Is the ‘American Dream’ a Christian one?

In reading a lot of the conversation on Twitter after the Verge conference I came across a post by Jeff Collier on his site zetify.com.  In that post was this paragraph:

My only criticism of the conference was some of the speakers, especially the founder of the movement Alan Hirsch, was a bit anti-American.  There were one too many digs at suburban life, mega churches and how backwards the “west” is compared to everyone else.   But Alan has a British accent so I can understand his frustration with not being American.

The statement above is one that I think would resonate with many American evangelical Christians after hearing Alan (or some of the other Verge speakers) for the first time.  Many people I know would take the stand that at its most basic level Christianity is compatible with, and even endorses the pursuit of the American Dream.  I would disagree.  There are redeeming aspects of our culture to be sure, but ultimately I think that the American Dream as commonly understood is at odds with biblical Christianity in many ways.

Christianity as shown to us in the New Testament is not friendly to either the world or the so-called ‘dream’ our culture sells.  I want to state at this point that I am not criticizing Mr. Collier personally, criticizing his faith or undertaking this post with the goal of ‘refuting’ his statements.  I am simply using his statement as a starting point for a discussion of a topic that I have read, thought and had many conversations about lately.

William F. Buckley, Jr. once said that he sought to “stand athwart history, yelling ‘Stop’ at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who urge it.”  I feel that as theological conservatives in this culture at this time we are called to do just that.  How do I propose we do so?  I’ll post on that soon but suffice it to say it is far more personal than political.

This is a question and issue I have been struggling with for pretty much my whole adult life.  I am a out and out conservative.  I am and always have been a theological conservative and politically a traditional conservative (I offer my now defunct political blog as proof).  However, I am becoming more and more convinced that ‘American Values’ and the ‘American Dream’ are not fully compatible with a theologically or ideologically traditional conservative view of western society.  Our view of what ‘conservative’ is has changed over the years, from Burke to Buckley, Teddy Roosevelt to Reagan, from Goldwater to Bush (either of them) our understanding of what constitutes the ‘conservative’ viewpoint has constantly evolved.  I think that as theological conservatives we need to yet again reform our views of the American culture and how this affects our personal political and social agendas.

Going back to Mr. Collier’s post, I won’t go into into a defense of Alan Hirsch, as I don’t feel he needs one.  Culturally this Australian who lives in LA may strike many people from my part of the country as very different, but I can say that if you read his books and your Bible you will find a very solid theology underlies his work.

Mr. Collier’s statement that some of the observations and critiques of the modern American church are “anti-American” really got me thinking.  I believe that this view of our country and culture is dangerous to our mission as Jesus’ church.  I plan to expand on this through further posts, but I offer the following breakdown as a starting point, hopefully for a valuable conversation.  These lists are not exhaustive, but I feel like they are a good start.

What Christianity and ‘American Values’ have in common:

• Hope and Optimism
• Compassion
• Respect for Individual Rights

I don’t think a prolonged discussion is needed here, but those are the commonalities that are very apparent to me.  In fact I affirm that to a unique degree these characteristics are a direct derivative of the Christian heritage our country has.

Where Christianity and ‘American Values’ clash

Materialism

I almost titled this item “The American Dream”, but I did a bit of reading and came to the conclusion that it would be an uncharitable characterization.  However, I think we have confused the two to an almost indistinguishable degree.  The wikipedia article nails this observation:

In common parlance, the term American Dream is often used as a synonym for home ownership since homes have historically been seen as status symbols separating the middle classes and the poor.^[6] This usage, though, while common, is generally considered a very specific use of a more general term.

Not that home ownership is bad at all, but the point of it being a “status symbol” is very valid.  While I could point to many material quests to illustrate my point I’ll use home ownership in this case.  From the initial development of ‘Levittowns’ to the current suburban ‘master planned communities’ post-war American culture has driven with a singular focus to get every family in a home of their own, preferably with a yard big enough for the kids to play in.  This was (and is still) a good intention, but increasingly it has taken on some unfortunate forms: the disastrous government intervention with HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the desertion of the inner cities by the middle class and  the (IMHO) unfortunate homogenization of suburbia.  Homes have definitely become status symbols, and we took the bait. This led to a financial, and I will argue in a later post, cultural mess.  Make no mistake, our culture drives us to have the newest, biggest, and shiniest of everything.

Contrast this with Jesus words to the rich young man:

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Luke 18:18-25 (ESV)

This is not a blanket condemnation of suburbia, as I am a suburbanite myself, but a call to consider how this environment conflicts with the Biblical teachings on faith, our neighbors and our wealth.  There is plenty of good in the ‘burbs, but within the materialistic drive that seems absolute there is a real threat to Christians and the church.

Big-ness

This could certainly be a subset of the materialism above, but I think it deserves a separate discussion.  Now, I do not want to condemn the scale that our economy and culture thrives on across the board, in fact I think used correctly it is very valuable.  Two examples:

• Wal-mart – Honestly, I know many people may dissent on this one, but I firmly feel that the size and scale of Wal-Mart and the value that it brings to the end consumer is one of the most positive forces in our economy.  Unlike, oh let’s say our government, this is an entity that has brought down the daily costs associated with running a household and feeding a family.
• Big for a purpose – I recently met a married couple at church with no children who have upgraded to a much larger house than they were in so they would have room to start a new community group for an underserved segment of our church.

So, in my view big is not necessarily bad.  But to be sure, as Christians I think we should hold ourselves to a higher standard than the broader society.  While many will take an argument against ‘big-ness’ in an environmentally conscious, green direction I’ll do something different.  The drive to have big (and expensive) things – big houses, big cars, big churches – is one that impacts our ability to live generously.  In falling prey to the desire to live up to the cultural norms I will readily admit that I put myself into the position of not being able to give like I should.  Car payment, mortgage, gas in that big tank, etc. all represent money that we are not using to help the poor, the sick, the widowed and the orphaned.

One call out here, and one I have made in the past.  I really think that our churches are getting too big in terms of facilities.  My personal conviction is that churches (especially in the suburbs) are generally spending too much money on buildings and structures instead of reaching out to our cities.  Now, not every big church is bad, in fact there are some large churches in Austin that I know of that are doing it right.  But there are also churches like First Baptist Church Dallas that in my mind are going several steps too far.  There is a balance between appropriately building to support Jesus’ mission and spending so much of our resources so as to impede it.

Individualism

Lastly I will touch on the very American concept of ‘rugged individualism’.  This is a good characteristic in most respects.  It has driven our culture and economy to heights never before seen in this world.  However it has hurt the American church as well.  People show up to church on Sunday morning as consumers concerned only about themselves.  They expect programs to meet their needs that are staffed by the professionals.  For the most part American church-goers don’t serve their churches or their fellow Christians.  We don’t engage in truly reaching out to our cities because we think that is what we are paying our staff to do.  Worst of all I think that we have lost the concept of community that pervades the book of Acts and the churches of much earlier eras in this country.  While we must hold to the strong defense of individual rights legally and politically, when it comes to the church I think we actually need far fewer individuals and more community members.

I will continue these thoughts and more, but for now I will leave you with this: as Christians I think we should be careful about reflexively defending our culture on patriotic grounds.  Many aspects of our American culture directly go against how Christ calls us to live.  This is a radical statement, but as Alan Hirsch has said, “our God isn’t a safe God”.

Tags: christian-culture, Hirsch, poltics, the-american-dream, verge