23AR28-07

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AR 28:7 - Manifesting, "lucky girl syndrome," and delusion

In this issue:

MANIFESTING - or, "spiritual psychosis"?

CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM - "a tricky label" that may or may not apply to elements of the New Apostolic Reformation

Apologia Report 28:7 (1,604)
March 1, 2023

MANIFESTING

Where great potential for misunderstanding exists ... just add the influence of the internet to really make it spectacular. We begin with "Among the Spiritual Psychotics" by Katherine Dee (Tablet, Jan 25 '23). She opens: "Mass delusions - this sense that you can speak your reality into existence - are everywhere in our digital-first world. ... The strange thing about a world subsumed by the digital is that we're simultaneously aware of being under constant surveillance and yet convinced that we have complete agency over our self-definitions." (Dee appropriately recalls the famous 1993 New Yorker cartoon, "On the Internet nobody knows you're a dog.")

   She directs us to TikTok and its "videos touting the possibilities of 'manifestation,' a New Age self-help strategy that suggests that one can will their ideal reality into existence through techniques like visualization.'" Exhibit A is produced by Allie Priestly, a "young white woman who's gained popularity talking about manifestation...."

   Priestly announces that "'Spiritual psychosis is a real term, and someone who is in a true psychosis is going to be different from someone who's experiencing a spiritual delusion, which most people are experiencing.... But long-term spiritual delusion, while technically being sane for a long-term period of time, can lead people to psychotic breaks.... You can also have true psychosis that has a religious or spiritual bent.'"

   Dee admits that although Priestly isn't a mental health professional - "her point is compelling even if it's not a clinical diagnosis. 'Manifestation' often looks like a kind of willful delusion.' ...

   "Contra its more moderate defenders, manifestation is not just about changing your mindset to be more confident. It's about trying to 'reshape your reality.' ... Priestly's theory that it can lead to a psychotic break, or at a minimum, a mental health disturbance, doesn't sound so outlandish." <www.bit.ly/3kAZwDW>

   In "Lucky girl syndrome and the endless rebranding of 'The Secret'" (Vox, Feb 1 '23) senior correspondent Rebecca Jennings explains that "2020 was the year that TikTokers discovered The Secret - that is, the idea that you can make anything you want happen if you believe in it enough," and that "Its most recent makeover is something rather ominously called 'lucky girl syndrome,' almost as if it is a communicable disease."

   But wait! Lucky girl syndrome "is the kind of disease you want to catch. It's exactly what it sounds like: a state of being in which everything happens to work out for you and where opportunities fall into your lap, like dollar bills raining from the sky." According to New York-based TikTok content creator Laura Galebe, “The secret is to assume and believe it before the concrete proof shows up. BE DELUSIONAL." 

   "This way of thinking, as argued by Lauren Berlant in Cruel Optimism, <www.bit.ly/3SE6uof> has prevailed since the 1980s, as upward mobility and the American dream became paradoxically harder to achieve and more possible than ever. On the internet, we’re surrounded by people who are, or at least seem to be, much luckier than us: richer, prettier, smarter, more loved. We watch people claim to make money in their sleep with 'passive income' or fall in love because they manifested it, people whose videos go viral because the fantasy they sell is such an enticing one. 'I get paid to exist. Wealth is my birthright,' a popular lucky girl syndrome TikToker says as she shows her daily affirmations. 'Say this affirmation for 21 days and watch how much money comes your way.'" <www.bit.ly/3IEFY9v>

   In Psychology Today (May 17 '22), Anna Katharina Schaffner takes us on a historical tour of "manifestation's" metaphysical predecessors, from P.P. Quimby and Mary Baker Eddy to Prentice Mulford, William Walker Atkinson, Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, and - of course - Rhonda Byrne, author of the 2006 bestseller "The Secret." Schaffner accuses Byrne and her fellow mind-over-matter authors of victim-blaming: "Ultimately, they hold those who suffer misfortunes personally responsible for their sufferings. This includes cancer, rape, car accidents, and [other] acts of violence," adding that "Byrne and the many money-making experts who contributed to her book make it perfectly clear that the rule of the law of attraction also applies to the 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust." <www.bit.ly/3Y7UTim>>

   For a brief, but refreshing response, see "You Can't Manifest Your Life" by Jen Pollock Michel (Gospel Coalition, Dec 30 '22). "It’s an act of resistance today to consider not that we’re 'manifesting' our lives but that we’re receiving them as a gift. This is, of course, the message of Genesis - and the heartbeat of the gospel. God makes. God gives." <www.bit.ly/3KJSeYY>

   But to go deeper, check out "Does the Christian worldview provide a place for the law of attraction?" by evangelical apologists Daniël Maritz and Henk Stoker. See here <www.bit.ly/3miUlZy> and here <www.bit.ly/3Zvs7JM>

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CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM

"OK, we get it: That whole 'Christian nationalism' thing is hot, right now. But what is it?" by Richard Ostling (GetReligion, Jan 26 '23) ... (No, these AR topics aren't in alphabetical order. We believe you'll soon appreciate why as you begin to sense the ironic similarity between them.)

   Ostling recognizes that "Christian nationalism" (CN) is "a tricky label that's mostly shunned by supposed participants in the CN movement and employed by opponents (as with 'fundamentalist' or 'ultra-' or 'cult')." Then he poses the question: "How complex is the fighting about this term?" and recommends that you should sample related "YouTube debates," even suggesting where to start. (Go ahead. We dare you to step into the yawning void.)

   Didn't catch his initial warning? Just a bit later Ostling adds: "Hang on, because this gets complex. For starters, ambiguity abounded in an October Pew Research survey. <www.bit.ly/3EKlw67>

   "Some 60% of adults think – yes – the founders intended the U.S. to be a "Christian nation" ... Importantly, a 54% majority had never even heard of CN.

   "That belief the U.S. 'should be' a Christian nation was favored by fully 65% of Black Protestants (compared with e.g. only 47% of Catholics). ...

   Ostling notes that attorney Amanda Tyler - "who leads Christians Against Christian Nationalism (with a large 'N') and the proudly progressive Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty" - testified at a hearing (link provided) led by U.S. House Democrats last month. Yet a major investigation of January 6 by her Baptist agency and the Freedom from Religion Foundation found scant factual evidence of participation there by recognized church or 'Religious Right' leaders. ...

   Next, Ostling "turns to critics of CN alarmism represented by Hillsdale College historian D.G. Hart. His intriguing January 9 Acton Institute assessment <www.bit.ly/41AV4Wc> focuses on tenets said to define CN in two scholarly attack books, "Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States" by Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry (timed before the 2020 election), and "The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy" by Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, which responds to the January 6th, 2021 Capitol attack. 

   "The books' key CN tenets are that the U.S. should be declared a 'Christian nation'; the federal government should advocate 'Christian values' and religious symbols in public spaces, and allow public-school prayers; criticism of 'separation of church and state,' and belief that 'the success of the United States is part of God's plan.' 

   "On that last point, Hart wonders 'how could anyone who believes in a sovereign God not believe some divine purpose is responsible for America's place in the world?' ...

   "The historian applied the books' criteria to himself and found he counts as a 'nationalist' though on the 'low end.' Yes, Hart is conservative in both religion and politics, but what does nationalism signify when he's the author of 'A Secular Faith: Why Christianity Favors the Separation of Church and State'? Since some combination of faith and national identity 'is part of the historical imagination of many Americans,' and always has been, he suggests we all calm down."

   Ostling helpfully takes us to "another RNS January 6th "anniversary piece" by veteran religion journalist Bob Smietana, which concluded a series funded by the Pulitzer Center. He proposes that CN be understood as a constellation of these six "loose networks of faith leaders and followers," which he individually describes:

* - "God-and-country conservatives"
* - "Religious right's old guard"
* - "MAGA/QAnon"
* - "The extremely online"
* - "Trump prophets"
* - "Patriots and theocrats"

   Ostling concludes by warning us to "beware the Hasty Generalization Fallacy. Be careful out there." <www.bit.ly/3xWp5SZ>

Into the fray jump Bishop Joseph Mattera (a Brooklyn pastor who heads up the U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders), and the Rev. Michael Brown (president of AskDrBrown Ministries), who co-authored the "NAR & Christian Nationalism Statement" (Oct 19 '22) in response to rising Christian nationalism among Pentecostals. <www.bit.ly/41EU5EP>

   In it Mattera and Brown reject CN, itemizing specifics, while distancing themselves from aspects of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) <www.bit.ly/3Zrtf0I> in regard to affiliation with the movement, apostolic function, titles, and authority, including extra-biblical revelation among other concerns.

   Julia Duin, writing for Newsweek (Oct 20 '22) quotes Mattera: "I have been getting very concerned that - as 2024 looms - if Donald Trump runs for president again, those unhealthy prophetic voices might get louder again," Mattera said. "The secular and evangelical press are starting to lump people like me and Michael together with all these extreme elements.

   "I told Michael I am not going to be a sitting duck. I am not going to let other people define us, so we need a statement."

   Duin finds that "the term 'NAR' is a fluid one. Proponents say it is a system founded by the late Fuller Theological Seminary professor C. Peter Wagner that allows Christians to effectively evangelize the world. Detractors say the NAR is code for a theocracy of apostolic leaders who'd control vast networks of churches with the stipulation of obedience to them and a coterie of prophets. The end game would be dominion of key sectors of American society."

   She also reports that, contrary to Mattera and Brown, "there has been a slew of coverage suggesting otherwise, including one prominent magazine, claiming in August that NAR leaders "have one clear goal in mind - ruling over the United States and, eventually, the world." Earlier this month, NBC News ran a column linking NAR to Christian nationalism." 

   Duin notes the response of Matthew Taylor, a scholar with the Institute for Islamic-Christian-Jewish Studies, who suspects that Mattera and Brown "may have bitten off too big a piece in dealing with both the NAR and Christian nationalism." <www.bit.ly/3IXRmPf>

   Last, Duin includes the rebuttal of evangelical researcher Holly Pivec and philosopher Douglas Geivett (Talbot School of Theology, Biola University), authors of Counterfeit Kingdom: The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and New Age Practices in the Church,  <www.bit.ly/3EGLA1S> released last November.>

   Pivec and Geivett have responded, separately to Mattera and Brown: <www.bit.ly/3IXOWA8>

   You'll find a good overview of NAR issues and responses at Apologetics Index: <www.bit.ly/3IDIayj>

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