{"id":45184,"date":"2019-02-07T16:15:03","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T21:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=45184"},"modified":"2019-02-07T16:15:03","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T21:15:03","slug":"milgrams-gatekeepers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2019\/02\/07\/milgrams-gatekeepers\/","title":{"rendered":"Milgram’s gatekeepers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Ken Wilson writes \u2014 from experience \u2014 about the gatekeepers of white evangelicalism<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Often public-facing evangelical leaders\u200a\u2014\u200aincluding one who prefer other monikers than evangelical\u200a\u2014\u200apresent a softer image on issues like LGBTQ. But the base rules even the most progressive leaders under the evangelical umbrella. These leaders cannot cross the base without being punished. Toe the line? Sure. But cross it, and the electric fence that bounds evangelicalism (and all organizations that depend on it) zaps them\u00a0\u2026\u00a0hard<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes. \u2018Twas ever thus, as we discussed here a while back when looking at \u201cFive sentences that contain the entire history and explanation of white evangelicalism in America<\/a>\u201c:<\/p>\n

[Carl Henry] was in a tough spot. A whole generation of white evangelical \u201cleaders\u201d have followed him in that very same tough spot, and very few of them have even tried, as he tried and failed, to do the right thing. Most of the people who have inherited his role of nominal leadership haven\u2019t even had the courage to\u00a0try\u00a0to challenge the actual leadership of the moneymen and the guardians of white privilege. They\u2019ve simply recognized \u2014 correctly \u2014 that this was a power struggle they couldn\u2019t hope to win. Alienate the moneymen or those other \u201csegments of the constituency\u201d and you\u2019ll only wind up getting Ciziked or Gaebeleined. Easier just to play along the way that Henry\u2019s heirs are, even now, at this very moment, playing along.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The functional gatekeepers are the employees of the donors and funders (sometimes formally \u201cTrustees,\u201d but often not). These guys \u2014 the ones tasked with hitting the button to \u201czap \u2026 hard<\/em>\u201d any person or group crossing the line \u2014 often hate that aspect of their job. Henry didn\u2019t like<\/em> having to tell Frank Gaebelein not to praise the Civil Rights marchers. Wilson\u2019s former Vineyard authorities didn\u2019t enjoy<\/em> having to tell him to be cruel. But they did it anyway because the people who write the checks demanded it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s use of the term \u201cthe base\u201d for these donors and funders is potentially confusing. In politics, talk of a party\u2019s \u201cbase\u201d usually refers to the masses, the hoi polloi of the majority of supporters. That\u2019s not who these donors are. They are far, far, far, far, far to the extreme right of most of white evangelicalism. And I mean the far right politically<\/em>, because these wealthy donors fueling and shaping white evangelicalism have no theology other than extreme right politics.<\/p>\n

These donors give instructions. Sometimes directly, on the phone. Sometimes also indirectly, mobilizing their heavily subsidized astroturf networks of frightened and gullible followers gleaned from the actual masses to create the illusion of widespread popular support.*<\/p>\n

The professionals hired to serve them as gatekeepers always take their phone calls. They don\u2019t relish those calls. They usually wish this wasn\u2019t part of their job or their \u201cministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

But they do what they\u2019re told. Reluctantly, regretfully, unhappily perhaps, but always obediently. They think that\u2019s their job.<\/p>\n

Eugene Peterson said what now?<\/em> Sigh. Yes, sir. I\u2019ll handle it.<\/em><\/p>\n

But she\u2019s our first-ever tenured black woman professor, we can\u2019t just invent some pretext to \u2026 Yes, sir. Of course. Right away.<\/em><\/p>\n

World Vision? Don\u2019t worry, I\u2019m on it.<\/em><\/p>\n

InterVarsity is getting all Frank Gaebelein-in-Selma about Black Lives mattering?<\/a> Yes, sir. I understand we can\u2019t have that. We\u2019ll make that perfectly clear.<\/em><\/p>\n

This donor\/funder \u201cbase\u201d of oilmen and segregationists and their equivalents does not wield this power because they are especially devout or pious, or because they possess an elevated spiritual concern for the gospel or for the church. They wield this power because they are wealthy. Very wealthy. So wealthy that it doesn\u2019t seem to matter to anyone involved that they are also an especially impious bunch with a depraved spiritual indifference for the gospel and the church.<\/p>\n

But they sell lots of soap and herbal supplements. (Or, more accurately, they exploit an army of people into exploiting other people into trying to sell soap and herbal supplements.) And that lets them write big checks.<\/p>\n

Very big checks.<\/p>\n

They write those checks to evangelical publishers and institutions, universities and ministries, denominations and parachurch organizations. Not because they want those ministries to thrive, but because controlling them is a relatively cost-effective way of influencing politics ever-rightward.<\/p>\n

And the Very Nice People who run those publications, institutions, universities and ministries believe they are dependent on those big checks and that they dare not disobey the instructions from the donors. When their \u201cuneasy conscience\u201d struggles with that, they convince themselves \u2014 as Wilson says \u2014 that a limited amount of cruelty and injustice may be justified in service of the greater good of whatever it was they originally wanted to do when they first got involved in their ministry.<\/p>\n

And so those otherwise Very Nice People do what they\u2019re told, told to do.<\/p>\n

But the dynamic Ken Wilson describes is only the tip of the iceberg:<\/p>\n

When the base is aroused, pastors, denominational officials, and local congregants who are otherwise considerate and supportive, fall quickly in line. Really good people hit the electric fence, get zapped, and back off. And this happens all the time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The larger mass \u2014 the larger, more dangerously corrosive effect \u2014 is unseen below the water. The harsh \u201czapping\u201d commanded and deployed to get people to fall back in line has the larger pernicious effect of making sure that no one dares even to think about falling out of line. It means that questions won\u2019t be asked, even silently to ourselves. Even when those questions are obvious and urgent. Even when we already know what the answers would be.<\/p>\n