Two tribes of revolutionaries March 11, 2009
Posted by Zack in London , trackbackI’ve been in Europe for almost 2 weeks. France->Germany->UK. I’ve been talking to left-ish political parties and labor unions about the Internet and organizing in the context of the world economic crisis. The US has been an innovator in those areas recently. Others are interested in learning from our trials and errors.
While talking to these groups, I occasionally slipped in something about how the Christians, yes those crazy Jesus people you’ve heard about, are the vanguard of whatever anti-capitalist sentiment there is in America. Context: In most of Europe, mainstream parties and labor unions are actively questioning capitalism, even if only on their margins. In Germany, for example, there are several big conferences on capitalism and alternatives planned by big unions, parties and universities. This is left, but mainstream, stuff over here.
So when I bring up the “Revolutionaries” of the American church, people over here completely freak out. They cannot believe it. They will not believe it. Their faces wince up, because they know I can’t be making this up completely, but it’s just too much to process. They dismiss it. There’s a strong stereotype of the “ignorant protestant preacher” and they can’t reconcile it with what I’m saying.
Somehow, eventually, these two mainstream forces that are questioning capitalism on both sides of the Atlantic will have to get to know each other, but that’s probably a while off.
In Berlin, there was one “Christian Socialist.” He told me, “these other guys think I’m crazy because I’m a Christian.” He goes to church. He called it an “evangelical church,” but I think the word that sounds like “evangelical” just means “gospel” in German (as it does in Greek, right?). Anyways, talking to him a little more he told me, “Oh! No! Of course I don’t believe in God, what do you think I’m crazy?” So he just meant Christian as in participating in the church as a social institution. That’s the closest I found to a Christian over here.
Until…I got to London. There’s a cool neighborhood called “Spitalfields.” It’s sort of the Adam’s Morgan, Williamsburg or Mission District of London, as far as I can tell. On Sunday morning we went to Christ Church, Spitalfields (church site), which is the Anglican parish church. We walked in a few minutes late and they were singing one of the praise songs I’ve gotten used to. A couple of people had their hands up in worship. It was just like going to church in Kansas City, except for the accents. The sermon was all about Jesus and social justice, with lots of references to some of the same books popular among revolutionary Christians in the U.S..
It reminded me what a global movement this is — not just the church, but this particular sub-culture within the church. After all, the praise songs they sang come from Australia, the US and Britain; the people in the church there come from all over the world.
Comments»
Zack,
Love your blog, have been reading it for a while, and great to hear your over on this side of the Atlantic. Are you still in the UK? their are a whole number of Christian revolutionaries you could hook up with.
thanks,
Tom
There is a Methodist core of the Labour Party in the UK. One of the core organized groups, distinct from other ones.
As I understand it, “Evangelische” in German (which I assume is what you are referring to) means “Lutheran” or “Protestant” — basically, non-Catholic state-supported churches. It is translated “Evangelical” but is not connected in any way to the movement in the United States.
[…] around to it. Zach over at Revolution in Jesusland was visiting European lefties and told them that Christians are on the vanguard of American anti-capitalist sentiment: So when I bring up the “Revolutionaries” of the American church, people over here completely […]
In spanish language the word for gospel is “evangelio”.
nice post, saludos desde Colombia