The Politics of the Accuser

We wonder sometimes, when we're given a moment to think, why it is that our political system seems like such a monstrosity.   Most of us claim that We Love America (tm), and yet when we look out at how America actually manages its affairs, we recoil.  Our national conversation is, well, it's just plain mean.

We're radically polarized, a mess of snarl and snark.  Those who disagree with us are always and invariably the Enemy, evil incarnate, the very embodiment of every single thing that is wrong with humanity.  Even those who *seem* to disagree with us must be monsters.  They are evil, agents of sinister dark forces who are diluting the Precious Bodily Fluids of America.  If that seems a little crazy, well, it is.

And not crazy in a good way.

We hate that it is this way.  And yet we perpetuate it.  We claim to want one thing, and yet our words and our actions show us that we are another.   Patience, forbearance, and mercy are not our political virtues.  Take, for instance, the peculiar tension between two different threads of thought that flittered through the popular consciousness this last week.

Thread number one came from a sequence of reflections recently produced by the Republican National Committee.  It was remarkably frank, challenging the party to recognize that radicalization renders a political philosophy untenable.  One excellent quote, included in a thoughtful piece by Dubya's speechwriter Michael Gerson, went thusly:

We have become expert in how to provide ideological reinforcement to like-minded people, but devastatingly we have lost the ability to be persuasive with, or welcoming to, those who do not agree with us on every issue.

That's good advice, frankly, and not just for political parties.  There are countless churches that do the same thing, both politically and theologically.  If you are Not Like Us, stay away.  We have nothing to say to you, but plenty to say ABOUT you.

And yet, at the same time, there's the news that both the Republicans and Democrats have spooled up their cash-driven oppo research organizations for 2016.  The Democrats call theirs American Bridge, and the Republicans call theirs America Rising, but both are just old school oppo shops.  What does that mean, you may ask?  Well, having lived inside the Beltway most of my life, let me share it with you.

Oppo research is when you pay folks to dig up dirt on any and all possible candidates from the opposing party.  Real dirt is best, but even fake dirt is fine so long as it sticks.  If you're a good family man, or have put your life on the line for America, you'd think those would be strengths.  But poisoning that strength is what this game is all about.  Oppo research spins a goofy story about moving your family in a crowded car into you being an abuser of dogs and a hater of all things American.  Oppo research turns combat-won Purple Hearts into lies and treason.

All that matters is sowing doubt, discord, and suspicion.  It's anything and the kitchen sink.  Truth is irrelevant, so long as the credibility of your opponent is subverted.

What's always fascinated and horrified me about this is how familiar it is.

In the great story of the Bible, there's a character whose job it is to tear us down.  His task, as it was assigned in the Heavenly Court, was to prove the unworthiness of mortals.  He was the first and greatest of the oppo researchers, the angel charged with the task of convicting and bringing accusations against us.

He had a formal title:  The Prosecutor, or, more accurately, The Accuser.   Or, if wikipedia is to be believed, The Opposer.

In Hebrew, that title reads: Ha Satan.

No wonder our political system seems so messed up.

Satan is Alive and Well in Virginia Politics

As a man of wealth and taste, Old Scratch has always got lots of different business ventures in the hopper. He recently bankrolled the movie "Orphan," was instrumental in the marketing of sub-prime mortgages, and is in the process of creating the Nickelodeon/Cartoon Network marketing campaign for pediatric Cialis.

But lately, what he's mostly up to is working with both the Democrats and the GOP here in Virginia. How do we know this? Well, first off, we follow the money. Money is a proxy for worldly power, and where there are unusual concentrations of worldly power, we also typically find unusual concentrations of worldly darkness. As Ol' Virginny trundles towards an election that is being pitched as a referendum on the current administration, the wealth of the national parties has definitely poured into the coffers of their state affiliates. We, the citizens of the great state of Virginia, know this because up until today, we've been bombarded by endless TV ads, one after another after another, all professionally produced and focus-grouped. These ads haven't just been for the Gubernatorial race. I've seen slickity TV spots for state delegate. There be money here. And we know what that means.

Secondly, there's the character of what we've seen in Virginia, which is pretty much the same thing we've been seeing in recent national campaigns.

Satan, as we all know, is not a name. It's a title. Ha-Satan means the Satan. In English, it means "The Accuser" or "The Prosecutor." In the ancient Hebrew view o' things, Satan was the member of the angelic court whose job it was to show how inadequate and unworthy our lives had been when we came before God. He was, in terms of heavenly politics, the Patron Demon of Oppo Research.

And Lordy, has his work has been in clear evidence here over the last few weeks. The other day, on one of the infrequent occasions when I watch TV, I watched three consecutive attack ads. Each was functionally substanceless, and instead dripped with poison and ad hominem innuendo. They all followed a familiar pattern. Out of context quotes? Got 'em. Menacing music and blurry, unflattering pictures? Yup. Snarky voiceover? You betcha! Truth and insight and patience and the virtues of civic mindedness were nowhere to be found. The commercial break was impressively toxic, so much so that I felt obligated to just shut 'er off.

With the campaign now at a close, I guess the Accuser's political shop will have to go back to supporting the shouting classes on talk radio and in the blogosphere. Until 2010, that is.

Do I Have to Say that Satan is Our AntiLord and UnSavior

It might be worth giving a watch to last night's Nightline, in which Mark Driscoll of the Mars Hill Church in Seattle argued vigorously for the reality of Satan. Pastor Mark, who I think I've described in past as "a great bellowing meatsock," managed to come across as less than bellowing, although there's not much he can do about His Pervasive Meatsockness. It must be the tendency towards professional wrestler inflections.

It was a pretty impressive PR coup, I must confess. Mark and a "Hooker for Jesus" were strongly in favor of Satan's just-barely-defeatable-power, and a recovering fundamentalist and the inescapable Deepak Chopra were in the other corner. More oddly, I learned about this through Fox News and Bill O'Reilly, who was pitching an ABC News show...a sure sign of the end times if ever there was one. To snag two diametrically opposed media outlets and have them pitch folks towards an event held at your church is quite a victory.

I, of course, completely disagree with Driscoll about the whole Satan thing. I've reposted my "Demonology" series here today, but the long and the short of it is that Driscoll places a great deal of emphasis on the power of this personal Adversary. I don't. I just can't find a place for it in a cohesive monotheism, and it isn't necessary for Christian faith, either. In fact, I think the whole "Satan" narrative defeats the purpose of the Gospel.

The struggle isn't between us and Satan, with Jesus being the one we call in as Divine Close Air Support. Ultimately, the battle is between ourselves and God, with Jesus being the one who brings us into reconciliation with our created purpose.

Satan is...well...irrelevant.

Applied Memetic Demonology 103

I suppose it's inevitable in any talk about demons that a Christian has to mention...satan. Sssh. He's very sk..sk..skk..scary.

Nah.

Here's where I talk smack to the Lord of Hell. Yeah, I'm talking to you, you sorry little meme. You want a piece of me? Come get some. What? No power? C'mon, Daystar. You're the Ruler of the Fallen Angels, a Man of Wealth and Taste. Whup my uppity primate behind. Yeah, Bible says not to put God to the test, but you ain't God, and I'm a-testin'. Bring the rain, baby.

I'm waiting.

C'mon.

Helloooo? Jeopardy Theme's all finished playin', and I don't see no deviltry going down.

Honestly, there's very little room in my theology for Ol' Scratch, unless you want to call him Mr. Concupiscence. The classical Hebrew ha-satan was just an angel, after all, one whose purpose in the divine court was to serve as the prosecutor. He was the accuser, the wise-cracking cynical detective on CSI - Heaven who never met an innocent perp yet. What Satan wasn't was this almost-all-powerful anti-God, whose control of the universe was almost...but not quite...as great as God's.

That dualistic view of Satan's role in the universe only entered Judaism's uncompromising monotheism after Israel's deep exposure to the dualistic religion of Babylon. Suddenly, this formerly minor figure was elevated to a higher status, the Jewish equivalent of Tiamat in eternal battle with Marduk.

Now, of course, Satan is a staple of dualistic Christianity, arch-nemesis of Jesus and the excuse your pastor gives after he's wandered off with the mission funds for the third time to go tour the Bangkok fleshpots. I don't so much mind the personification of sin, and I think the idea of our accusation and unworthiness to stand before God as the root and aim of all evil has some merit.

But I don't think that Satan has any authority...or any reality...that isn't given to him by human beings. He might be Sin Itself, but if we were all filled with God's Spirit, there'd be no place in the universe for Satan to go.

He may indeed be the ruler of the darkness of this world. But he is also less than the least of us.

Applied Memetic Demonology 102

If demons are memetic in character, then how do we fight them? This is Applied Memetic Demonology, after all. So...where's the application? (If you want the more abstract theoretical stuff, you'll have to wait for my Arcana Daemonica 301, which isn't offered again until Fall 2010.)

There are a variety of tools that are efficacious in the battle against those self-perpetuating threads of thought and cultural darkness that shatter us individually and cause our societies to devour creation and neighbor. Those tools include the following:

1) To Kill A Demon, Starve A Demon. Memes reinforce themselves through repetitive control over our actions. The more often we engage in a particular behavior or allow our actions to be controlled by that thread of thought, the stronger that thread becomes. At a personal level, cycles of addictive behavior, anger, jealousy, and bitterness can become so deeply entrenched in us as to completely control our actions. Resisting the urge and undercutting that pattern is one essential step in breaking the cyclical character of a controlling meme. This can be immensely difficult for us to do alone.

So pray over it. Meditate over it. Supplant and subvert that pattern of behavior at every level. Replace it with actions that are healthy and in the service of others.

Don't just briefly stop yielding to it. Leave no room in your life for it to feed.

Also...don't give it power. Don't say, "I'm in the grasp of a mighty spiritual power." Say, "I'm in the grasp of something that is nothing." We want our own struggles to be part of a great war that is raging across heaven. We want this sense that we're part of a great life or death struggle for the cosmos itself. But we only want that because we are selfish. God already rules everything but us. Our own struggles...our own demons...are tiny. Call 'em on it. They are practically nothing.

Those controlling patterns of behavior are even more ferocious at a collective level. Resisting social compulsions towards hyperconsumptiveness or xenophobia is a huge challenge. There, the church and communities of faith can respond. We can provide prophetic witness. We can provide a community that nurtures countercultural alternatives to the demonic ethos that consumes us with consumerism and stokes the fires of nationalistic fervor.

Or not, depending on the church. But the battle is worth waging.

2) Apply Light. Demons rely on darkness for their survival. Enveloping them with shame and silence is just what they need. So don't give it to 'em. Open yourself up to the love of God and neighbor.

Praying, meditating, and allowing yourself to stand before your Maker helps give a foundation for taking the little buggers out. That doesn't mean crying out "The Power of Christ Commands You" over and over again while wearing big billowy vestments. That's a movie, folks.

The awareness of God's presence that comes from prayer provides a sacred space in your life, an awareness of the presence of the holy that can act as a beachhead in your efforts to drive out the darkness. That radical kenosis or "self-emptying," if done regularly, connects you to the truth of God's absolute power and transforming love. The more transparent you are before God, the less shadow you cast. And those memes only live quivering in the shadows of your soul. Fill yourself with light.

You need to open yourself to neighbor, too. That means sharing. Confessing. Find a friend or loved one you can speak to who will support you. Find a mature person in the faith who will hear without judging and hold you accountable. That connection, that opening to another, makes for a connection in the Spirit that transcends the reach of the pernicious little memelings within you.

There are plenty of groups that can help with this. 12 Step programs, though often maligned, are of tremendous help. Church accountability groups are also very effective. People of faith often reject the assistance of professionals...but a good, faith-sensitive psychologist or psychiatrist is yet another weapon in your own struggle and an aid to overcoming those things within yourself that oppress and subvert you.

Applied Memetic Demonology 101

One of the things about being a pastor is that you get all sorts of interesting questions. Having been brought up in a slew of moderate to progressive churches, in which social justice talk, service missions, and the life of the mind predominated, not a lick of that experience tells me how to respond when another soul comes up to me and asks about demons.

Demons? The very word is pretty much anathema to progressive Christians. We generally think of demon-talk as the theological kissin' cousin of snake-handling, the sort of thing that only gets taken seriously by large sweaty men in ill-fitting suits who bellow at you in intermittent all caps while they point at a large and OCDetailed hand-drawn chart of demonic names and functions.

"..and THIS is p'a'AArgasheh, the Demon of Excessive CHOCOLATE COATED Macadamia Nut Consumption, who RESIDES in the LOWEST QUARTILE of your PINEAL GLAND..."

As I think back carefully over the seven years I spent in seminary, I can think of perhaps one or two discussions on the topic, always from a clinical remove. We want to approach evil only on psychological terms, as just a manifestation of a clinically treatable disorder right out of the DSM IV. But the concept persists, and tends to weave deep into the theology of many churches. So folks come up to me and ask me about demons. Or about the demons they are sure are assailing them. What to say?

When folks ask, I say that demons are real. And that they are not real. Typically cryptic of me, but that serves a further purpose.

When I say that demons are real, I'm saying that they only exist in memetic form, as memes, those transferable and self-replicating patterns of thought that can be passed from one sentient being to another. They only exist in the shadows cast by human separation from God. The "power" that they have...their reality...does not extend beyond us into the created order. That belongs wholly to God. That doesn't mean that these fragmentary entities don't have power, or a form of reality. Addictions and compulsions and hatreds and bigotries are intense and destructive things. They shatter individual lives and poison whole societies.

Still, theologies that assume that evil goes beyond that, that it's somehow woven into the fabric of heaven or creation, that it has a reality that extends outside of humankind, those theologies are...well...dangerous. If you assert that something has more power than it actually does, then it becomes harder to kill it. And as the battle to establish the Kingdom of God rages across our souls, slaying demons is kinda a priority.