So What?

Idolatry 13: Life Without God

We're halfway through and it is time to remember the starting point .  Is atheism about the existence of God or about idolatry?

Let me come clean, I agree with an awful lot of what atheists say and I believe Christians need to hear what they are saying.  However, I remain a Christian. 

An interesting question is whether it is possible for any person to live without a God or gods of some description.  Western Europe is overall indifferent to the existence of God.  This is in marked contrast to most of the rest of the world where religion is if anything growing.  Atheists have a strong presence in Europe and they claim to be the second largest faith in the United States, presumably after Christianity.

Atheists claim it is possible to live without God.  I question this because I don't believe most people who are not believers are atheists.  What we have in the main is indifference.  People are simply not interested in formal religion or religious beliefs.  If atheists wish to count the indifferent they can but I would urge them to reconsider.  Remember the words of Socrates, by way of Plato, 'the unexamined life is not worth living'.  Is an unexamined life really what they wish to offer to humanity? 

I don't believe it is.  The vocal, erudite atheists are not, cannot be living unexamined lives. 

If atheists read this series they will probably protest they no more subscribe to the cult of Father Christmas than they do to the cult of Jesus Christ.  Yet, I think this is where I wish to ask in all seriousness, are you sure?  I do not consciously believe in the cult of Father Christmas and yet to be honest I cannot say I am free of the ideology of consumerism.  Our churches are certainly not, we are mired in this ideology and its god is Father Christmas. 

I will in a later post explain why I think atheism is mired in this deeper false consciousness.  Christians have a different way of avoiding it to atheists and we might argue about whose is most effective but I hope some atheists at least would see the problem of false gods is more difficult than it might first appear.

The question we must consider is: is it possible to live without a god?  I would expect most atheists to answer yes.  My answer is also yes but for somewhat different reasons.

So, the first step is to explore one issue where atheists are right about Christianity.  This will be revealed in my next post.

Idolatry 12: Father Christmas, a Case Study

Obviously, what I say about idols needs to be treated with some caution.  Sociologists probably have some other word for idol and I have no idea what it would be or what they are saying about it.  What I say is based on a lifetime of observation, nothing more.

Timing

Most faiths have festivals and Father Christmas is no exception.  It's not that we don't worship him all year round; it's one time of year that brings out the images.  The period begins as early as the shops need him to be present and this will depend on the state of the economy.  Christmas shopping ends at closing on Christmas Eve.  After that the industry gears up for the January sales.  This does leave Christmas itself for the Christ child I suppose, although the distractions are many.

The place of worship

The main place of worship is shops.  In larger stores special shrines are built into which we take our children for initiation in the rite of Father Christmas.  This is backed up by advertising and the general media.  By about mid-November it is hard to escape his images. 

Later shrines are built in people's homes.  There is a vogue these days for houses highly illuminated with whimsical neon characters.  Giant inflatable figures have also become popular.  For a country so indifferent to religion it is amazing these rites of hearth and home are not recognised for what they are.

The Pantheon

Of course, Father Christmas has a whimsical back story and whimsical allies.  These include elves (a bit old hat these days), reindeer, snowmen, robins, turkeys and in recent years penguins.  When we see this increasingly bizarre cast of characters we will of course fail to take any of it seriously.  This is what I mean when I suggest this is how the values of Father Christmas get under our radar. 

Sacrifice

It is our duty to celebrate Christmas as lavishly as possible.  Great concern is expressed in the news about the High Street takings each year (far less about the poverty and debt that follow Christmas).  The presents are the least problematic element.  There is nothing at all wrong with an exchange of gifts (within budget).  On top of those we have the food, weird stuff we would not dream of eating any other time of year.  And also of course the tat.  The decorations, humorous hats, crackers, balloons ...

And of course there is the debt.  It is inconceivable that the children (consumers of adverts) don't get what they want and so parents get into debt.

The cult

Of course, Christmas is a time for each family to be reunited and worship at the household shrine.    People who live apart for the rest of the year are thrown together for a few days.  The cult is not about love, it is about exploitation.  There are no values in the modern Christmas which will hold a family together.  Close families have their rituals so they can weather it, others fall apart.  Of course, none of this is allowed to puncture the relentless cheeriness of the season.  If you're determined not to enjoy it, you're on your own.

Idolatry 11: But I Don't Worship Father Christmas ...

The first thing we need to do is get ideas of formal worship out of our heads.  I am not in any way claiming there are groups of people who organise worship of Santa.  However, we need to be aware of the root of the word worship: to ascribe worth to something.

Also, we should remember idols have a material and a non-material aspect .  The image points to something else and that something else is where out true allegiances lie.  Father Christmas is the god of our consumer society.  I will describe how we worship this god in my next post.

This idol tightens its grip as the child discovers there is no such thing as Santa Claus.  The illusion starts once we persuade ourselves there is nothing to believe in.

First up, some Christians will say either (a) we don't worship Santa or (b) we know he is an idol and so we have nothing to do with him.  To both groups, I reply 'fine, if you don't worship Santa, there's no problem'.  But, are you sure?  Do you really focus on the nativity and cut yourself off from all the advertising and commercial pressure of Christmas? 

Christians can learn from Father Christmas, how the society we minister in works.  We are enslaved by this idol through debt, indulgence, damage to the environment.  It all derives from our annual celebration of consumerism.  Why are we unable to take it seriously? 

If we distance ourselves too much  from the fun, we'll be accused of being miserable haters of the simple enjoyment of family life.  The problem we face is that we're not supposed to take it seriously.  To take it seriously is graceless, it misses the point of the great big annual celebration.  In short if we take it seriously, no-one else will take us seriously. 

Now onto atheist objections.  I wish I was confident your scepticism extends this far.  The world is under colossal pressure because of the impact consumerism is having on its ecology.  Am I hearing you correctly when you say the greatest threat is Christianity or religion?  Really?  In Europe Christians have been crushed by the juggernaut of consumerism.  We're not the threat.  Whether we're part of the solution perhaps remains to be seen but try to get a little perspective please.

I don't hear an atheist critique of consumerism and this worries me because it suggests a blind spot.  Now I know many environmentalists are atheist but how many see the motivations that make humanity so helpless are spiritual?  Spiritual forces are not angels and demons (wherever do you get these ideas from?) they are the power our institutions have over us. 

Do you know about the power of institutions?  Are you aware that you are subject to them, your actions are determined by them, just like everyone else?  If we're serious about tackling these insurmountable difficulties then you need to see what imprisons us.

Christians are not immune.  Many Christians live in fantasy worlds.  Ultimately they cannot witness to their faith because they see only fantasies.  However, faith sharpens the outlines of the world, brings things into focus.  So, if you are an atheist, you need to ask yourself are you sure you see things clearly?  How do the powers distort your vision?  How do you identify them and tackle them?  You might not believe in God, but can you in all honesty say you don't believe in Father Christmas?

Idolatry 10: Why Pick on Father Christmas?

Who is Father Christmas?

Father Christmas  and Santa Claus  seem to have originated in separate traditions although they're now universally seen as the same. 

Santa Claus started out as St Nicholas and delivered presents to people who were in need; a saint in the timeless tradition of redistribution of wealth.

Father Christmas was a much later development of the early Victorian era in England.  I remember as a child we were told, we had to be good.  It seems this character was used by parents to instill a little discipline.  Be good or you won't get any presents. 

Here is a well known example of Santa Claus playing this role.  I think this version with Bing Crosby and the Andres Sisters is amongst the best.

 

Today Father Christmas plays a rather different role to the one he played during my 1950s childhood.  We hear virtually nothing about Christmas being a time for redistribution.  We hear little about being good.  Presumably, not awarding the bad child is not good for profits.  Father Christmas' role has subtly changed during my lifetime.  What is the difference between the story he tells today and the story told 50 years ago?  How do we account for it?

Is this another rant against Christmas?

I must confess I have a lot of sympathy with those who would campaign against Christmas.  Christmas is excessive and smug.  The delight children take in it is worthwhile but we do not need the connivance of the money men.  Our children's pleasure is essential to the economy, wouldn't you know? 

However, campaigns against Christmas make no discernible difference.  The social forces are too strong.  Commerce is onto a good thing, working with the grain.  However, my point is not to make comments about how dreadful Christmas is but to explore how this specific example of idolatry actually works.

A Unique Instance of Idolatry

Indeed, this instance of idolatry is unique.  There is no other idol that has a comparable grip on public consciousness as Father Christmas.  Father Christmas is material  and universal.  How does this image maintain its hold upon us as a society, a hold to the extent that no-one seems able to see what Father Christmas is? 

The history helps us trace the development of this image over centuries.  Was he always an idol?  Probably not but by the turn of the last century he was worked into the world of commerce and that is from where his image gets its significance.

I have no idea whether anyone has researched this or made these points before.  It seems a valuable opportunity to gain insights into the way our modern society works.  On the way we may identify other idols and certainly learn of the hold modern idols have over us. If we want to know why we're so helpless as a society in the face of climate change and numerous other intractable problems, this may be the explanation we are seeking.

Idolatry 9: Consumerism

Consumerism thrives on images; images of the good life crowd in upon us all the time.  To be a consumer is to be on a path to the fulfillment of our dearest wishes.  Whatever we long for can be supplied if we have the wherewithal.  If we don't, we might have to settle for something a little less perfect or of course we can buy it on credit.

I suppose consumerism began with the industrial revolution.  To begin with relatively few people could afford manufactured goods.  But as production increased, prices began to fall.  No-one can deny that for many in the West, this marked a major improvement to the quality of life.  The retail co-operative movement  addressed many of the concerns of working people, about the quality of goods and the adulteration of food.  Consumers began to feel empowered.

Looking back over fifty odd years, I can see how consumerism has developed.  I can remember the days before supermarkets.  The first supermarket in my neighbourhood was Gowers and Burgens.  I thought we were supposed to take the basket home!  There were adverts in the papers, magazines and on commercial television but I think it must have been the 1980s when consumption became a leisure activity or even something of an obligation.  It is not that we consume more today, it is a sense that something has changed about the way we view consumption. 

Probably, the change can be attributed to cheap, accessible credit.  At one time obtaining a loan was a great palaver.  Now it is simple, you don't even need to apply.  Credit and debit cards also make a difference, it doesn't feel as serious as writing a cheque or handing over cash.

What fascinates me is that consumerism has a god.  I don't mean a concept that people pay lip service to but a proper god.  The sort of god described in Psalm 115 , a material presence that resides at the centre of all our lives. 

It is somewhat embarrassing because we're sophisticated twenty first century westerners and we have put all that behind us.  We cover it up by claiming it is just stories for children.  Indeed it is a rite of passage for a child to stop believing in this god.  But of course it is in the nature of idols, the moment we give it up is the moment it tightens its grip.

The god of consumerism has a festival and that is when its image appears.  An idol of the material variety; it is something we place in our homes, our shops and workplaces.  We defend it against those who question its place in our lives, by saying 'lighten up, it's only a but of fun'.  His whimsical nature means no-one could possible guess how much we love him and how tight a grip he has on our hearts.  We would destroy our planet in his name, drag down our civilisation rather than give up all the good things he offers us.  Unlike the God of Israel, this god brings plenty, and enjoyment and, we are told, never suffering. 

Idolatry 8: Dictatorship

A dictator is someone who is appointed to dictate.  They are usually appointed during a time of crisis to lead the people to safety.  Once the crisis is resolved, they stand down in favour of a return to democracy.  We call those who do not stand down tyrants.  Tyrants come upon or retain their power illegitimately.  These days the word dictator usually has negative connotation.  Benevolent dictators are so rare, they need an adjective to be distinguished from the rest.  Usually, we don't call them dictators at all.  Churchill during the second world war was a dictator.  We don't call him that because of the negative connotations.  We probably would, had Germany won the war.

The rot sets in for most dictators when they start to cultivate their image; when they are given the celebrity treatment.  Often, they prefer to be the only celebrity in town.  So, we find images of the dictator turning tyrant all over their territory.

The Roman Emperor was thought to be divine.  The Emperor became divine when he ascended the throne and continued divine after death.  During their lives they would be depicted in friezes, in the places at the centre of cities where people met.  They would be shown with the local gods bowing down to them.  In the local temple, the people were invited to light an incense stick for an additional god emperor.  The pax romana , the peace of Rome, was maintained through this system of emperor worship.

The first photo is from a relief at the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias.  It shows the Roman Emperor Claudius cosmically controlling the land and the sea.

Under each leader of modern Russia, the statues of previous leaders are moved.  As each moved on, they were relegated to obscure corners of parks.  Not exactly condemned as false gods but no longer necessary to keep society in good order.  The second photo is of a monument to Stalin.

And then we have the image of allied forces toppling the statues of Saddam Hussein.  Surely, there is no better modern example of a a dictator turned tyrant, bolstering his position through countless images of himself.  The third photo is of one of Saddam Hussein's monuments. 

Is anyone taken in by this?  Of course, some will oppose the tyrant and see the images for what they are.  The rest?  As I said about celebrity, there is collusion at some level.  Similarly, a degree of scepticism is usually present and is likely to be normal for any who live with these images, whatever their allegiances.  Maintaining an ironic distance is one way of coping with oppression.  For many it is too dangerous to object, better to go along with it.

Idolatry 7: Celebrity

Surely, celebrity is just a bit of fun?  We all have our favourite actors or musicians.  It's natural to admire them for their talent.  I'm sure it is but talent is not at all that celebrity is about.

There is an industry dedicated to celebrity.  Celebrity is manufactured, primarily through images of celebrities.  It is easy to make an idol of a living person.  The earliest Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire because they refused to worship the emperor.  There have always been personality cults of one type or another.

Celebrity images are lovingly reproduced in full colour magazines and television programmes.  These pictures are touched up in various ways to reflect an ideal of what a celebrity should look like.  These images are false representations of the person depicted.  Indeed, celebrities have little control of their images; the images are in the control of the media.  When a celebrity fails to meet this ideal, that too is exploited.  People will pay to see celebrities who are drunk or misbehaving in some way.

Part of the false images of the celebrities are the stories told about them.  Often these stories are made up to sell media.  Or else they are manufactured on reality TV shows.  The lives of celebrities are similar to the lives depicted on soaps.  For some soap stars, it is difficult to tell what is happening to the actor from what is happening to their character. 

Of course, everyone knows the world of celebrities is manufactured.  Perhaps.  But here's the point.  How do we know that Old Testament idolaters did not know their idols were manufactured? 

These images work at a subliminal level.  We are not conscious of their power precisely because we know they are manufactured.  We may tell ourselves this person has talent, whilst another has none and has just been hyped.  It doesn't matter what we think.  The message that we receive under the radar is about the way to live in a consumer society.

Idolatry 6: Non-Material Idols

I wish to question the belief that we are too sophisticated to be taken in by material idols these days.  So, I need to explore what we mean by non-material idols.  We might say we idolise money.  But we would never bow down and worship coins and banknotes.  Obviously most of us do not bow down and worship anything and so we need to understand not only what constitutes our idols but also the ways in which we worship them.

Let's go back to the graven image, as described in Psalm 115 .  Given its characteristics, there is no way this image has any part in its own worship.  The worshiper believes in the idol, the idol is incapable of reciprocating.  We can see clearly idolatry is entirely dependent upon the worshiper.

Of course, the worshiper does not directly ascribe volition to an idol; the focus is upon the god the idol represents.  When worshipers make offerings or ask for favours, they are addressed to both the idol and the god beyond, because the idol represents the god.  If these favours seem to be granted, the idol is ascribed more power.  If they are not, then the worshiper seeks reasons why their offerings have been unsuccessful.  This is likely to lead to an entirely distorted understanding of the universe. 

Increasingly, the believer has to believe in the teeth of all the evidence.  Both the idol and the god it represents are false.  Some people might decide they're worshiping the wrong god but for many the response is to try harder.  After much investment of time and effort the worshiper will need to defend their faith.  Indeed a trial of strength is a time honoured way of proving the power of one god over another.

The insistence that God should not be represented by images seeks to mitigate this error.  The believer is invited to focus directly upon God, rather than upon representations of God.

So, it is not that there are material and non-material idols.  There are always material and non-material aspects to things worshiped.  The next 3 posts will describe 3 examples of modern idolatry.  They will show each example has a material and non-material aspect.  I'd be grateful for examples of idols that don't appear to have a material aspect, I can't think of any.  The examples I have chosen are celebrity, dictatorship and consumerism.

Idolatry 5: Classic Idolatry in a Postmodern World

I will be making the case that classic idolatry is alive and well in our postmodern age.  Whilst I appreciate the view there are no longer any grand narratives, I am also suspicious of it.  Is it that there are no longer any grand narratives, or that we choose to overlook them?  It may be true the old grand narratives are no more but it does not follow there are no grand narratives.  Plato reports Socrates as saying 'the unexamined life is not worth living'.  The invitation to examine our lives is an invitation to step into another world, quite different from the one we think we know.

The first thing to do is to clear up some possible misconceptions about classical idolatry.

First, the prohibition of idolatry in ancient Israel, took place in a political context.  It is likely the concept of God developed from arguing that many local gods were each a manifestation of one God.  These local gods had idols and many worshippers transferred their allegiance to the one God, worshiped through their local idol. 

The Israelites were also known as Hebrews, a word which originates as a social rather than ethnic designation.  Often the idols would have been controlled by political elites, the one God was a movement of the nomad, the marginalised, the dispossessed.  Later we see the focus shift to the dominance of a temple elite. 

This complex history is fascinating and we need to take care not to confuse its vagaries with the deeper concern beneath the politics of the time.  What is important is the way our idols form our lives in the present.  We do not need to believe the nations surrounding ancient Israel were evil because they worshiped false gods.  Our task is to identify our own false gods and understand why they are so dangerous.

Second, I am not writing about bonkers sects.  There is no end to the bonkers things people believe in.  In this series of posts I am not concerned with debunking bonkers beliefs.  Plenty of writers have had great fun doing this but it does not concern me here.

Third, a discussion of idolatry carried out by a professed Christian is likely to raise the suspicion that the aim is to question other faiths.  This is not my intention.  The best way to settle this for the present is to say you will see in later posts, I do not see Christianity as exempt from the dangers of idolatry.  One way or another all faiths have to struggle with this issue.

In this series I will explore how idolatry works across the generality of Western society.  Once this is complete, it may be possible to engage with atheism in a constructive debate.  Atheists may be suspicious of what I write and so they should be.  If we take idolatry seriously we should all be radically suspicious.

What I hope to do is to show how idolatry is very much a part of our world.  Indeed, we make idols out of many abstract concepts but I want to show how so many of our idols are material, not far from the graven images in the second commandment  and described in Psalm 115 .

Idolatry 4: The Classic Idol

Next I turn to one of several Old Testament descriptions of idols.  At the time it might have seemed legitimate to mock those who worship idols.  But how much was down to rivalries between Israel and other nations, rather than a concern for a right relationship with God.  Remember the concern was always for the nation rather than individuals.  Did marking nations as idolatrous justify war with them?  Or did it explain why they invaded Israel?

Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases. 

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.

They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.

They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats.

Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.  (Psalm 115:3-8; NRSV)

This is about physical idols; idols you can see and touch.  It is customary these days to say all manner of abstract things can be idols, such as money or celebrity.  I will explore this view later. 

The mockery is based on the question, why worship something that is not alive?  It exists alright but it is dead matter.  It has no capabilities whatsoever (unlike the God of Israel).  We need to pay attention to this because we need to be careful we don't project our own fears onto the writers and first readers of these texts.  This passage shows they are capable of distinguishing between what is real and what is not.  They make a real distinction between what is capable of many things and what is capable of nothing.

Atheists might wish to argue that the God is verse 3 is also an idol, a figment of the imagination.  They might be right and I will explore this view in a later post.  But the point is this passage does not allow such a simplistic dismissal of their ability to discern between what is real and what is not real. 

If they are able to see that material idols are not real, why assume they cannot discern that their God although not material might also not be real?  Why should they believe that material idols are false but that an imaginary God (as some atheists would have it) is true?  Why couldn't they see they are both idols? 

There are only two possible explanations.  Either this is an attack on people of other faiths, rubbishing their gods, or they had genuinely perceived something about the nature of reality.

Perhaps the last verse is a clue to what they perceived.  They make a distinction between those who worship idols and so are like them, unable to do anything of their own volition, and those who worship God and so somehow share in God's freedom.  (Compare the last verse with the first.)

At this stage, I will not take this any further except to note that before we jump to conclusions we should heed their warning about what happens to those who worship false gods.  As a further warning, this video shows what happens when you mess with idols.