第46节：SUMMER夏(15)

　　“The more you worship God, the more likely you are to vote conservative
and republican. ” (Smith 115)

　　Secondly, it is because of the changing of the economy—the growing
of Capitalism —that Christianity has stayed put. This is a commercial
culture, and vitually everything is for sale. “you name it, and you’
ll soon find a market trading it. Everything in this culture goes to market.
Why should religion be any different? ” (Twitchell 24). The dilemma for
Christians is that“marketing is the language of our culture; we might
as well be fluent in it.” (Wigg-Stevenson 22) but“the product they are
selling is not like others; it isn’t even a product at all. But if the
gospel is not a product, how can we keep from turning into the product
it isn’t?” (Wigg-Stevenson 22). We live in a market world, and it is
required that to make Christianity more popular, it needs to be marketed.
But how can it be pure then?“‘In the beginning the Church was a fellowship
of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved
to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where
it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a
culture. And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise
’”. (Twitchell 20) said Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United
States Senate.

　　Catholic theologian Tom Beaudoin calls this mixture of capitalism
and religion“Theocapitalist”(Mclaren 190). This system, as Beaudoin
says, does for us the same thing as any religion does for its adherents:
giving identity, helping people to belong to a community and share faith
…“sport is converted into the entertainment industry…and religion itself
dies and is reborn as the religion industry ” (Mclaren 192).

　　How do this Theocapitalism function on Christians? Beaudoin had four
spiritual laws of theocapitalism: 1.“The law of progress through rapid
growth” (Mclaren 192).This law tells us that the market economy requires
Christians to believe “in a speedy, literal six-day creation because
the Great God Progress always wants big results fast” (Mclaren 193).
It will cause environmental deterioration and big society divine.

　　　　　　　　　　　　

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