What Americans are truly passionate about: Their own personal Jesus
One of the theories about why organized religion has had such a rough go of things lately in this country is simple: it's BORING. Americans have this thing about being entertained, and on top of everything else, we've got short attention spans. You put those things together, and how many of us are going to sit through an hour-long sermon on anything? Exactly my point....
What to do? Well, you could begin by making religion more, well, interesting. Nobody likes a boring Jesus.
Mel Gibson and his producers made a sound business decision, pure and simple, when they chose to film "The Passion of the Christ."
But that's only on paper. How many self-styled disciples will actually make the commitment to endure Gibson's film? The movie had a very strong opening weekend, dropping $23 million in the collection plate on its first day alone and earning well over $100 million through Sunday, but that was a direct result of the thundering buildup. Will it last?
"The Passion" is arduous. It's gruesome. And despite the cast of thousands, the special effects and the freaky satanic visions, it's not anyone's idea of entertainment.
For better of worse, we Americans want to be entertained by our Jesus. We aren't especially interested in Sunday school.
No, most Americans simply aren't interested in doing the hard work of actually living one's faith. Living one's belief system involves a LOT of heavy theological lifting. Most people would rather just skip over the boring parts, and just go straight to the part about going to Heaven. Now, THAT will get someone's attention. Fire-and-brimstone, Good vs. Evil; man, THOSE are plot lines that have some meat to them, but they also involve a lot of work. Faith, Hope, and Charity? Well, most people thinks they're Dixie Chicks.
When you can "get religion" by plunking down $8 and spending 2+ hours in a movie theather, why would you do anything else? Of course, do we really want Hollywood defining Christianity for us? Given the throngs who have paid their money for what they probably think is a shot at absolution, I think the answer is self-evident.
Jesus may be enjoying another renaissance at the moment, but he has never really flagged as a pop inspiration. In all genres: punk road warriors the Minutemen imagined a life consisting of "Jesus and Tequila," while professional bohemian Tom Waits sang of worshiping a "Chocolate Jesus." Today, the Christian music industry claims annual sales of $4 billion, with superstars such as Jaci Velasquez bringing the Word to fans of Britney.
Like so many other things in this market-driven society, there's a customized Jesus for everyone who wants one.
We all find the Jesus we want to find, Albert Schweitzer once said -- nearly a century before Mel Gibson found his whipping boy.
Jesus, the face of the One True Faith, has undergone something of a makeover during the 20th century. As the Calvinism that permeated the ethos of the 19th century begain to fade away, the marketing of Jesus begain to take on a markedly different and more positive tone.
....the modern Christ -- gentle and benevolent and distinctly hippie-ish, well before the advent of the hippies -- was largely the creation of some enterprising preachers, authors and ad men in the 19th century. As the righteous fury of Calvinism receded, Americans began to demand less fire and brimstone and more from this cross-denominational imaginary friend, one who would absolve us of even the most creative of our sins.
Jesus was transformed from stern, judgemental headmaster to quasi-drinking buddy, someone you could sit down and have a heart-to-heart with. While this may have made Christianity appear less threatening and dogmatic, the only thing that changed was the way Jesus was marketed. The Scriptures remained the same, but the way in which they were interepreted became less demanding and judgemental and progressively more positive and reaffirming.
Is the change a good thing, or just an example of lazy theology designed to appeal to those Americans who have difficult putting down their remotes and getting off their couches? I suppose it depends on which side of the theological fence you happen to come down on. Either way, it IS a quintessentially American adaptation. Movie-goers get to re-affirm whatever version of Christianity they happen to espouse, and Mel Gibson makes a mint. What could POSSIBLY be more American?
