Posted on December 4, 2009 - by David

NYC church a refuge from anomie?

The other day I came across this article in New York magazine about Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Joseph Hooper, author of the article, gives a snapshot of Keller’s message, condemning “the secular holy trinity of money, ambition, and achievement,” :

Now Keller takes Habakkuk’s rap against the Babylonians—their “need to clothe themselves with glory”—and aims it straight back at his ambitious, striving Upper West Side congregation. He notes that tennis legend Chris Evert once admitted in an interview that she was driven to win because “winning made her feel pretty” and that Madonna confessed she felt special only when she was breaking through to new levels of fame. Whether we’re athletes, artists, businesspeople, or preachers, Keller says, we all suffer from the same malady—trying to fill our empty spaces with achievement when only accepting God’s grace can do the job. “We want to feel beautiful, we want to feel loved. We want to feel significant and that’s why we’re working so hard and that’s the source of the evil.” In another sermon, on another Sunday, he asks the congregation point-blank: “Why are you in New York? Deep down, you think something is wrong with you.”

From what I read, Keller has described pretty accurately how New Yorkers are suffering from anomie. Obviously, the solution he offers is a spiritual one, but, all spiritual or religious judgments aside, it is easy to see how Keller’s church, (complete with smaller fellowship groups,) is able to provide the direct social integration that is usually lacking in modern life. Apparently, this is a welcome relief for several thousand New Yorkers.

But reading the comments was almost more interesting than reading the article itself.

In the discussion thread, several commenters minimized the significance of Redeemer’s large attendance:

Ah good one nymag. 91 comments about a church that about .000001% of the city attends. And yeah, that guy is making tons money off of you mindless sheep/lemmings, but that’s your business not any of ours. Enjoy.

BY AROSE03 on 12/01/2009 at 7:12pm

While it is probably true that most of Manhattan isn’t sitting in church on Sunday morning, I wonder how many other large, quickly-growing congregations exist in this most secular of cities, and how many of their pastors aim their messages at American anomie?

Still, plenty of Christians voiced their support for Keller. But what I hear ringing in the harsh tone of these comments is the fundamental secularity of the American nation. How else could the word ‘religious’ be paired so comfortably with words like ‘nut,’ ‘moron,’ and ‘huckster’ ?

Of course, much of the opposition to Keller’s message (and most of the anti-religious comments) can be attributed to his stance on homosexuality and the position of women in church leadership.  The fact that discussion of this article devolved into a debate about homosexuality points to the fact that many Americans associate religion with a specific set of political positions. In other words, religious identity gets interpreted through the larger framework of American national identity.

The relationship between evangelical Christianity and national identity is certainly a topic we will return to. Let me just say again that my goal in this blog is to gain a better understanding of culture, not to make pronouncements about the moral value of a set of beliefs. To observe that some Americans find relief from anomie in a church community is not to endorse the teachings of that church. Likewise, the claim that the social integration provided by the church community is what helps church members does not necessarily limit other explanations.

Hopefully, any discussion that follows this post can be a little more civil than what I read on nymag’s website, but this is America, so I’m prepared to have someone tear me apart.