Morality!™

A few months ago, I was reading some stuff about a Marxist philosopher by the name of Louis Althusser that really stuck with me. The idea of his that I found particularly interesting was that of the Ideological State Apparatus. An Ideological State Apparatus is basically any institution that tries to impose an ideology or set of values that support the interests of the state on the populace. In a capitalist society, an Ideological State Apparatus can be a school, a corporation, or a church, among other institutions.

What interested me about this idea was that it confirmed my suspicion that there was very little difference between the way that products are marketed to consumers and the way that religion or political beliefs are marketed. There's a whole lot of intersection between religion and commerce in our society.

Which is why this article from the latest issue of Rolling Stone is so fascinating, and so frightening. It concerns a Christian fundamentalist group called BattleCry which addresses the main flaw in modern Christian fundamentalism as an Ideological State Apparatus - they're losing the youth. America's young people aren't susceptible to the kind of Puritanical ideology preached by James Dobson or Sam Brownback.

Except that's not true at all, and that's what Ron Luce, founder of BattleCry, has figured out - young people are susceptible to the ideology, just not the marketing model. Christian fundamentalism is still viable, it just needs a serious rebranding.

And that's the whole philosophy behind BattleCry. It's the same sick, frightening proto-fascist uber-Christianity; but now with POD concerts!

See, Luce isn't all that different from, say, Ted Haggard. Like Haggard, he's basically conditioning young people to be neo-crusaders.

Luce is forty-five, his brown hair floppy, his lips pouty. On the screens above the stage, his green eyes blink furiously. "The devil hates us," he exhorts, "and we gotta be ready to fight and not be these passive little lukewarm, namby-pamby, kum-ba-yah, thumb-sucking babies that call themselves Christians. Jesus? He got mad!" Luce considers most evangelicals too soft, too ready to pass off as piety their preference for a bland suburban lifestyle. He hates what he sees as the weakness of "accepting" Christ, of "trusting" the Lord. "I want an attacking church!" he shouts, his normally smooth tones raw and desperate and alarming. He isn't just looking for followers -- he wants "stalkers" who'll bring a criminal passion to their pursuit of godliness.

Of course, he pushes some product too while he's at it. BattleCry has to make money somehow, and they do it through the stylish T-shirts and other merchandise that they push at events. Which brings me back to my original point - the only significant difference between BattleCry and most corporations in terms of how it operates is that a company like Nike will target children just to get them to buy the clothing and the culture of consumerism - BattleCry is trying to replace companies like Nike with a far-right social agenda. I can't really decide which one creeps me out more.