The Blue Voice

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Speaking in the tongues of the Christian Right

I've recently read the book Spritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right (1989) by Sara Diamond. Since it was addressing the configuration of the Christian Right as it appeared during the Reagan administration, it's quite dated in the specifics. Today's leading Christian Right figure, James Dobson, does not appear in the index, for instance. But because it gives a detailed look at some of the Christian Right operations of the time, it still provides a good picture of the style and history of the movement.

Diamond has some useful comments on the Pentecostal movement and its history. In its origins a century ago - in Los Angeles to be exact - it was very much a movement of the less prosperous. In fact, one of the distinguishing characteristics of the movement in its early years was that it practiced racially-integrated worship services, a characteristic that did not survive in its Southern incarnations. Because of the class originas of the movement, in the days of Aimee Semple McPherson, its most famous figure in the pre-Second World War period, Pentecostals had the reputation among more "respectable" classes of being, in Diamond's words, "always uneducated, uncouth, lower class and possibly mentally ill."

But, as we know, nowadays the movement is respectable enough that John Ashcroft, a Pentecostal and the son of a Pentecostal minister, could serve as the Attorney General. Whether he helped dissipate notions that some Pentecostals lack full mental clarity is questionable. But Diamond's book reminds us that during Reagan's Presidency, some of his "closest White House asssociates were 'tongue-talking' pentecostals."

Noting that "Pentecostal" and "charismatic" are essentially equivalent terms, Diamond explains some of the nature of their particular Christian perspective:

Both charismatics and pentecostals believe that on the "day of Pentecost" described in the second chapter of Acts, Christ poured out his "Holy Spirit" and left his believers with the ability to predict events, heal themselves and others through prayer, and speak in unknown languages ("glossolalia") as a sign that he will return. Fundamentalists, including most Baptists, believe that the "gifts" were meant only for New Testament times, while the charismatics claim the gifts apply to modern times as well. There has been an historic distrust between charismatics and their more staid Baptist brethren, which is why a minor holy war ensued when Baptist Jerry Falwell took over leadership of the charismatic PTL network [in the wake of the Jim and Tammy Bakker scandal, a sensational story of the day].

The present popularity of pentecostalism began after World War II, when a number of prominent evangelists launched a "revival," with flamboyant, well attended camp meetings and healing services. The best-known of the Latter Rain preachers were Oral Roberts, William Branham and Gordon Lindsay. They preached an apocalyptic message (the validity of which may have been heightened by the dropping of the first atomic bomb) that theirs would be the last generation before the return of Christ and that the Second Coming would be hastened by their own obedience to Christ's "Great Commission" to evangelize the whole world.

For a taste of Gordon Lindsays' message, see my Old Hickory's Weblog post Apocalyse in the 1950s (08/14/05).

Diamond discusses this in the context of the "shepherding" movement, a lesser-known but very influential element of the Christian Right. This is an approaching that emphasizing very restrictive, hierarchical authority among believers, authority which extends to many areas of life outside the purely ecclesiastical. Diamond observes the Pentecostal emphasis on supernatural interventions into everyday life and worship can have a particular effect on attitudes toward authority.

The potential for interpersonal abuse when authority relations are endowed with supernatural rationalizations is clear. By the same token, however, the institution of a "chain of command" by politically active charismatics [as in the shepherding approach] is an ideal means by which to enlist "troops" for a multitude of battles with the secular world.

In light of what we know about the functioning of authoritarian cult groups, this is a well-founded statement. Many cult leaders persuade their members they possess supernatural powers, of which members are often terrified. Exit counselors helping people to recover from cults often have to show the former members how the miraculous tricks can be duplicated by simple stage magic in order to help alleviate their fear.

posted at 7:20:00 PM by Bruce Miller

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