Express Free Market Parables

October 5, 2009 1:52 PM

When and why in American history did reverence for the free market become caught up with christian fundamentalism? Was it a reaction to the coupling of atheism and communism or what?
posted by beerbajay to Religion & Philosophy (24 answers total)

While Christian fundamentalists may vote in line with capitalist values, I think you're drawing too strong a correlation here. In my experience, at least, the people most devoted to capitalism (in the sense where they really participate in it, start successful businesses, play the stock market, etc.) aren't outside the mainstream at all, by which I mean they run the gamut from secular to Easter and Christmas Christians to devout churchgoers. Also, there are capitalists who aren't Christian.

However, I do agree with the atheism/communism connection, which I do think is very much a product of the Cold War.
posted by oinopaponton at 1:59 PM on October 5, 2009

This recent book is a really fascinating study of the connection between Christian fundamentalism and right-wing American power, free-market reverence included.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 2:03 PM on October 5, 2009

It's important to remember that religious conservatives' "reverence for the free market" is generally rhetorical, in that most would be happy to see government ban or curb activities and goods that they dislike. In this case "free market" generally means "market that benefits people like me".

If you were to ask a religious conservative why he supports the rhetoric of free markets, he'd probably say that a government with the power to regulate commerce has the power to interfere in the religious and social lives of people like him.
posted by downing street memo at 2:05 PM on October 5, 2009

I suspect OP is talking more in reference to the explicit free-market-rah-rah bits of the Conservative Bible project.
posted by nomisxid at 2:10 PM on October 5, 2009

That isn't uniquely American. Read "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism".
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:18 PM on October 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

My lovely wife (who needs to pony up $5 for her own Mefi account) suggests Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" as one of the main philosophical sources for this idea.

If I remember correctly, Weber postulates that materialism is Marxist, and that it is the Protestant work ethic and fear of damnation that makes them better worker bees, thereby propelling Capitalism.

On preview: Chocolate Pickle beat me to it.
posted by SNWidget at 2:21 PM on October 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

To the casual observer without any historical perspective, the reason it may now seem as if it is mainly an American thing is because of the general decline of Protestantism, especially the Calvinist flavors of Protestantism, in Europe over the last fifty years combined with the general rise of "Social Democracy" (i.e. soft socialism) in Europe during that same period. But in the latter part of the 19th Century, that correlation (of capitalism and Calvinism) was just as obvious in Germany and England as it was in Illinois.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:29 PM on October 5, 2009

Let me change my answer slightly:

Regarding Capitalism and Protestantism, it wasn't so much that the fear of damnation made them better worker bees, it was that wealth and success were a wordly sign of being predestined for salvation, so that if one attained success, that gave confidence in salvation as opposed to damnation.
posted by SNWidget at 2:36 PM on October 5, 2009

I would argue that modern American religious conservatism is a very different beast than what Weber documented in northern Europe, though. In my experience, economic success denotes spiritual blessings for American religious conservatives only when the successful person is a member of the tribe. The success of Jesse Jackson, a Christian minister, for instance, is invalid because he is politically liberal and black. Successful Hollywood actors are seen as a tool of a vaguely sinister liberal conspiracy, not people whose success is evidence of some kind of "elect" status.

I think the "Protestant ethic" has something to do with all this, don't get me wrong, but I think there are almost zero actual religious concerns here - it has more to do with a few classic elements of American society - anti-intellectualism, anti-elitism, paranoia, racism, the "frontier mentality" chief among them.
posted by downing street memo at 2:41 PM on October 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

DSM, one of the things that Weber documents is that the fundamental dogma of "working hard and doing good" survived long after most of the religious adherents had forgotten why it was a good thing. When I was raised as a Methodist, I sure knew that was what I was supposed to do, but no one explained why. It wasn't until I read Weber in college that I found the connection to religion. (And I might mention that I'm not a Methodist any longer.)

During the 19th century, most of the great mercantilist and manufacturing giants were Dissenters, people who didn't belong to the Church of England. A good example of that is Abraham Darby, who built Iron Bridge. He was a Quaker.

Dissenters were legally discriminated against in a lot of ways in the UK in those days. For instance, they weren't permitted to attend "public schools" (i.e. prestigious private schools) like Eaton. But they were driven (by their religion) to succeed and some of them were wildly successful.

DSM, another point: your underlying assumption that American religious conservatism is inherently racist is wrong, and is itself an example of bigotry. It is possible to find racist religious conservatives, just as it's possible to find bigots everywhere, but it's not an inherent part of religious conservatism. (Speaking as a liberal atheist, it bothers me how many of my fellows are bigoted towards Christianity and don't even realize it.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:56 PM on October 5, 2009

Rats. That should have been "During the 19th century, most of the great British mercantilists and manufacturing giants..."
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:57 PM on October 5, 2009

The echoes of the Weberian hypothesis seen in Europe are somewhat different from the American version, where prosperity theology binds with charismatic Christianity, and you could make the case that the history of that movement has a lot to do with the role of broadcast media, and the cost of running a dispersed ministry -- in short, televangelism is inherently a business.
posted by holgate at 2:58 PM on October 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I don't entirely agree with holgate's points, but they are important, and they set the stage for rebutting this:

In my experience, economic success denotes spiritual blessings for American religious conservatives only when the successful person is a member of the tribe. The success of Jesse Jackson, a Christian minister, for instance, is invalid because he is politically liberal and black.

A form of the doctrine you describe here, the prosperity gospel, is taught by many evangelicals who are black, like Creflo Dollar. (Best name ever for someone preaching the prosperity gospel.)
posted by Jahaza at 3:07 PM on October 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

In your first few paragraphs, I think you're describing a completely different phenomenon. There is plenty of literature to show that "outsider" groups (Chinese in Vietnam, Jews in Europe and the Americas, Indians in South Africa and the Caribbean, and Quakers in your example) often succeed in broader societies because of the social cohesion of those groups. There's also a bit of selection bias there, because to achieve outsider status these people have to either immigrate or convert - groups that are prone to industriousness. As a contrast, Protestants in northern Europe were the majority by the time Weber wrote, and had been for at least 200 years.

As to your second point, I think that's a pretty hamfisted way of interpreting my comment, and I am Christian (although not an evangelical Protestant). There is a difference between implicit support of structural racism and explicit personal racism.
posted by downing street memo at 3:13 PM on October 5, 2009

I too came here to name-drop Weber. But if the question is about the relationship of evangelical Christianity with supply-side economics (i.e. the religious right and the economic right), I'm also not so sure of the general premise. Is support for free markets one of the hallmarks of evangelical Christianity?

It's true that free-market supporters and evangelical Christians are allied politically, but I always got the impression that they only supported each other when it was politically convenient. To be sure, opponents of Communism in America invoked Christianity to rally people to their side, and evangelical Christians invoke the spectre of government intervention (forced abortions! death panels!) to scare people away from the social Left. But it seems to me that this is two different groups of people who work together, rather than one group of people who believe both things.
posted by goingonit at 3:15 PM on October 5, 2009

Dissenters were legally discriminated against in a lot of ways in the UK in those days. For instance, they weren't permitted to attend "public schools" (i.e. prestigious private schools) like Eaton. But they were driven (by their religion) to succeed and some of them were wildly successful.

Good points, though the Victorian Dissenter Industrialist -- happy to build a model village for his workers, though possibly ambivalent on child labour -- reflects something distinct from the prosperity-gospel strain of American Christianity. There are modern examples of that older paternalistic example -- an obvious example is Truett Cathy of Chik Fil-A.

The wider argument is that religion in the US has long reflected certain free-market principles: lacking the same institutional constraints of Europe, with its established churches, denominations multiplied and adapted to the social landscape of the continent.
posted by holgate at 3:15 PM on October 5, 2009

The success of Jesse Jackson, a Christian minister, for instance, is invalid because he is politically liberal and black.

It is worth pointing out that the modern Pentacostal movement, characterized by speaking in tongues and rapturous, personal, instantaneous connection with God was founded by William J. Seymour, an African-American and son of slaves. The spread of Pentacostalism and Holiness churches fueled the early growth of what would become modern evangelical Christianity, and two of the people responsible for making that happen were Seymour, a black man, and Aimee Semple McPherson, a Canadian woman. Sister Aimee was the precursor to the modern "televangelist" and was one of the first to use radio as a way to broaden her ministry. Also look into Billy Sunday, a circuit-riding former National League baseball player whose homespun gospel of self-reliance springs directly from Weber.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:18 PM on October 5, 2009

I don't entirely agree with holgate's points, but they are important, and they set the stage for rebutting this:

I'm not sure how that refutes anything. Jesse Jackson, while black, is not a proponent of the prosperity gospel. And from the few articles I've read, the prosperity gospel isn't tied up with the kind of tribalistic thinking that generally characterizes broader American religious conservatism - the churches are nondenominational and multiracial, and it seems that black and white alike have been taken in by these guys.
posted by downing street memo at 3:19 PM on October 5, 2009

As far as the Protestant work ethic goes, in the UK that became part of the basis for socialism. The Church of Scotland is effectively now just a large social work organisation with dog collars. While there was a long period that it was used to prop up the social order and tell the masses they were in their place, and it was the best place for them, the various protestant churches were also instrumental in the burgeoning charity and social activist movements.

(It strikes me that socialism is much more in line with Christian principles of doing unto others, helping your neighbour and giving up your shirt on demand, compared to the rapaciousness and selfishness of capitalism, but this would horrify a whole section of fundamentalist US Christianity so I admit the bible is deep enough and complex enough that there are few ideologies it can't be made to support.)
posted by fightorflight at 5:53 PM on October 5, 2009

One guess, for what it's worth: During the Cold War folks associated Communism with godlessness (historically it's true that Communism persecuted Christians and the party line was, indeed Atheism.)

I'm guessing that in many minds the economic premise got totally associated with the antireligious view. Therefore Christians would "naturally" prefer free market to anything they would associate with the former USSR or Communist China.

(My own view would be that communism would only work in Heaven, because when practiced by imperfect flawed unredeemed humans it all seems to go straight to Hell.)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:59 PM on October 5, 2009

T.D. Jakes is another towering figure in the world of African-American prosperity gospel preachers.
posted by box at 5:59 PM on October 5, 2009

As far as the Protestant work ethic goes, in the UK that became part of the basis for socialism. The Church of Scotland is effectively now just a large social work organisation with dog collars.

I was actually going to point at the other end of the Scottish denominational spectrum, towards the ever-fracturing Presbyterian congregations. In the places where old-school Calvinism is at its strongest, such as the Western Isles, you'll find a culture defined by both handicraft and thrift (think Harris Tweed) that shares certain attitudes towards work and commerce with Anabaptist communities in the US (Mennonite and Amish). You'll also find the Wee Frees and Wee Wee Frees barring the doors on Sundays and protesting any kind of commercial activity. (Though there will be no dancing at these protests, for shame.)
posted by holgate at 6:23 AM on October 6, 2009

Both Charles Marsh's Wayward Christian Soldiers and Jim Wallis's God's Politics address the political and cultural origins of the Religious Right. Their focus may be more on social issues than you're interested in, but some of their sources could be useful to you.

In the mean time, I'd like to mention a few threads that run through your question:

- There is the general American Protestant patriotism that's been swirling around since the colonies were founded--the idea that the colonists would found a community that could be a beacon to the world on God's behalf (ex. John Winthrop's famous city upon a hill characterization).

- There were certain strands of Christian fundamentalism developing in the years leading up to the Religious Right--generally apolitical, but with a demographic and religious culture that became susceptible to influence (and, you might say, exploitation) by the politics of the Religious Right once it emerged (for a firsthand account of fundamentalism, read Dating Jesus--the author's upbringing is pretty much apolitical, but you can see how the community's social views and values could click well with the social stances of the political Right).

- There was the general fear of communism's atheism in the postwar years. The American religious landscape was also different then--Mainline Protestantism had not yet seriously declined nor seriously embraced tolerance and pluralism (in other words, there were more Christians of various kinds, and those in what we now consider more liberal denominations were less focused on religious tolerance and pluralism than their counterparts today).

- There was the more recent (1970s), directed effort to bind conservative American political views to conservative American Protestant Christianity. As Jim Wallis and Charles Marsh summarize it: various future-bigshots in the Religious Right, including Falwell, rallied around Bob Jones University (threatened with losing its tax exemption if it persisted in imposing racist restrictions on students), and when that failed turned to other social issues to marshal support for a new Christian political agenda: abortion, homosexuality.

So, what I'm getting at is that there are multiple converging factors--that don't all necessarily fit neatly together, aren't all still in play today, and aren't/weren't all nefarious--that brought about a religious, political, and social landscape in America that could support a theological understanding of capitalism as God's intended means of human economic activity. And after that, well, the thing about fundamentalism is that it's generally something new marketing itself as something very old and absolutely true--once fundamentalists latched on to the free market, it became God's True Plan for America.
posted by Meg_Murry at 7:21 AM on October 6, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers, I hadn't thought of the "protestant work ethic" as being contributory to a capitalist political position. Not marking any best answers since the core question I had wasn't directly answered.
posted by beerbajay at 2:26 AM on October 11, 2009