Christianity + Pop Culture= Clusterf**k

No need to take offense to this. It is just an opinion.....But nothing depresses me more than the sacrificing of Christian tradition at the altar of pop culture. This is one reason why I have a soft spot for Catholicism. They seem to understand the importance of tradition in the religious life. Nothing makes me feel more spiritual than hearing traditional hymns, chanting and repeating sacred rituals like communion. When I go to church I am going to connect with the past and I want to avoid the modern world. The closer to the roots of Christianity the more pure it is. I have two identities. One is traditional and spiritual. The other is secular. This might seem unchristian to some but the alternative is a awkward mix of the two that lessens the enjoyment of both.

I still remember my great awakening to this fact. I was at Northstar church with my father and it was the day before memorial day. This is the day most churches try to combine the love of Christ with the might and mission of the U.S. military, which requires the total disregard of Christ's teachings on nonviolence. But anyway there were starting up the praise music and the dreaded embarrassing PowerPoint presentation fired up and sucked any sacred feeling still lingering in me out and left a gaping void. The next thing that happened truly changed me forever and filled that void with a dark cynicism that will never abate. On the PowerPoint screen an assault of multimedia was launched and pictures and video clips of U.S. military equipment (planes, missiles, tanks, a virtual orgy of firepower)flashed on the screen in a dizzying display. All the while cliched lyrics about Emanuel, Lambs and rocks scrolled across the screen. My brain started melting and I was reborn. Now keep in mind I am not a devout pacifist. I believe in having a military and realize war is sometimes unavoidable. But to see this unholy combination in Church was too much. But this is just a symptom of the larger illness. Other symptoms are the horrible prosperity messages that church's seem to be pushing as of late. Promising riches if one just follows a certain amount of steps that are different depending on what demagogue one listens to. And then there are the t-shirts that mix religion and pop culture. And one can find Jesus reduced to some folksy simpleton all for the profit of some dubious "christian" company. Examples of these messages are "Jesus got-r-done" and variations of corporate logos turned into Christian messages. So anyway I now realize organized Christianity is a big business. You pay them and you are assured eternal bliss. But I will still follow Christ and search for the few Churches that respect tradition.