God Talk at the Oscars

I have been following the conversation about Matthew Mcconaughey's Oscar acceptance speech.  He had the temerity or courage (depending on your religio-political persuasion) first of all to thank God for creating the opportunity to succeed in this way.

The speech left some commentators scratching their heads.  Time.com, or example, found it necessary to "explain" the "confounding" speech.  The site proceeded to repeat the actor's main points almost verbatim with little or no commentary.  Sounds like good work if you can get it, but journalism it is not.

Pundits with a conservative religio-political persuasion cheered the speech.  They also chuckled over what they perceived to be the discomfort of the audience during the speech.  This was deemed to demonstrate the shallow atheism of the crowd, and some of these commentators found the discomfiture quite amusing.  So much for loving one's enemies and praying for those who persecute you--but then, the Sermon on the Mount wasn't really intended as a serious behavioral program for disciples, was it?

I am struck by how desperate cultural Christianity is for any positive public recognition, no matter how muddled and heterodox.  Conservative evangelicalism has indeed positioned itself as the new cultural Christianity.  Certainly the goal of this perspective is triumphalistic--what Neibuhr called "Christ above Culture."  Cultural Christianity seeks this stance even while professing the "Christ against Culture" position.  It is quite a clever strategy.

In truth, Mr. Mcconaughey's remarks were vaguely deistic, but hardly Christian in any orthodox sense. The sort of triumphal, narcissistic self-congratulation that he displayed has little or nothing to do with "coming to serve rather than to be served."  His description of his deceased father's current status and experience is amusing and touching, but it is not Christian in any recognizable New Testament sense. The new life is not merely the best moments of this life to the infinite power--no matter how much I hope that a good gumbo is part of the New Creation.

Read N. T. Wright's Surprised by Hope for an account of the resurrection that has real substance and power.  We have far more to anticipate in the new life than supper, dancing and Miller Lite.  But that is precisely what certain commentators have celebrated.  So Cultural Christianity is left with a narcissistic, gnostic, crypto-deist as the latest poster boy for their cause.  I follow Jesus.  I don't wish to be identified with Mr. Mcconaughey's theological tribe.

The mirror response of the new atheists is equally instructive.  There was an outbreak of apoplectic angst from some writers in that neighborhood.  To such folks, it would seem that any deistic reference by a public figure is cause for existential concern.  The so-called humanists seem to have almost no trust in the ability of humans to discern and dismiss the "god delusion."  So they must aggressively attack all such expressions.

I believe they can rest at ease.  The Oscar speech was so theologically muddled that it is far more likely to help the new atheist agenda than to harm it.  If one can screen out the allergic response to the mention of "god" (I found no real mention of the God and Father of Jesus Christ in the speech), then the speech simply described the value of gratitude, the importance of optimism, and the power of positive self-talk for an attractive and modestly talented American male.

That hardly seems like a formula for undermining the philosophical foundations of secular America.