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trademark infringement: the rush factor
Been doing little print and radio interviews related to the release of Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back. It’s a good exercise because both print and radio are looking for colorful and concise little expressions of things that pop up in the book. Like the idea that we need to dig extra hard for Jesus as the treasure buried in the field of religion, owing to the current “trademark infringement on the Jesus brand”–meaning the negative public perception of Christianity among those on the outside of faith looking in. I find myself illustrating this with the popularity of Rush Limbaugh among many Christians in the United States.
It’s pretty shocking how many evangelicals have their view of what it means for the Christian to engage Christianly in the public square shaped by Rush Limbaugh.
Rush Limbaugh is viewed by many Christians as “Christ-Friendly” or at least as “Christian-friendly.” But read the Sermon on the Mount, which doesn’t take too long. Then picture yourself sitting next to Jesus of Nazareth himself and listen together to Rush for an hour. Is He laughing right along, enjoying the show, nodding his head in eager agreement?
This isn’t about liberal or conservative. There are plenty of conservatives like David Brooks and George Will who aren’t anything like Rush Limbaugh in tone, in approach. They don’t refer to those who disagree with them in disparaging terms. They don’t call people “femi-nazis” or “environmental whackos.” They don’t trade in contempt as the lingua franca of politics, or deride people who use phrases like “lingua franca” as “limp wristed, lisping liberals” for example, mocking the effeminate.
I met a thoughtful and well placed Republican recently. I told him that I had voted for my share of Republicans over the years, but as a Jesus follower, I’d about had it with Rush Limbaugh as someone who is a defacto spokesperson for the Republican party. “When are Republicans of standing going to stand up in public and say, ‘Rush Limbaugh doesn’t define what it means to be a Republican.’” His downcast look told me it might be a long time.
The most popular spokesperson of political conservatism is Rush Limbaugh. People in power on the conservative end of the spectrum don’t want to cross him. As a result, his voice is a powerful branding voice for what it means to engage in political discourse as a conservative. In spite of the fact that Rush himself seems to view himself first and foremost as an entertainer, as an act.
That’s a Republican problem.
But when we give thoughtful people every reason to think that within vast stretches of the American Christian landscape, Rush is viewed as a model of what it means for the Christian to be engaged in the public square, we’ve got a trademark infringement problem.
What do you think?
Tags: david brooks, george will, politics, public square, religion, rush limbaugh, talk radio, trademark infringement
August 12th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
In my own personal journey I feel I was led astray in my early bible believing days as I was searching to understand what I stood for politically. At an attempt to marry my religious views and my political views which were probably both still in the zygote phase, I easily settled on the message of those from Fox News. I truly knew nothing about politics, but I leaned towards the elephant persuasion b/c that’s where all the other people who proclaimed to know Jesus resided; or so it seemed (especially when I was living in North Carolina – go figure). It seemed so obvious. Bush is a “born again christian” and he is against abortion…case closed; I must be a republican. I even went to the extreme and told my african american roommate that it was un-christian to not vote Republican do to this issue of abortion alone….ouch!
Well then after leaving one of the most liberal universities and town in america….I rediscovered that the Jesus I fell in love with in 2000 in my dorm room each night while reading through Matthew, then Mark, then Luke and then John…started to come alive again. I couldn’t believe the words I was seeing and till this day I am a little intimidated by the message in those books: one that clearly states that those who follow Jesus are to care for the least of these and how it’s easier for a rich man to travel through a really really really small, all most impossible size hole in a needle. Snap…so one of the first things I did was send a message to my old college roommate and apologized for my outlandish statement that to be pro-Jesus, one must be pro-Republican as described by those on Fox News. As I started to grapple with Jesus’s message in the gospels I started to be moved in the area of social justice and environmental awareness and even a little animal rights..and this was due to reading the bible, not turning on CNN or reading the NY Times. It was clear that I was being pulled away from one side of the spectrum and encouraged by the views of the other. As I struggled with my new perspectives and new convictions to care for the poor and the environment, the believers around me still stood firm and confidentially on the right. I remember blurting out at a Christian men’s retreat after the conversation went astray on politics (i.e. bashing democrats) that “I am a liberal” and I left the room to make a point that I didn’t fit into their conversation, and I was actually embarrassed by what was being said. When I returned to the room moments later I was told by some of the folks that I wasn’t liberal. Well of course I thought, to be a christian is to be a republican…oh man I was a fish out of water.
To cut things short and leave the blogging to Ken, what has helped me lately move forward in discovering more of who I am and the life I am being called to live by the father, is to view the political landscape and religious landscape as separate entities so they can be viewed in their proper light. Leave the politics to caesar and the media, and continue to shed the fat in my life in pursuit of what is good. I still hope to be a voice for the marginalized and ultimately Jesus, but for me that means to turn the radio down (except for my new found love of NPR) and the t.v. off.
-Founder of White Collar Hippie Jocks for America Party
August 12th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Rush Limbaugh only pays lip service to Christianity. I have never heard him on his radio program mention attending a church service. Not even for Christmas, or Easter.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:58 am
As Abraham Lincoln replied to a group of ministers who asked him if God was on the side of the North during the Civil War:
“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
August 13th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Phil, some Christians don’t realize, or don’t want to admit to themselves, how much and how often they are being used by their controllers, whether clerics or politicians. It’s all about the social control of the people, of everyone in society other than the social elites and their allies, the social controllers.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Rush doesn’t really talk much at all about faith issues or his own Christianity. I don’t think he would even show up on a list of the 25 most recognized Christians in the USA. His banner is Conservative, not so much Christian.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Come on . . . Rush is a political commentator, an entertainer, not a Theologian nor even a Politician. He uses humor to highlight the absurdity of the Left–as he sees it.
I admit I’m a genuine “ditto-head” and student of Advanced Conservative studies, with professor Rush . . . but you need to relax and only allow him to offend you if it fits. ;o)
People have often accused me of being too instense (especially with my faith–or politics), but I enjoy a good laugh and a hearty poke at a liberal. (Relax, I’m just trying to get a rise out of you).
August 14th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Ooh, in fact, Rush doesn’t even allow “religious” talk on his show. He offends enoough people with his political views, imagine what he could do to “religionists.”
August 14th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I’ve never heard anyone describe Rush Limbaugh as a spokesman for (or representative of) Christianity engaging the political sphere. He is Christian friendly, yes, but hardly evangelical. Nor does he portray himself as an example of Christianity.
It seems to me we have a long list of media entertainment (and politicians) that we should turn off if we use the Sermon on the Mount as the guide. As someone who spends many hours on the road, having something provocative and funny to listen to helps pass the time and keep one alert. I think most Christians can separate the wheat from the chaff.
I have found that church (not unlike good salesmanship) is always better if you keep politics out of it.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:33 am
The most contemptible thing about American politics is how easily members of both the right and left fall into the trap of contempt for the other side.
It’s not by accident that the sermon on the mount addresses anger and contempt as serious problems.
Contrast this with the quote attributed to Martin Luther King: “If you would change a man, first you must love him, and he must know that you love him.”
What would happen if we stopped calling the opposition names and started actually loving them?
I’m willing to bet we’d find out that lots of important truths are hidden by our contempt, and both sides would discover that love reveals truth in the same way that contempt blinds us not only to the truth, but also to our own blindness.