Paul Wilczynski's Observations

We need to understand megachurches

Street Prophets says Progressives need to understand megachurches.

Of all the roadblocks that stand between Progressives and success in American politics, the 'megachurch' movement has to be the biggest. Try as we may, the Left has been unable or unwilling to have an honest and realistic discussion about this particular social development.

Specifically, most Progressives see megachurches as little more than overgrown gatherings of holy ghost rollers--working class white people, largely southern, whose economic and political world-view has been displaced by the fraudulent revivalism of charismatic snake-oil salesman. So much screaming and yelling on a Sunday, irrational, stupid--an aberration to be controlled, not an instance of social change to be understood.

Even as we must continue to battle the dangerous elements of Evangelical Christianity in America, Progressives must also figure out how to appreciate what the megachurch movement has accomplished. In a world where Joel Osteen's sermons beat the Sunday talk shows in the ratings (week after week), Progressives need to take seriously the need for a layered strategy for dealing with this change. We have ducked from this task for long already. ...

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 10:22 AM