The Daily Kos has an interesting post from a newbie blogger who was raised in an evangelical environment.

My main point is that this really is a “culture war”, perhaps not in the sense that you may have thought of it before, being stirred up primarily by mainstream marketing aimed at Christians, and as such, should be fought that way in a deep sense.
I believe most of the analyses I’ve read so far focus on symptoms and manifestations of the culture difference, and not on the root cause of it. I don’t know if I’ve correctly identified it myself or or not, so I’m posting here to get feedback.

He looks at Democrats and Republicans and believes the values and morals debate has deeper roots.

Corporations are cashing in big on Christians. There is a huge industry that’s grown up around them. And, just as with any marketing, marketers manipulate this group to “define it” for itself, and therefore make it more homogenous.

For someone outside this subculture, it is very hard to imagine how large it actually has become, or how insidious/pervasive it is.

What has this done?

Christians are behaving just like good consumers should. They are unconsciously slipping into the “mold” that the marketers have laid out for them. It’s done so well that it has become part of the Christian culture.

Importantly, this directed marketing has given Christians a sense of separate identity. They are no longer Americans who happen to be Christians and happen to be Republican or Democratic. They are Christian Americans — separate from (and some believe, superior to) the rest. (Note this is just like typical “identity politics”, except, at the heart, it was not originally about politics, but rather money… although Republican politicians are now engaging in it as well, of course.) This has led to more and more of an “us” vs. “them” attitude, which the marketers have picked up on. (Which, in turn, has led them to market more and more to this attitude directly, until we have Christian bookstores selling in-your-face t-shirts, books about “taking back America”, etc.) Christians more and more believe that they are persecuted in this country, that their faith is under attack from all sides, that they are in the minority. (And, by the way, the reaction of the secular Left to the alarming politicization trend within Christianity has just served to reinforce the view.) Home schooling is one example of this. This is a phenomenon that is really driven by the companies selling home-schooling materials to parents. (Indeed, I’ve often wondered if the latest battles in public schools (primarily over creationism and prayer) aren’t “prodded along” by clever marketers of home-schooling materials.)

Michael Spencer (The Internet Monk) looks at the Larry King interview with Rick Warren, a highly marketed author of a book called The Purpose Driven Life.

But listen to the guy. He’s a solid evangelical Southern Baptist. What’s your problem?

Solid? Not too solid. Pretty hard to pin down. He’s not a theologian. He’s like Bill Bright more than anyone else. He’s like Billy Graham in other ways. These figures influenced evangelicalism away from it’s reformation foundations and towards a fuzzy Arminianism and unquestioning pragmatism. As a (bad) Calvinist and a Reformation Christian, I don’t find those developments positive. There is a message and a method in scripture. It’s not up to me to define either as it suits me. Listen to Warren on Larry King. He is right on the boundary line between evangelicalism and a total muddle. He lives on that line and he sells that approach as the moel for the rest of us. Every theological statement is soft, every church growth statement is hard. As the major influence on the future of the church, he doesn’t impress me. Sorry. Does that make me a bad person?

Or Real Live Preacher ( from his book: link Dashhouse)

I believed then and still believe that many Christians are not honest about their own failings, sins, and disappointments. Like Martha Stewart, they try to sell a sugary, imaginary world of happiness to people who are hurting and looking for real answers.

I believed then and still believe that many Christians use manipulative techniques to win converts. The pursuit of truth has taken a back seat or has been lost altogether. What matters is numbers, namely how many people you can convince to become Christians. Converts are counted and boasted about. They wouldn’t call it boasting, but that’s what it is. Retch!

I believed then and still believe that many Christians have created a subculture with its own language, customs, and myths. Ministers even have their own dialect and hairdos. Weird. This subculture is really more about worshipping America than God, more about achieving than receiving, more about competition than grace. The problem with a religious subculture is no one else “gets it,” and you are isolated from the world you are called to SERVE.

I became increasingly disgusted with the institutional and bureaucratic nature of churches. It seemed to be that many churches were worshipping the idols of wealth, power, and prestige. It seemed to me that many churches existed solely to support the Christian subculture.

This story of a former pentecostal missionary kid doesn’t give big or successful answers. He speaks of the terror of his childhood faith in Drinking in Tongues.

“In the name of Jesus, I command you unclean spirit to leave Vinton immediately. You are commanded as Jesus said in scripture to leave this child of God forevermore. You have no authority here!”

“Kali tuto deli nat tatos shelok ta kappa…” my mother spit-fired under her breath.

“Yes, Lord Jesus. Heal him. We pray this in Jesus’ name.”

They were reaping great benefits. I still felt the same-old same-old. Just a little warmer, what with four sweaty hands laid upon me.

It should have never happened. I shouldn’t have had those drinks. I shouldn’t have disclosed my new faith. After spending sixth grade away at boarding school in the mountains just west of Nairobi, I had moved back with my folks in Sudan and had befriended a few local kids my age. My parents stood by unaware as these kids, and in particular, Wadi, led me down this path, this one-way ticket to hell.

Cal Thomas asks if we Focus on the wrong Familes.

That is an indictment that can be handed down to many in the contemporary evangelical church. Focusing too much on politics, they are neglecting their “first love.” Or as a writer once put it about the early church fathers: “Aiming for Heaven, they got earth ‘thrown in.’ Aiming for earth, they got neither.”

It isn’t that the born again should absent themselves from politics and government. It is that these temporal institutions cannot solve the nation’s problems or the problems in too many of their own homes. As the president’s mother has said, “Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your house.”

In the ranking of government and family, where do evangelicals think God would place His priority?

The small disagreement between World Magazine and Christianity Today seemed more about marketing share and the speck-plank-eye- culture war-declared- Republicans-versus-perceived liberals than the question of single voting issues Joel Belz took defensive exception too.

Even with clarifying comments from Belz, as well as a gracious demeanor throughout the conversation, we at Christianity Today remain troubled by the column.

We are charged with “condescending arrogance” because we “assert … that abortion, homosexuality, and marriage are not just not the black-and-white issues some of us would like to suggest they are.” It’s difficult to find that “assertion” in our November editorial or in any other. The reason: We do see them as black-and-white (or better yet, right-and-wrong) issues.

Belz’s column says our editorial is based on “the assumption that those of us who harp on abortion, homosexuality, and marriage have never given thought to issues like poverty and economic justice, to racism and minority rights, to war and international fairness, to healthcare and environmental issues.”

Baloney. The only thing one can logically construe from our editorial is that the Christian public policy agenda is comprehensive. Nothing more, nothing less.

Some work from within US denominational or parachurch structures, some who have moved back or away from structures. The themes are similar, presented in different tones and unique voices.

Marketing continued…

On a shelf at Wal-Mart’s Sandy store on State Street — next to a line of jewelry boxes and figurines — sits a 15-inch statue of the Angel Moroni, boxed and ready for holiday shoppers, many of them predictably members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who recognize the Book of Mormon character as the figure perched on more than 100 LDS temples worldwide.

Complete with removable trump, it’s touted by the packaging as “a unique keepsake to brighten any decor” that “makes an especially thoughtful gift. . . . The statuesque pose of the hornsman gives an essence of revelry. A great addition to your precious collection.”

While many may well be turned off by the hawking of one of the faith’s signature symbols — made in China for Wal-Mart and selling at $19.86 — there are few better clues about the growing market for LDS products, and the money to be made from some 12 million Latter-day Saints. Once considered a tiny niche market, the church’s rapid growth in the past two decades portends more targeted marketing by both LDS and secular retailers to an ever-growing audience.

The sculpture — now marketed by the world’s largest retailer — provides some context for both the rapidly growing LDS product market and the potential challenges it poses for both retailers and the church.

via Religion News Blog

And a 10 year old grilled cheese sandwich with a supposed image of the Virgin Mary sold on E-bay for 28 thousand US. A Canadian casino, the Golden Palace purchased it. They are known for the summer Olympic fool-in-the-pool stunt.
28 thousand dollars for a 10 year old grilled cheese sandwich?
Who do you see? Personally Greta superimposes well.