Hitching our Wagon to Flickering Stars

Christians are as susceptible as anyone to becoming starstruck and becoming part of the celebrity worship culture. When I was at seminary, a wise professor once said (in the context of putting certain theologians on pedestals) that we should make sure to remember that our heroes are very human. By this, he meant that besides Jesus, even the greatest among us are decidedly imperfect, and our level of allegiance to them should always keep this in mind, lest we worship false idols who devastate us in the end with their imperfections. This is very sage advice, and one the church at large really needs to adopt.

Evangelicals, for several good reasons, feel a bit under siege today. The inroads we thought we were making in gaining respectability in our culture have been met with increasingly shrill opposition that has resonated. This has made us far more willing to exalt any allies in the culture we feel we might have, and go to the mat for them. Two prominent examples come to mind, and in both cases, evangelical allegiance to them has, to some degree, blown up in our faces.

Example #1: Mel Gibson
In the months leading up to the release of his Passion of the Christ movie, Gibson actively courted prominent evangelicals to build Christian support for the movie. In a movie industry in which Christianity and Jesus himself were routinely belittled, distorted, ridiculed, and raged against, Gibson's depiction of Jesus was considered refreshing in its seriousness and even reverence. Evangelical leaders praised Gibson, stood by him as he endured criticism from Jewish groups and others, and urged Christians to flood the box office in support of the movie. The result was seismic - huge box office receipts that made Gibson rich and stabilized his production company, and evangelicals feeling like they had made a resounding statement to a Hollywood machine that at best dismisses them and at worst disdains them. Everyone was happy.

There was only one problem. Gibson was never one of us. This is not a statement about Gibson's personal faith, but rather his questionable brand of Catholicism mixed in with his own track record in the entertainment industry. Gibson's questionable attitudes about Jews were largely ignored. And responsible evangelical critiques of his Passion movie were in short supply, even though the movie minimized the resurrection and provided an imbalanced understanding of the crucifixion (substitutionary atonement is rarely even hinted at in the movie). Because we had found a supposed ally, we were willing to overlook quite a bit as part of defending him to the hilt. It wasn't difficult to see what would happen next.

In the years since the Passion movie was released, Gibson was arrested for driving drunk, during which he uttered a slew of anti-semitic epithets. More recently, Gibson stepped out on his wife and family and has fathered a child with another woman and seems quite happy about it all. Few responsible evangelicals would consider him an ally of their values today. Yet, the total and complete support Gibson enjoyed from evangelicals (despite some obvious warning signs) has resulted in the credibility of evangelicals being tarnished. We had embraced the celebrity culture and made ourselves a hero, and we're now paying a price for our short-sightedness.

Example #2: Carrie Prejean
When Ms. Prejean was forced to go public with her stance against gay marriage at the Miss America pageant, much of the culture vilified her. But many evangelicals rushed to her defense and praised her profusely. She instantly became a hot commodity on the evangelical speaking circuit and on conservative media outlets. She hired an agent/spokesperson. She was young, pretty, and photogenic. It was inevitable that she would become an evangelical celebrity. But again, her elevation to evangelical superstar was done despite some warning signs that should have given evangelicals pause.

Her highly contentious relationship with pageant officials was a harbinger of things to come. Over the last year, numerous revelations have surfaced about her own conduct - some of it smelling quite opportunistic and diva-ish. Lawsuits were filed and settled with pageant officials, a book deal was inked to cash in on her notoriety, and very recently, the release of a rather salacious video has forced Prejean to make Clintonian distinctions about all matters sexual. She has donned the martyred victim hat in her book and in interviews, the most recent of which was an erratic display on Larry King which has now been followed by several cancelled book tour events. Whatever fortitude Prejean displayed in her stance on gay marriage has now been overshadowed and undermined by both prior and subsequent wobbly conduct. It was there to be seen, but in our rush to find friends anywhere we can, we overlooked (and continue to overlook) way too much. Evangelicals at large are now being lumped in with Prejean. We're paying the price yet again for embracing and even fueling the cult of the celebrity.

Evangelicals are hardly the only ones who embrace celebrity idolatry. We aren't even the worst offenders; not by a long shot. But what makes us different is that we're supposed to know better. We, who believe that the world in its present form is passing away (1C 7.31) and are instructed to set our hearts and minds on things above (Col 3.1-2) should know better than to embrace the world's pursuits, employ the world's methods, and seek the world's approval. But I fear that even though the evangelical subculture is somewhat unique and separate from mainstream culture, it embodies too much of the world's values to prop it up. Hitching our wagons to flickering stars is one obvious example of our capitulation.