In a recent Fresh Air episode, Terry Gross interviewed Rachel Tabanchnick, a journalist who has done some diligent research on the New Apostolic Reformation–the group who sponsored Rick Perry’s recent prayer day and a movement that Sarah Palin has apparently been part of. Listen to the episode here.
Among the leaders of NAR is John Benefiel, who has stirred up some dust by declaring that the Statue of Liberty is a demonic idol. The clip above replays that particular statement.
As is clear from other posts I have written here, I have an interest in civil religion and the construction of a national faith. So hearing Benefiel single our the Statue of Liberty for being a symbol that detracts from worship of a “true” faith is not too surprising. Likewise, his claim that freedom derives only from God and through Jesus is also not unusual, as Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals (until relatively recently) had been leveling similar critiques about secular society for quite some time.
I am curious, though, to hear if others have seen a critique of the NAR from Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals. Watchers of the Christian Right have certainly contributed to the heightened scrutiny of this group, but have Jim Wallis or Stanley Hauerwas and those among evangelical and fundamentalist Christian intellectuals–loosely defined–weighed in? I ask this because the NAR strikes me as another version of Pat Robertson’s army from the 1988 primary season and perhaps Christian intellectuals will have a response ready this time. And second, it seems to me that the intent of NAR to unify the disparate denominations of Protestants into a single church might not appeal to megachurch leaders but sounds similar to some of the critiques Haerwas has made about liberal and conservative Protestantism.
What do others make of this movement and its relationship to Christian intellectuals?
One Thought on this Post
S-USIH Comment Policy
We ask that those who participate in the discussions generated in the Comments section do so with the same decorum as they would in any other academic setting or context. Since the USIH bloggers write under our real names, we would prefer that our commenters also identify themselves by their real name. As our primary goal is to stimulate and engage in fruitful and productive discussion, ad hominem attacks (personal or professional), unnecessary insults, and/or mean-spiritedness have no place in the USIH Blog’s Comments section. Therefore, we reserve the right to remove any comments that contain any of the above and/or are not intended to further the discussion of the topic of the post. We welcome suggestions for corrections to any of our posts. As the official blog of the Society of US Intellectual History, we hope to foster a diverse community of scholars and readers who engage with one another in discussions of US intellectual history, broadly understood.
LMBO, I thought that the people who built the Statue were wealthy French liberals (Catholics who prolly got accused of being WASPs) who loved Jesus, US Geopolitics, and Freedom from the barbaric hordes of Others prolly even more than John Benefiel does. What’s JB complaining about?