An awkward subject: Evangelical power

The pundits are focused on evangelicals these days, with a Baptist preacher in the Republican race and everyone else reminding the media how much religion and Jesus means to them. (This can backfire if you're caught nodding off in church).

But Michael Lindsay has gone a step further. He interviewed more than 300 evangelicals in politics, media, Hollywood and corporate head offices to find out how they are handling their positions of power. Then he put their answers in his book, Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, described as "the nation's largest and most comprehensive study of public leaders who are people of faith."

Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University, is an evangelical himself. His book has been reviewed favorably as well as criticized.

Tonight he spoke to a small gathering at the Baptist Media Forum near Austin, Texas, and a couple of points he made disturbed me.

He said the real divide among evangelicals is not left- and -right-wing politicos, or fundamentalists and moderates. It's between "cosmopolitans" and "populists."

Cosmopolitans "try to distance themselves from populist cultural trappings-- the Left Behind books, Thomas Kinkade paintings, etc."

"Cosmopolitan Christians are disconnected to local churches," he said, but work great with parachurch groups and megachurches. Because they're flying all over, doing business deals, "they're not in town every Wednesday for the deacons meeting. They're disappointed with local pastors as leaders, and they think the local deacons and elders are navel gazing, not doing anything important."

With parachurch groups (and now megachurches), they can lead Bible studies and have prayer meetings on the west coast with "leadership peers" one day and then fly off to the east coast the next. It doesn't interfere with their business lifestyle.

But something is lost in that relationship--true fellowship, not to mention accountability.

"Church used to be the one place where the bank teller could know the bank president," Lindsay said. "We're losing that."

There are other consequences. He noted that if he'd written his book 10 years ago, he would have also interviewed Ken Lay, disgraced former head of Enron and a Christian bigwig before his fall.

"Evangelicals can certainly commit fraud too," he said (Duh!). "But many times it's Christians who are brought in to clean up messes like that."

All in all, he said he thinks most evangelical CEOs lead a "moral" lifestyle-- they're honest in their business practices, faithful to their wives. But they struggle with a cultural temptation that affects us all.

"Lots of books are written about how Christians should deal with personal finances," Lindsay said. "Nothing is written about how Christians should handle power."

Uh, now wait a minute. I don't have any power!

Not so, Lindsay says.

"We're the world's elite. Even average Christians have tremendous power. Think about it. Most of the world makes only $2 a day. We spend more than that on a Starbucks coffee. How do we handle that kind of power?"

A few executives he talked to had deliberately decided to live a more humble lifestyle-- giving away more than they made, driving older model cars, living in smaller homes. But only a few. And they still had substantial incomes.

"Executive compensation is an awkward subject for some of the people I interviewed. Their sin is that they-- and we-- are driven by materialism and consumerism," he said. "They have trouble controlling their lifestyles."

Emblematic of this is an annual, invitation-only meeting of high-dollar Christian donors. The purpose, Lindsay said, is to encourage giving and philanthropy. But it's always held at the Ritz-Carlton or some other outlandishly expensive venue.

"They told me no one would come if we held it at the Hyatt."

UPDATE: Since our meeting, Lindsay has expanded on this topic in a column in USA Today.


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