An associate editor for Rolling Stone and Harper’s, Jeff Sharlet has written investigative pieces for numerous publications. His latest look at religion is online at Rolling Stone: Teen Holy War
Jesus is really, really pissed — at Hollywood, at the media, even at most Christians. But BattleCry, the nation’s largest and most radical youth crusade, is recruiting a new generation of Christian soldiers to fight back.
Rolling Stone also provides some video of the BattleCry Rallies
Chris Hedges, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner and author mentions Luce and Battle Cry in his chapter on faith. He expands on what Luce and other’s have tapped into in the culture.
The use of elaborate spectacle to channel and shape the passions of mass followers is a staple of totalitarian movements. It gives to young adherents the raw material for their interior lives, for love and hate, joy and sorrow, excitement and belongs. it imparts the illusion of personal empowerment. It creates comradeship and solidarity, possible only as long as those within the movement do not defy the collective emotions of the crowd and willingly devote themselves to the communal objective, in this case creating a Christian America and defeating those who stand in the way. It gives meaning and purpose to life, turning a mundane existence into an epic battle against forces of darkness, forces out to crush all that is good and pure in America. And if is very hard for the voices of moderation to compete, for these spectacles work to shut down individual conscience and reflection. They give to adherents a permissiveness, a rhetorical licence to engage in acts of violence that are normally taboo in a democratic society. It becomes permissible to hate. The crowds are wrapped in the seductive language of violence, which soon enough leads to acts of real violence. American Fascists The Christian Right and the War on America pp. 30-31
Sharlet appeared on NPR’s On the Media discussing Ron Luce and Acquire the Fire
via: The Revealer
Published 1 year, 7 months ago
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Thanks for the notice, Bene D. I’ll put the whole story up later in the week if Rolling Stone doesn’t. That’s a nice passage from Hedges, but I’m not positive about the last line — “soon enough leads to acts of real violence.” I could certainly see a messed up BattleCry kid taking the message literally, but they ususally don’t, and it’s worth considering why. I think the most important factor is this: BattleCry uses the extreme us vs. them rhetoric to police its own recruits. It’s not really about attacking the culture, it’s about purifying its ranks. In other words, the violence that results from BattleCry is almost always going to be emotional and eternal, damaging the lives of the kids involved, as I show in the rest of the story yet to go online.
I’m looking forward to it, again you’ve done an incredible job.
Gracious of you to put up with another writer being quoted in a post linking to your work.;^)
I agree, a bit of Hedge’s comment is out of context for a quick quote - he packs a lot in his book, and doesn’t give Luce more than a paragraph. I can’t do his work justice on BDBO, there is a great deal I am trying to learn and understand without experiential reference points in my own life.
Has anyone done a long term followup on some of the teens that have embraced BattleCry? The question that keeps circling in my head is why would parents send their kids to these events?
I want people, particularly Christians to start thinking; read your piece, look at the videos, and pick up a book like Chris Hedges or Michelle Goldbergs to gain an historical perspective and an deeper understanding.
Your rare ability to put us there, to write so compassionately and humanize participants without compromise is a good stepping stone.
The transcript of your NPR interview is up, one of your salient points is:
I’ve been to churches where their youth groups are Acquire the Fire regulars. From the view of a layman who’s not gone to one of these personally, the kids come back a couple notches more psyched about evangelicalism and steering clear of the seamier parts of our culture. Those are good things.
However, there is a tendency in Acquire the Fire (and other more zealous quarters of evangelical thought) to demonize the secular forces in our culture. You’re supposed to demonize the devil, but not people who might be under his influence. That seems to be the main flaw in the Acquire the Fire shtick.
Kids coming back from one of these events are often told to expected “persecution” at school. Such kids may be in a more combative mode, getting into First Amendment fights with peers, principals and school boards, when they should be doing more spiritually productive things.
As far as the “aesthetic of fascism” goes, it may well be that the psychological elements of effective propoganda often transcend the message proper. Recall that the term propoganda originally came from the propigation of the Catholic faith.
If done in the right cause, propoganda can be good. However, even well meaning people can wind up going over the top and leading folks somewhat astray; that may well be the case here.
I’ve got a post in the works on this that should be up later today.