teacher or religious group that would, subtly or openly, strip from the individual believer his right and ability to think and act for himself under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
See the Web Resources and Books for Further Research chapter for recommendations of a variety of resources to aid in evaluating the potential for spiritual harm of various groups.
A Closer Look
The technological and social factors that have led to so many changes in modern America have given rise to several troubling trends in the Wild World of Religion. The next chapter will take a closer look at some of these.
Chapter 5
Troubling Trends
The technological and cultural changes of the past several decades have transformed the face of the religious landscape of the USA in many ways that may not be obvious to those who have not studied the topic. The content of this Field Guide brings into focus, as through binoculars, various inhabitants of the increasingly Wild World of Religion. The purpose for this is two-fold:
1.To provide a reference work that gives an overview and documentation on a collection of ideas, individuals, and groups representative of a variety of significant modern American religious movements.
2.To share some of the concerns of the author about some disturbing trends which now affect large numbers of people. It is impossible to cover every individual, group, and movement that has had an impact on people. Those included in this volume are a sample of some of the most influential people and fastest-growing groups.
Trend One: Religious Homogenization
An individual in the 1950s who had no religious background, and who wanted to find out first-hand about Christianity, would have had to do a lot of footwork, visiting the various churches in his community. If he chose, on subsequent Sundays, to visit a Roman Catholic Church, followed by a Lutheran, a Congregational, a Baptist, and a Pentecostal, he would come away with a feeling of diversity. There would be a diversity of style, from ceremonial, to formal, to informal. Each setting would have a unique vocabulary that would include different buzzwords, from “extreme unction” to being “filled with the Holy Ghost.” There would be a varying emphasis in the content of the sermons. Some preachers would sound more like college lecturers, some would sound like inspirational motivational speakers, and some would thunder in harsh exhortations and threats. There would be a diversity of musical styles from ancient to modern, and from magnificent classical pipe organ performances to piano-playing that might sound at home in a honky-tonk bar. If the visitor was listening carefully, he would note a variety of doctrines being espoused, doctrines which were so divisive that they would be praised in one group and condemned in the next.
Those who were part of each of these diverse congregations would know what to expect when visiting the churches of their own denomination in other cities. They would feel right at home, as that is the point of the term “denomination”: A group that has its own style, practices, policies, and unique doctrinal emphases that differentiate it from most other groups.
Those denominations and those diversities still exist in the 21st century. But what has changed is the “popular” face of religion: what the non-religious public views as Christianity today. For the world of cable and satellite television now offers to that public a homogenized version of Christianity that little resembles the reality out in the towns and cities.
Citizens of countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America may have a distorted understanding of what American Society is like because their only exposure to it is through American television programs— some of them current, some maybe decades old. Just imagine if all you knew about the U.S. was what you saw on the Beverly Hillbillies, Columbo, Three’s Company, Friends, Law & Order, and … MTV! The average lifestyle of a person in a small town in the U.S. Midwest would be totally outside this warped picture.
The same is now true for the landscape of American religion. Those not involved in any particular denomination or local church may have no exposure to Christianity other than what they see on TV. And what they now see on TV has come a long way from the Sunday morning church hour of the 1950s, when the local Methodist church would air its church service, live, for shut-ins.
The face that Christianity presents to the public now, 24 hours a day on Cable TV, is primarily orchestrated by one small group of people—those affiliated with the Charismatic Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). There is also a Roman Catholic network, EWTN, but it is so focused on Catholic doctrines and practices that it does not have an appeal to the general public. TBN, on the other hand, often features famous faces from outside the field of religion, and many programs full of attractive, contemporary music, that can catch the eye and ear of a channel surfer. More recently, they have begun featuring talk shows on a variety of topics, including health and family relationships.
Although there are other, smaller, religious cable networks around the country, TBN is a relative giant in the field. “Across America and around the world TBN is carried by TV stations and cable systems to millions of homes. As a matter of fact, TBN is featured on over 5,000 television stations, 33 satellites, the Internet and thousands of cable systems around the world. And the number continues to grow!” (tbn.org website promotional information)
So what brand of theology will one absorb from watching a week’s worth of programs on TBN?
It is a nebulous, homogenized theology that exists nowhere out in the real world, for it has no solid foundation at all. TBN founder and host Paul Crouch may sit and interview a guest preacher on a certain topic during one hour. Those on the television studio set with them may nod their heads, agreeing enthusiastically with everything the guest says. The next day, on the same show, a different preacher can expound on a perspective that is diametrically opposite the position of the man from the day before on a certain biblical topic or doctrine—and again, those present will nod their heads and agree enthusiastically with everything the man says!
How can this be? It can be, because there is no systematic set of beliefs that is represented on TBN, other than a general Charismatic emphasis. Evidently, no one on the TBN staff has the job of carefully examining all the teachings of the various speakers who appear on the network to see if they can be harmonized in any sensible way. It is obvious to outside observers that many of them cannot. However, since those involved seem to have never taken the time to attempt the harmonization, the loose ends are left loose.
Paul Crouch has made it abundantly clear why this is so—he is opposed to any suggestion that doctrine should be critically evaluated and examined by Christians. Note the following quotes from one of his monologues on the topic:
“That old rotten Sanhedrin crowd, twice dead, plucked up by the roots ... they’re damned and on their way to hell and I don’t think there’s any redemption for them ... the hypocrites, the heresy hunters that want to find a little mote of illegal doctrine in some Christian’s eyes ... when they’ve got a whole forest in their own lives. ...”
“I say, ‘To hell with you! Get out of my life! Get out of the way! Quit blockin’ God’s bridges! I’m tired of this! ... This is my spirit. Oh, hallelujah!’ ...”
“Have you ever seen the old movie, Patton? ... He’s my hero; he’s my hero. Old nail-chewin’, tobacco-chewin’, cussin’ Patton—but he read the Bible every day. I have a feelin’ we’ll see old General George in heaven. ... “
“There’s a wonderful
