4/10/19
The economy and religion…some parallels
A page from Matt Haig’s book “Reasons to Stay Alive,” showed up on my Facebook page a few days ago. A simple premise. “If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more?”
It’s probably more than a theory, but he asks, “How do you sell anti-aging moisturizer? You make people worry about aging! How do you get them to have plastic surgery? You highlight their physical flaws.” Haig sums it up with “To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business.”
In short, advertising in particular and the current economy is designed to keep us in fear (of sickness, of death, of being out of step with our peers), or in a state of longing for more (money, status, power). To keep us buying things, it preys on the needs, desires, and motivations common to human nature. So, we ask again, “If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more?”
We don’t often connect an economic system and religion. But, if it works for motivating us to buy things, it definitely works for keeping us “in the fold” of religious beliefs.
In the Christian religion (yes, even in some of the teachings of Jesus who spoke of everlasting hell), a potentially angry, vengeful God must always be lurking. Disobedience leads to punishment. Fear of everlasting suffering hangs over each of us.
The only hope for salvation is to be found in the faith. Only heaven or hell awaits those who die. There are no other possibilities.
Fear must reign. Just as in an economic system built so much on advertising, fear must reign.
Just as those who sell things keep us wanting more by making us worry, making us feel we’re being left out or falling behind, the world’s major religions (I speak primarily here of Christianity) use fear to control people. And always, always remembering that the only people claiming to have no fear are those who have had absolution by giving themselves to God. The source for this “salvation” can be found only in the church. That could be those who have “confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior” (evangelicals), those who kneel at the altar for communion each Sunday, or those who confess to a confessor and are absolved by a priest (RCC). But even this is merely temporary for everyone knows that he or she has bad thoughts or is prone to “sin” and therefore lives in the fear that forgiveness is needed on a daily basis. So, believers must constantly come back for more.
But suppose it’s all a hoax.
There is a real difference between the need for shelter, food, clothing, and other factors of living that lend themselves to a comfortable existence and being sold a bill of goods that makes one want more. Fear of hunger, of having no warm place to sleep, or of having no coat…these are driving and constant fears for some people. Allowing oneself to be titillated by the latest sleek comforts, electronic devices, the smell of, and sheer beauty of a new car could easily fall into the category found in the question, “why would we need more?”
We are urged by a time-honored and working capitalistic system to buy, buy, buy. It’s almost a call to patriotism to buy! But what if I didn’t? My 2007 Prius has 128,000 miles on it. It still runs fine. It gets me from point A to point B…and still with mileage better than most cars on the road. Now, if it quits, I have a decision to make. Fix it or buy another car. New or used? Wow! There are some beauties being advertised! If I don’t buy a new or late model car will I throttle the country’s economy? If we all were able to combat our need for status (in the case of the car) and were happy with what we had, would the economy tank?
Not to worry. While the system may be a hoax, nothing will change. We are too much in the grip of a system that promotes buying. It’s a system that is designed to make us unhappy or dissatisfied with what we have. It won’t change because we apparently do not have the will-power, maybe even the desire, to fight it.
Here’s where I vacillate and even call on friends smarter than I to talk this through.
That may well be the case with the Christian faith. A good many people attend, attended, or know enough about the faith to still be caught up in the birth to death grip that the church has on people. Though that is diminishing.
The Christian church is dying. But it’ll be a long, slow death. Even though some segments of the faith claim greater numbers, the numbers of people claiming to be Christian are falling. Article after article in magazines and online tell the tale of loss in membership, giving, and in influence on the lives of people. Why?
Reason after reason has been given for this loss. My take is that the church has lost its main hammer…fear! That may be harsh, and herein lies what I call the hoax of it all. “If we’ve happy with what we have, why would be need more?” If I’m not living in fear of the devil, fear of death, fear of eternal punishment, I can live a life without need of attending church every Sunday, without need of absolution of my sins. In short, the church becomes irrelevant. Well, maybe not quite.
Maybe the church becomes a better place...eventually. I keep saying "maybe" for a reason And I vacillate because I'm not purporting to know. That, however, has never stopped me from speculating.
Is it possible that a leap backwards of about 2000 years might be the answer? This would be a jump that bypasses the rules, the hierarchy, and the complete control established by the Council of Nicaea...the absolute control of lives from birth to death. This leap would demolish control by fear! This would be a simple return to a simple teaching and all the values entailed therein as taught by Jesus when he summed up a basic found in several world religions, "do unto others as you would be done by." What a refreshing thing to find a truly Christian church that tosses fear as a controlling factor right out the window; a church that examines and either rewrites or tosses all the hymn texts, liturgy, creeds and "tenets of the faith" that are, in themselves, pure speculation or wishful thinking.
Look at the Apostle's Creed. Virtually every phrase a statement of pure speculation. How does one know that any of this is true? (Yes, I know. That's why they call it faith!)
I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born from the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, descended into hell,
on the third day rose again from the dead,
ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty,
thence He will come to judge the living and the dead;
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the remission of sins,
the resurrection of the flesh,
and eternal life.
Universal human values of honesty, integrity, promise-keeping, fidelity, loyalty, fairness, caring for others, respect for others, responsible citizenship, pursuit of excellence, and accountability seem to me to be ethical values that are aligned with the teaching of Jesus. Why not center "church" around this? These are real, mostly measurable, worth committing to for a lifetime, and not one of these values is based in fear!
I wish I didn't have to wrap this segment up on a pessimistic note, but I must. The economy would tank if we bought only what we need and were not bombarded to buy, buy, buy.
And the Christian church will eventually die unless people of this faith give up on the petty divisions of non-provable theology and join forces around the core teachings of Jesus (other than that "hell" part he talked about) insofar as can possibly be ascertained. Admittedly, from my standpoint, there is easily some doubt about the existence of a "real" Jesus as most "true" believers accept. Let's say, however, for the sake of a direction for today's Christian churches, that what he purportedly said, mostly, (whatever the original source) lends itself well with the values listed in the previous paragraph.
Here I go, being pessimistic again, but, again drawing on the economic system as a parallel, a bunch of good jobs within the hierarchy of the church will be lost and current leadership can't have that happen, now can they!