Bucket List of the Evangelical Nation

Last updated on: July 29, 2008 at 12:11 am by James F. McGrath

Bucket List of the Evangelical Nation 2008-07-29T00:11:00-04:00 James F. McGrath

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The movie The Bucket List is a moving tale about two people who meet in the hospital, both having been diagnosed shortly before with terminal cancer, and given 6 months to maybe a year to live. I happened to watch the movie at just about the same time as I read and finished Christine Wicker’s book The Fall of the Evangelical Nation (New York: HarperOne, 2008). Since her book suggests that Evangelicalism in America is also a terminal case, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on the movie and the book together. Indeed, since the very notion of a “bucket list” is to consider what you’d most want to do before you “kick the bucket”, it seems that it might be appropriate for Evangelicalism to start working on its own “bucket list”.

Evangelicalism has, of course, always placed an awareness of mortality quite central to its message. Indeed, the challenge “If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?” is a staple of Evangelical preaching. But that is a matter of individual mortality. What should the Evangelical movement in the fundamentalist form it has taken throughout much of the twentieth century do in the face of the possible death of the movement? Is it confident that it will be viewed by God in a way that merits a “Well done, good and faithful servant”? Will it be remembered by future generations of humans as a blessing or a blight on human history? Of course, Evangelicals have become well trained at ignoring popular opinion, and that is at once a great strength (since the majority is often wrong) and a great weakness (inability to hear criticism has certainly been known to contibute to an early demise).

Wicker’s book is about the fact that Evangelical Fundamentalists or “the Religious Right” are not as numerous, and are not doing nearly as well as their publicity would have us believe. Wicker’s investigations led her to learn from the statistics and spokespeople of various denominations that their numbers were inflated. While some claimed as many as one in four Americans was an Evangelical, it turned out that double counting, counting those coming in but not taking notice of departures, “sheep shuffling” and other factors suggest that those who actually hold a bare minimum of fundamentalist religious beliefs are perhaps 7% of Americans, and a quarter of the numbers claimed by and perhaps in some way associated with Evangelical churches. And in terms of their moral behavior, there are few statistical differences between Evangelicals and others, and that seems to have been the case as long as statistics have been kept. What that means is that Evangelicals have made claims to be different, to be upright in a way that the rest of society is not, that do not correspond to reality (pp.80-82). When a major “conservative” figure is caught in hypocrisy, we should not be surprised. What is remarkable is that, when so many have been caught, the myth of difference and the facades that often hinder rather than help it continue.

Among the shocking suggestions in Wicker’s book is that moderate and progressive Evangelicals outnumber the right wing by 1% (p.54). That means that if the moderates and liberals can find their voice and the courage to use it, fundamentalists could lose their hold over most denominations! Evangelicals are often thought of as the fastest growing religious group in the U.S. In fact, they are only growing compared to mainline denominations (newer denominations normally do better than older ones), and are not keeping up with the rate of population growth. The category that is really growing is that of non-believers (p.53). But it should also be noted that those leaving conservative Evangelical churches are in many cases doing so for profoundly spiritual reasons, because they are persuaded that God is not as depicted by fundamentalists (pp.125-126).

How is it, then, that there are such loud and indeed powerful voices for fundamentalism? Part of it is that being loud and talking tough can do much to counter being outnumbered. Of course, in the schoolyard we call that bullying. Part of the story is that fundamentalists are so good at making others feel like they ought to believe and live as they do (or claim to, in the case of the live part). But part of it is the power of religious experience and of a grand narrative that claims to make sense of it all. As Wicker writes, “Hardly anything is more important to human identity than the stories we tell about life and about ourselves…Without identity humans are lost…People will starve to death without lifting a finger against those who have food but will murder over an event that happened one hundred years ago” (p.155).

What makes Wicker’s book so powerful is that she tells the stories of fundamentalist Evangelicals sympathetically even though she is an ex-Evangelical herself. On the one hand, she notes that the power of Evangelicalism seems to be available without the doctrine: the Twelve-Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous discovered that surrender to a Higher Power works even if the notion of that Higher Power is vague, or is clear but different from the Christian one. If the Apostle Paul’s argument about the Gentile Christians is anything to build on, we could ask “Does God transform your lives because you accept fundamentalist beliefs, or because you surrender to a higher power?” Where might such a line of reasoning take us?

Wicker also appreciates the role of Evangelical beliefs and practices in her own life (pp.202-203). Prayer and seeing God’s hand in things enabled her to find “blessings” where she might not have looked hard enough to see them had she not had an Evangelical worldview. So perhaps the question Evangelicalism needs to ask itself is, if we can have the power of counting our blessings without the dogma that repels and divides, just what reason is there to cling to the dogma? Thankfully, significant numbers of Evangelicals as well as other strands of Christianity seem to be asking just such questions.

This brings me back to The Bucket List. Carter (one of the two main characters) is clearly a Christian, as is his family. He is faithful to his wife, not because he feels obligated by a watching eye from heaven but because he is loyal. He talks about God as creator and about afterlife, but includes Egyptian beliefs in the discussion of the latter, and doesn’t claim to know “where the river goes” as it flows beyond this life. He doesn’t call for his new friend Edward, who is bitter and alone to say a sinner’s prayer in order to be sure he’ll get to heaven. He challenges him to find the joy in his life.

This is the message and an expression of the faith of most Christians, if Wicker’s book is anything to judge by. In a sense, this movie is “evangelistic”, but for that non-dogmatic perspective that emphasizes not dogma but love, family, relationship, compassion, loyalty, and other things that are not the sole property of Christians, and which fundamentalist dogma is sometimes even a hindrance to.

The movie’s challenge is that we all, at some point in our life, might make a “bucket list”, a list of things we’d like to do before we die, that focuses on things or places, on achievements or accomplishments. But when actually confronted with death as an actual, imminent and inevitable reality, for most of us it all comes down to people. The happiest people are those who realize this before they have six months to live and know it. But for many people, what they pursue are things to distract from their lack of true joy.

That’s the message of Christianity, when you take away the things that we cannot really be certain about and the things that people disagree about. And it would make sense to put proclaiming that message high on Evangelicalism’s bucket list. If we do, then the various movements and offshoots that are arising out of and in reaction to fundamentalist forms of Evangelicalism may look back on its legacy and remember it fondly, even though they would not resurrect it even if they could. It is too late to salvage Evangelicalism’s reputation to that extent (Wicker notes on p.143 that Evangelicals rank just above prostitutes in how outsiders esteem them). But as The Bucket List suggests at one point, perhaps the measure of a life, and of a movement, is to be found in those who measure themselves by us.

There are plenty of people out there who, to echo the words of Jesus, Evangelicalism has made into “every bit as much a son of perdition as ourselves”. But as Edward Cole found, it is not too late to discover what really matters, even at the end. So what should Evangelicalism (and the Protestant mainline, for that matter) put on its “bucket list”? What would you put on yours?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 28, 2008

Obama Has Come, Just as the Prophets Foretold

Next Post

July 29, 2008 Happy Birthday, NASA!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz