Controversy at Cornerstone 2006
Michael Hamblin makes excellent moderate observations on C-stone, he was there, and the blog storm it has generated. Two highlights follow...
It is important to note that Slice of Laodicea dramatically overstates what actually happened at the Imaginarium. Most of the artwork at the Imaginarium was chosen because of its association with the chosen topic, namely understanding how Christians and various cultures deal with the reality of death, it was not particularly occultic except in perhaps the most shallow cultural understanding. Likewise, the attempt to observe the Day of the Dead - while distant from the Mexican tradition and therefore anachronistic - was itself devoid of occultic elements. People were not conducting séances or attempting to communicate with the dead, but rather were using the time as a memorial for those who had passed on, and to celebrate life....
Unfortunately, Jon Trott’s responses to events at Cornerstone is somewhat less than charitable, effectively putting Jon and Dwayna at odds with each other, generating more heat than light. In using the word ‘fundamentalist’, Jon also steps on one of my pet-peeves, using the word ‘fundamentalist’ flippantly as a word of derision, even calling Dwayna at one point an “ultra-fundamentalist”. It is disappointing that Jon Trott has responded to Dwayna Litz by going on the offensive against her. While peace and reconciliation were important themes at Cornerstone, particularly with the Christian Peacemaker Teams as speakers in the Cornerstone yoU tent, apparently peace and reconciliation still does not apply to Christians that we disagree with.
So this raises the question: was it wrong for Cornerstone organizers to host the activities that they did at the event? Let me be clear: No, it wasn’t wrong for them to organize the Imaginarium activities as they did. There is a general misunderstanding of Halloween, the Days of the Dead, horror cinema, and the links these do and do not have with the practices of witchcraft and the occult. Was it ill advised? Absolutely. Just because we as believers can do a certain thing does not imply that we should do that thing. While our modern tradition of Halloween has no substantial ties to any paganism or occultism, there remains a strong cultural association and perception of Halloween as occultism and anti-Christian. Christians should be cognizant of the negative cultural implications of partaking in cultural festivals and willingly refrain when appropriate. This is true also of “Christian” holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, as well as holidays that are currently understood in more secular terms, such as Valentine’s Day and Independence Day. The practice of the Days of the Dead is a Mexican tradition that is associated with Mexican culture, so for us from another culture to borrow that practice with new meanings and interpretations was, in my opinion, culturally insensitive and inappropriate.
Comments
I would respectfully disagree, however, with some of your comments offered in your assessment of the controversy. While I would agree that simply because a Christian can do something it does not follow that they should do it. Freedom and liberty is not license. However, this does not mean that something controversial should not be done either. The theme of Days of the Dead provided an opportunity for evangelicals to come together in order to engage in critical engagement with important cultural issues as it relates to festival, ritual, and our interaction with death. It would seem to me that ignoring such issues simply because some might misunderstand or find it problematic is the irresponsible thing to do.
Second, I disagree that our culture makes a strong connection between Halloween and the occult, unless by "culture" you mean the evangelical subculture. An analysis of the academic literature on the topic reveals that contemporary expressions of Halloween in North America owe more to pop culture than "occulture," whereas many conservative evangelicals may have problems with it due to historic Pagan influences and the inclusion of elements from horror films. However, as I argued in my seminar series on this topic, and summarized on my blog (the interested reader can click there for my thoughts), this is an inappropriate form of reasoning that ignores other important historical and cultural considerations.
Finally, while Imaginarium did draw upon elements of the Mexican Day of the Dead festival they were very careful not to engage in cultural strip mining, and acknowledged that this was an appropriation and modification of a Mexican cultural practice for our North American context. With this notation participants were thus able to benefit from a ritual related to death while avoiding cultural insensitivity.
The continuing controversy over Imaginarium seems to indicate that a nerve was hit in the evangelical world. Shouldn't we explore this carefully, drawing upon the best of our reasoning and scholarship in the areas of theology, missiology, and intercultural studies rather than decry it or say it shouldn't have been done? Let's keep the exploration moving forward because we just might find more diamonds than charcoal.