🐰 Down The Rabbit Hole 🕳️

“Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education, and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice.”

~ Neil Postman

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Greetings, dear newsletter subscribers,

Here's the latest installment of our study of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death...

In Chapter Eight entitled, “Shuffle Off to Bethlehem” Postman looks at the effect that television (and technology more generally) has had on religion in the Information Age:

“The first [conclusion] is that on television, religion, like everything else, is presented, quite simply and without apology, as an entertainment. Everything that makes religion an historic, profound and sacred human activity is stripped away; there is no ritual, no dogma, no tradition, no theology, and above all, no sense of spiritual transcendence. On these shows, the preacher is tops. God comes out as second banana. The second conclusion is that this fact has more to do with the bias of television than with the deficiencies of these electronic preachers, as they are called.” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, p. 116-117)

What Postman is pointing out here is that when a foreign medium (television) gets introduced into a religious community that its effect (as he explains elsewhere) is ecological - television will slowly change the very nature of what it means to practice religion. Having watched this take place over the forty years since he wrote his book, we can say that (at least in many corners of American Christianity) that his words were prophetic.

Sacred Space

In contemporary America it is not uncommon for newly built churches to have a coffee bar set up in the entrance to the church where congregants can pick up their coffee before the service. Once inside, congregants (needing a place to put their coffee) are pleased to find that each of the stadium seats comes with a cupholder attached (as in a movie theater). Of course, the entire setup resembles a theatrical/entertainment space: congregants are treated like an audience to be entertained, rather than participants in an ancient ritual. The seats are comfortable, they often descend (as in a theater) at a slight pitch so that congregants can see over the heads of the people in front of them, and the entire service is put together in such a way as to provide an emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows. It should go without saying that the latest technology is used to “improve” the worship experience.

The next step in the denaturing of traditional religious experience has been that, once the in-person experience of church has been so altered, the next (and natural) step is to ask why does one need to go to church at all? Once the spiritual and otherworldly elements of faith have been extracted from the religious experience and replaced by something that much more resembles entertainment, congregants naturally ask themselves, what is special about going to church in person? Can’t I just worship God from home? This was, in fact, what happened in many religious communities around the world during (and now, following) the Covid pandemic.

“If the delivery is not the same, then the message, quite likely, is not the same. And if the context in which the message is experienced is altogether different from what it was in Jesus' time, we may assume that its social and psychological meaning is different, as well. To come to the point, there are several characteristics of television and its surround that converge to make authentic religious experience impossible. The first has to do with the fact that there is no way to consecrate the space in which a television show is experienced…But a religious service need not occur only in a church or synagogue. Almost any place will do, provided it is first decontaminated; that is, divested of its profane uses…But for this transformation to be made, it is essential that certain rules of conduct be observed. There will be no eating or idle conversation, for example. One may be required to put on a skull cap or to kneel down at appropriate moments. Or simply to contemplate in silence. Our conduct must be congruent with the otherworldliness of the space…If an audience is not immersed in an aura of mystery and symbolic otherworldliness, then it is unlikely that it can call forth the state of mind required for a nontrivial religious experience.” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, p. 118-119)

What has happened in the modern world is that we have (largely uncritically) allowed technology to infiltrate every aspect of our lives, including the holiest aspects. Because this process has been relatively slow and uncritically undertaken we have largely been unaware of it. Part of it, of course, is that some religious traditions are more susceptible to this kind of external influence. Religious traditions that do not take history, tradition, or the symbolic language of faith seriously will be much more likely to be influenced by the pressures of new technologies, as will communities that began as revolutionary movements.

The Secularism of the Screen

“Moreover, the television screen itself has a strong bias toward a psychology of secularism. The screen is so saturated with our memories of profane events, so deeply associated with the commercial and entertainment worlds that it is difficult for it to be recreated as a frame for sacred events. Among other things, the viewer is at all times aware that a flick of the switch will produce a different and secular event on the screen—a hockey game, a commercial, a cartoon. Not only that, but both prior to and immediately following most religious programs, there are commercials, promos for popular shows, and a variety of other secular images and discourses, so that the main message of the screen itself is a continual promise of entertainment. Both the history and the ever-present possibilities of the television screen work against the idea that introspection or spiritual transcendence is desirable in its presence. The television screen wants you to remember that its imagery is always available for your amusement and pleasure.” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, p. 119-120)

The modern world believes deeply in the myth of progress. We believe this myth largely because of confirmation bias - we look around at the incredible achievements of modern science and take them as proof that humans have “progressed” and that future progress is inevitable. The truth, of course, is that the “progress” we have made is unsustainable and has had huge amounts of unforeseen negative consequences that we like to ignore. This is a topic for another time, however. For now it’s enough to point out that this myth of progress affects the ways in which we interpret and understand the world. When it comes to screens, for example, one popular response is that screens (and technology more generally) are part of an evolutionary process and that if humans are to progress, the technologies we create must be a part of this ongoing story. Rather than viewing screens (and other technologies) as completely incongruent with human religious experience (and, quite frankly, normal human experience of any kind), we find ways to justify them.

True Religion?

“The spectacle we find in true religions has as its purpose enchantment, not entertainment. The distinction is critical. By endowing things with magic, enchantment is the means through which we may gain access to sacredness. Entertainment is the means through which we distance ourselves from it.” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, p. 122)

The problem, of course, is that for the better part of a thousand years religion has become increasingly secularized (again, this is a topic for another time). For now, suffice to say that the shift from an oral to a written culture played an important role in this movement, as the center of faith moved from communal and embodied worship to the individual and an increasingly disincarnate faith focused on ideas and the words of sacred texts. The process was so gradual, and we are now so far removed from the worldview of true religion that it is difficult for us to see, much less to appreciate the shift.

When one considers human history in this way, here are some questions that one is faced with:

1) Is there such a thing as “true religion”?

2) Do modern people need to be connected with the religious traditions of the past? If so, why? And if so, how do they do this? Or,

3) Is religious truth something that is evolving?

4) Can modern people connect with God in ways that are disconnected from the religious experiences of previous generations?

As an answer (and clarification) to the final question, Postman might respond that these new ways of worship are not only disconnected from previous religious traditions, but that they are actually antithetical to them.

“It is well understood at the National Council [of the churches of Christ] that the danger is not that religion has become the content of television shows but that television shows may become the content of religion.” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, p. 124)

Ok...that's it for today! As always, please share with a friend who you think might find this of interest...and join the conversation on my Substack page.

Have a great weekend...enjoy Neil Postman's excellent book...and reach out if you have any thoughts/questions you'd like to share! We'll be looking at Chapter Nine next week.

Warmly,

Herman

PS: Do you know of someone who might be interested in joining our book study? If so, please forward this email on to them!