Theology of Despair

Sometimes my friends on the Left use a favorite tactic of the Right — they use sensationalism to foster fear and gain attention. As a former conservative church leader myself, I seriously doubt that Focus on the Family or anyone else really wants a theocracy. And I'm pretty sure that most Hard Right Christians still support separation of church and state. So, I don't think the new book by Chris Hedges, titled American Fascists, is totally tuned in.

However, I applaud Mr. Hedges for his mention of the Theology of Despair — he is right on in this respect. The religious culture of fear was enough to get my mom to buy a Y2K "survival kit" and pull her money from the bank. In fact, she gave her money to a Christian con artist and lost her entire life savings. So, I know all about how the Theology of Despair works.

The problem is that the Theology of Despair works directly against the two things that I have dedicated my life to: peacemaking and global sustainability. Here is a great quote from Mr. Hedges in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

"[Theology of Despair] is a theology that has no hope in the life around us, that there is really nothing in this world that is worth saving other than committed Christians, and that all else has to be destroyed. That gives you a horrible kind of mind-set that spreads out in many ways. For instance, the callous disregard of gloabl warming, for what we're doing to the environment, a belief that chaos, mayhem, violence, and war in the Middle East is a good thing, because it is hastening Armageddon. These are the byproducts of this Theology of Despair, which for me is the best way to define this belief system."

There you have it. This is the essence of the major roadblock I am up against. This makes me think about what the book Ishmael points out — that people live out the stories they are given, and it's particularly nice when you even know the ending.

As I said a few posts ago, the stories, technically, are lies. Religion and capitalism are full of lies that people treat as non-negotiable truth. Herein lies the heart of the problem.