celebrities, overblown worship songs and all the rest of it come into what we are doing at all. Our parishes have their own faults and weaknesses, but they are very different ones. Could it possibly be more constructive for you to join a church that has a quieter more traditional way of worship, so that you might find something positive to appreciate, rather than constantly be reminded of the things that were so damaging, which doesn’t seem very good for your soul? Forgive me if I’m speaking out of turn and this isn’t relevant or helpful. But as Paul says in Philippians, “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Sometimes we have to grapple with problems and tackle injustice and corruption. But we are not all cut out to be crusaders all the time – I’m not up to it anyway. I have discovered that through doing some of it, and knowing that I can only cope with so much of the stress. Sometimes we need something lovely to feed the soul. We need the beauty of holiness, and/or the balm of simple loving fellowship. Another text which comes to mind is Isaiah, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
Chris, maybe the reason this is not discussed more openly is because there are not many churches that display all these negative attributes at once and are beyond the pale? Like us humans, churches are good and bad and rarely all one thing or the other. My own ministry only started recently. I felt a calling to speak out against exclusive interpretation of scripture and against judgmentalism. As soon as I started doing so, I was amazed at how many responded as if I had said something to them that they’d never heard before. My own church is – mainly – enlightened. But people (particularly outside the church) still feel that the C of E is predominantly made up of those who are homophobic, reactionary, misogynistic and judgmental, and there seems to me to be a ‘balancing up’ that is needed, and which is overdue. If society at large realised how inclusive, forgiving and compassionate Jesus’ teaching is, we would have a much better profile?
Haiku, your comment raises a fascinating (and relevant) difference of perspective with Chris. About 30 years ago I had some ecumenical responsibilities in Hereford city. I found when I made some enquiries that about 50% of the Christians in the city worshipped in small churches which had absolutely nothing to do with the main structures of the denominations. As far as the official churches were concerned these churches and the Christians in them did not exist. In the discussions that we are having on this blog we are encountering this other hidden church which the main-line denominations have no means of getting to know. They do not link up in any way for the most part and are extremely hard to study. Yet, as this blog would claim, these churches are quietly extremely powerful and are, as Chris would claim, the ones that the disadvantaged are most likely to encounter. The fact that people have bad experiences with some of these churches may be for a number of reasons. Bad experiences are of course not confined to the small independent churches, but when they happen there, there is precious little chance that anything can be done! I would maintain that the conservative theology that is preached is likely often to lead to authoritarian and oppressive pastoral practice – the last thing a vulnerable poor person needs when they have a daily struggle to survive. This blog is in part, a wake-up call, to the ‘respectable’ church to recognise that there is a parallel universe of church where terrible things do sometimes happen. I have plenty more material to bring this to your and other people’s attention. My reasons for having compassion for the victims of ‘bad church’ are complex but I want this blog to be a place where the problem is at least faced. I genuinely believe that Chris does represent a bloc of people who need to be heard. He will find it easier to move on when he has been heard properly.
The wake up call may well be necessary – I am interested enough in it to follow your blog, despite feeling at times that you’re talking about a different world which I have nothing to say about. But I can listen. I am to some extent aware of what is there, and feel it’s important that Christians do not ignore or wash their hands of what other parts of the body are doing. With regard to Bible interpretation that’s a field I feel a bit more at home in, and aware of how damaging the fundamentalist approach is to Christianity at large. I also feel that the majority of churches and Christians are not sufficiently confident to acknowledge that religion can be very dangerous and damaging, to discuss that openly. So what you and Chris are doing feels prophetic.
What I last posted was with trepidation because I can only offer loving thoughts and not pretend to qualified to give advice. I know from my own experience and others I have seen that there are times and seasons when it is vital to the soul to cry out about what has happened, what has been done, what is wrong all around, and draw attention to the needs of those who are most still suffering. If Chris feels that, I understand and respect it. He speaks with the power and passion of authentic experience. Precisely because of that, it is clear that there is a sacrifice involved in speaking. Sometimes I find it’s also necessary to be kind to the self and allow oneself the advantage of healing and growing through seeking positive spiritual nourishment; that a total diet of campaigning against evils can be bruising and damaging and more than a person can cope with indefinitely.
Because so many people still suffer in claustrophobic hells, I think it needs to be said that a gigantic festering boil will one day burst all over the place we know as church. The puss from that boil will carry the victims testimonies to a place that can’t be ignored. What will be left of the mainline Protestant churches is anybody’s guess. I remain bewildered. Stephen Parsons has shown beyond all reasonable doubt that a vast number of victims are out there. All those who encounter this blog will not be able to plead ignorance. News of a new ‘Mission’ to my area came to me today, I can’t tell you, words fail me, to express the fear I feel for all the potential victims to come. Some no doubt will make it to the ‘Happy Clappie’ pews but, a great number from the lower disempowered working class will fall prey to abusers and Celebrity christian scams. There ought to be something akin to a spiritual St John’s Ambulance at every one of these ‘meetings’, but of course there wont be! I leave with one quote; “When you think that you have lost everything, you find out you can always loose a little more” Bob Dylan (From ‘Trying to get to heaven’)
Over and out, Chris Pitts