{"id":2761,"date":"2012-06-18T22:17:24","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T06:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/?p=2761"},"modified":"2012-06-18T22:17:24","modified_gmt":"2012-06-19T06:17:24","slug":"dude-you-are-totally-into-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Dude, You Are Totally Into Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Maybe you\u2019ve heard about it in the traditional media or stumbled on it on YouTube, but one of the hottest viral videos on the \u2018Net today is a sermon, delivered in hip-hop\/spoken word style by 22 year-old Jefferson Bethke.<\/p>\n

The video is called \u201cWhy I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus<\/a>.\u201d It has 21 million views, which has to make it one of the most successful religious videos on the Internet so far.<\/p>\n

Bethke starts his rhyme with the seemingly astounding phrase, \u201cWhat if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion?\u201d He then goes on to rap about how his faith in Jesus transformed his life. This is a classic line that Christians have tried to draw that somehow following Christ destroys the trappings of religion and leads us into a \u201cpure\u201d relationship with God. It\u2019s pretty contradictory on its face, and I\u2019ll point out just a few reasons why, quoting a few words from the poem.<\/p>\n

Among the things Bethke mentions that he used to be into before he found Christ were drinking, sex, and pornography:<\/p>\n

\u201cSee this was me too, but no one seemed to be onto me\/ Acting like a church kid, while addicted to pornography.\/ See on Sunday I\u2019d go to church, but on Saturday gettin\u2019 faded,\/ actin\u2019 as if I was simply created to have sex and get wasted.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If he had addiction problems and found a way out, it\u2019s all good enough, but some of us might call his newfound behavior a Christian ethic: in other words, the ethic you develop when you follow the religion of Christianity. If we\u2019re just going to follow the first century man from Nazareth, he wasn\u2019t actually against drinking. In fact, one of his miracles seems to suggest he was pretty much pro<\/em>-drinking.<\/a> Jesus didn\u2019t say anything about porn, which absolutely did exist at the time. (Judea was occupied by the Romans<\/em>, you can\u2019t tell me he\u2019d never seen it.) And as for sex, well, both Jesus and Paul were rather against it if you could avoid it. Better to stay celibate and await the Kingdom<\/a>. This included avoiding marriage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em>\u201cSee I spent my whole life building this fa\u00e7ade of neatness\/ but now that I know Jesus, I boast in my weakness.\/ Because if grace is water, then the Church should be an ocean\/ it\u2019s not a museum for good people, it\u2019s a hospital for the broken.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mostly what Bethke seems to be riffing on is the difference between law and grace\u2013righteousness by faith and not by works. This is a classic tenet of Pauline Christianity, and really the theological backbone of Protestantism. In other words, Bethke is not just following Jesus<\/em>, but a 21st<\/sup> century perception of a Pauline interpretation of Jesus. (There\u2019s a written quote from Romans 4:5<\/a> at the end.) You can\u2019t get from Jesus the man from Nazareth to Jesus the Christ and only Son of God, much less the Protestant conception of justification by grace through faith, without going through two millennia<\/em> of church tradition, readings and re-readings of scripture, and theology. In other words: religion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Definitely not religion; the pastor's too hip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What makes this even more puzzling is Bethke is a member of Mars Hill<\/a> Church in Seattle. This is a rapidly growing megachurch that wraps its highly dogmatic, patriarchal, fundamentalist Calvinism in a media-savvy package. But I guess it\u2019s not religion when the pastor wears a T-shirt and a wallet chain.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion?\/ What if I told you voting Republican wasn\u2019t really his mission?\/ What if I told you \u2018Republican\u2019 doesn\u2019t automatically mean \u2018Christian?\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bethke\u2019s video gets at one of the fundamental problems churches have today, which is reaching out to a generation that often describes itself as \u201cspiritual but not religious.\u201d After three decades of American Christianity \u2013 both Protestant and Catholic\u2013being used as a proxy for the Republican Party, people of the younger generation are highly (and rightly) skeptical of religion. To his credit, Bethke mentions this in his poem. In other interviews, he suggests his generation has the perception that being a Christian means \u201chates gays, can\u2019t drink beer, no tattoos.\u201d Again, how this lines up with his church\u2019s teaching is puzzling. Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll definitely seems to like beer and tattoos, but hates gays.<\/p>\n

This is the primary complaint I have with how evangelicals appropriate popular culture for religious aims. Pop culture is cool, it sells, it packs the kids in, and evangelicals have been brilliant at manipulating it at least since the Jesus People movement of the 60\u2019s. They\u2019re fine with using the elements of popular culture\u2014rock music, tattoos, spoken word\u2014as long as it\u2019s drained of its substance. But nothing of substance changes about their theology. It\u2019s still the same old substitutionary\/juridical atonement\u2014Jesus died for you and your personal salvation; God required a human sacrifice to atone for your sin. Many of us have ethical problems with this theology. And it\u2019s quite possible that the myopic, salvation-centered but justice-averse theology of both right-wing political Christians and Mars Hill Church is a result of this conception of the Gospel.<\/p>\n

I must admit though, I\u2019m jealous. (Jesus didn\u2019t say it, but my religious tradition of Christianity tells me that\u2019s one of the seven deadly sins.) I wish progressive Protestants could come up with something as cool as this, and perform it as passionately as Bethke.<\/p>\n

I have this idea that maybe what could reach this generation is not a newer, hipper version of the old time religion of sin and atonement, but a theology of incarnation, oneness with the oppressed, personal and community reconciliation, and the celebration of our status as co-creators with God. I wonder if what people have really had enough of is a theology in which guilt and shame are the necessary precursors to salvation. It\u2019s not that we shouldn\u2019t acknowledge our faults, our baggage, our \u201csin,\u201d if you will, but our motivation to do this should be to live into a more joyful awareness of our being created in the Image of God.<\/p>\n

To be honest, though, I don\u2019t know if this generation even wants<\/em> theology, and they seem fundamentally confused as to what religion actually is. Typical X-er or Millennial: \u201cI\u2019m spiritual but not religious, and yet every summer I go to a festival in the desert where I dance naked around a giant burning statue<\/a>. Wouldn\u2019t want to have anything to do with religion, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet I continue to hold out the hope that if progressive Protestantism were to dialogue with popular culture\u2014not appropriate, but dialogue\u2014we might be able to engage this generation on its own terms. Because with all due respect to Bethke\u2019s sincerity and heartfelt belief, his \u201cnon-religion\u201d is just going to lead people back to dogmatism and judgment.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe you\u2019ve heard about it in the traditional media or stumbled on it on YouTube, but one of the hottest viral videos on the \u2018Net today is a sermon, delivered in hip-hop\/spoken word style by 22 year-old Jefferson Bethke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1530,"featured_media":2763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDude, You Are Totally Into Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Maybe you\u2019ve heard about it in the traditional media or stumbled on it on YouTube, but one of the hottest viral videos on the \u2018Net today is a sermon,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dude, You Are Totally Into Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maybe you\u2019ve heard about it in the traditional media or stumbled on it on YouTube, but one of the hottest viral videos on the \u2018Net today is a sermon,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pop Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-19T06:17:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Lindsay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Lindsay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/\",\"name\":\"Dude, You Are Totally Into Religion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-19T06:17:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-19T06:17:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6273da47a63fbdec4df61ffe9774cf\"},\"description\":\"Maybe you\u2019ve heard about it in the traditional media or stumbled on it on YouTube, but one of the hottest viral videos on the \u2018Net today is a sermon,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dude, You Are Totally Into Religion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/\",\"name\":\"Pop Theology\",\"description\":\"Where religion meets pop culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6273da47a63fbdec4df61ffe9774cf\",\"name\":\"Richard Lindsay\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc0371a95c813efb7ad6269d8360ebd1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc0371a95c813efb7ad6269d8360ebd1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Richard Lindsay\"},\"description\":\"Richard Lindsay holds a PhD in art and religion from Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. He lives with his partner in Lafayette, Louisiana.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/author\/rlindsay\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dude, You Are Totally Into Religion","description":"Maybe you\u2019ve heard about it in the traditional media or stumbled on it on YouTube, but one of the hottest viral videos on the \u2018Net today is a sermon,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dude, You Are Totally Into Religion","og_description":"Maybe you\u2019ve heard about it in the traditional media or stumbled on it on YouTube, but one of the hottest viral videos on the \u2018Net today is a sermon,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/","og_site_name":"Pop Theology","article_published_time":"2012-06-19T06:17:24+00:00","author":"Richard Lindsay","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Lindsay","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/","name":"Dude, You Are Totally Into Religion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-06-19T06:17:24+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-19T06:17:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6273da47a63fbdec4df61ffe9774cf"},"description":"Maybe you\u2019ve heard about it in the traditional media or stumbled on it on YouTube, but one of the hottest viral videos on the \u2018Net today is a sermon,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2012\/06\/dude-you-are-totally-into-religion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dude, You Are Totally Into Religion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/","name":"Pop Theology","description":"Where religion meets pop culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6273da47a63fbdec4df61ffe9774cf","name":"Richard Lindsay","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc0371a95c813efb7ad6269d8360ebd1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc0371a95c813efb7ad6269d8360ebd1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Richard Lindsay"},"description":"Richard Lindsay holds a PhD in art and religion from Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. He lives with his partner in Lafayette, Louisiana.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/author\/rlindsay\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1530"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}