Religious fandom and the Sermon on the Mount

 The starting point for this reflection is one of this morning's lectionary readings. Matthew 6:1 Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 

It occurred to me that this might connect with the odd-moments thinking I sometimes do about fandom and piety. This arises from noticing that there seem to be some similarities between the behaviours and attitudes of sports fans (or fans of media celebrities) and some religious people. So I find myself occasionally musing about what characteristics fandom and piety may share. Are fans' attitudes a kind of piety, are attitudes of religiously pious people a kind of fandom?

There is, I think, a very real 'pride' and desire to assert a religious identity, perhaps especially among those who are relatively new to a faith or who gain a renewed sense of its goodness and helpfulness -for whatever reason. I've tended previously to interpret this verse and those that follow as relating mainly /only to those who are seeking human validation or status: using religion as a way to gain esteem socially. But maybe also it applies to those who are wanting more to assert identity or even to impose their religious sentiments on others? The feelgood factor of religious fandom, like football supporters thrusting their team and their love for it in the face of any around them. Especially when in groups or feeling themselves to be representing a group. I used the word 'pride' earlier, it is that but it's also bound up in a kind of joy, and a fulness of self-esteem bolstered by the identification with something bigger than themselves and further by the community of others similarly elated.

There's a much earlier reflection on this blog too.

Fan-damentalism is uncore

An internet buddy in many things missional, Matt Stone, recently wrote in a post on Facebook something that reminded me of posts (one here and the other here) I'd made before on this blog and occasionally I find myself continuing to mull over.

Seriously, I think we need to start challenging the narrative that fundamentalists are hard core Christians. On the contrary I think they're flakes who are in desperate need of a late night Nicodemus encounter.

 It's an interesting idea and i think it touches on my fandom thoughts. I responded:  

Yeah. I've been thinking about the phenomenon in terms of 'religious fandom'. I'm trying to get a handle on why it is that we tend to regard the 'fans' (recall it's short for fanatics', arguably) as somehow the norm. There's something about religiosity and identity involved, I think  which is actually contrary to the genius of Christian faith.

I find Bob Faser's definition of fundamentalism to be quite helpful in picking up the main facets of the phenomenon as found in people...:

 ... who combined an ultra-conservative approach to their faith, a puritanical approach to personal conduct, a sympathy for authoritarian political movements, and a contempt for people of other faiths, non-religious viewpoints, and less “intense” versions of their own faith.

To be fair that is how he characterises it for the 1990's. He reckons it has been overtaken by " a particularly one-eyed approach to reality" which could include devotion to a sports' team. And so connects with my intuition about fandom and certain kinds of religiosity. In terms of the 90's definition, it could be translated into fandom terms (and Bob has some interesting further comments here): a chauvinistic devotion to their team, an emblematically commited approach to personal style, contempt for those who follow other teams or don't follow their sport at all and some disparaging views about those who are mere 'followers'.

I am intrigued by the way that we can identify some kind of likeness across the domains. I am intrigued that there are people who in a religious context act like fans of the religion. They are blinkered, derogatory towards people with other faith commitments or even towards those whose commitment seems lesser. It seems to me that this crossover between domains indicates that it is a phenomenon more rooted in psychology than in spirituality. In this case I think it is about identity formation empowered by the excitement of new discovery (analogous to new love, I suspect).
The common means of identity formation are to do with demonstrating you are "one of us" and partly this is achieved by knowing who is "one of them" and who and what will imperil your insider status or aspirations to it. In these ways dressing or accessorising rightly, being seen in the right places at the right time and displaying the correct attitudes to people and issues deemed relevant.
I do agree with Bob in the second of the posts I reference above, that the real 'fundamentals' of the Way of Christ are not the kinds of things typical of identity formation by in-group and out-group demarcation. Rather they are love of God and neighbour, skepticism towards religiosity, wealth and power (because they are often intertwined in a bad way) and commitment to paying good attention to those deemed 'outsiders',
The thing that the Christian 'fan' and the follower of Jesus have in common is devotion to the Christ. In the former case, the devotion is led by psycho-cultural understandings, in the latter, the counter-cultural route is realised and informed by a self-wariness about the in/out psychology. In practice, many of us have both going on at once, especially in the early stages. Part of faith development is about untangling the two dimensions and learning to temper the fandom reflex with the follower transformation.
This probably means that we should reflect on nurture, baptism preparation and formation beyond the initial instruction phase for 'converts'. Currently, it seems to me, there is a tendency to ignore or even encourage the fandom responses. What we probably need to do is help new Christ-followers to be aware and wary of the fandom phenomena and to help them to form attitudes very much centred in loving God and neighbour in a self-aware way leading to wisdom.
I can't help wondering whether in some church circles, the fandom response is actually thought to be somehow a mark of true spirituality and so established believers are being held in fannish attitudes and behaviours which tends to produce wierd, holy Joes who are incapable of bearing witness to Christ because what they want to pass on is shouted down by how they behave.