From a Presbyterian perspective this is largely spot-on. I found a disconnect between the educated clergy-person (me) and the people in the pew, especially when I served congregations with fewer educated/professional people. I would talk in sermons about Jesus' opposition to "the elite" of his day, meaning the wealthy, but sometimes people heard "elite" as referring to completely different people than I had in mind. (I also want to recommend the work of Peter Turchin who describes what we are currently going through as less elite vs. everyone else (as you indicate) and more insider elite vs. outsider elite, with the latter doing a better job of enlisting the working classes in their cause.). (Also Ezra Klein's podcast today about how liberals are both pro-government and also keep government from functioning, thus undermining their own agendas and making an opening for those who just want to tear government down.)
I have a different perspective. I'm a Lutheran and an attorney. I represented people in workers' compensation and Social Security disability cases. I liked my clients who were good people. Unfortunately few paid attention to politics and were not aware of how much they depended on a strong social safety net. Many bought into the Republican Party lie from Ronald Reagan to the Koch Brothers' backed candidates that there were a bunch of freeloaders on the disability programs for which they were seeking access. In fact they felt like those freeloaders were why it was so hard for them to get the benefits they deserved. Populism is based on resentment, and Republicans have been devilishly clever in turning that resentment on whomever is the current object of hate (gays under George W. Bush and transpeople under Trump) and electing Ivy League-educated politicians (e.g. Ted Cruz, J.D. Vance, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump) to be the standard bearers of a false populism which enacts a Project 2025 agenda that benefits conservative elites and not average Americans. It's maddening.
I am an ordained Baptist minister. Grew up Southern Baptist but now consider myself a "free range Baptist." I also grew up in a working class family in Appalachia. So I identify with your comments about "straddling two worlds." (I hold a Masters degree and PhD, and served on a liberal/mainline theological school faculty for 23 years.) Increasingly, however, it feels like a type of "spiritual homelessness." Anyway, I agree with every word you write here. Thanks so much for this contribution to a much-needed conversation. White liberal pearl-clutching about Trump's recent actions feel hypocritical to me, given that economic elites in the Democratic party contributed greatly to the resentment and, as you note, decline of trust in institutions that gave us Trump.
I don't think of myself as a church leader and I am overeducated (12 years of college) for most people. Maybe I am elite, but I don't feel elite either. That's what makes what I'm trying to do so hard for me. I believe the Holy Spirit has called me to start a weekly Prayer Meeting at my UCC church. I've joined a few different denominations in my 78 years and was involved in what was called The Charismatic Renewal of the Catholic Church in the mid-1970s. I experienced many of the charismatic gifts and through the years I've kept that renewal close to my heart and deep in my spirit. It has the energy to poke through the Zeitgeist of 2025. I've left it in God's hands to do the poking but its not going very well. Even though I've talked about it with people, only 2 of us have been at church. God is poking me to put a flyer together for my church members but also the other churches in my small city. I need help to design and write it because I'm too elite. I think any flyer on the subject of group prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit to renew us, our churches, and our world coming from me alone will fall on rocky ground. Can you help or is there anyone you know who could help me? Thank you.
Another insightful article, with implications for the disconnect between religious leaders and those in the pew.
When congregations with highly educated clergy lose members to those that are led by those who lack such credentials, it's easy to blame (rightly or wrongly) "charismatic hucksters" and those who are "misled by feel good religion." It's harder to check for the logs in ones own eyes.
From a Presbyterian perspective this is largely spot-on. I found a disconnect between the educated clergy-person (me) and the people in the pew, especially when I served congregations with fewer educated/professional people. I would talk in sermons about Jesus' opposition to "the elite" of his day, meaning the wealthy, but sometimes people heard "elite" as referring to completely different people than I had in mind. (I also want to recommend the work of Peter Turchin who describes what we are currently going through as less elite vs. everyone else (as you indicate) and more insider elite vs. outsider elite, with the latter doing a better job of enlisting the working classes in their cause.). (Also Ezra Klein's podcast today about how liberals are both pro-government and also keep government from functioning, thus undermining their own agendas and making an opening for those who just want to tear government down.)
I have a different perspective. I'm a Lutheran and an attorney. I represented people in workers' compensation and Social Security disability cases. I liked my clients who were good people. Unfortunately few paid attention to politics and were not aware of how much they depended on a strong social safety net. Many bought into the Republican Party lie from Ronald Reagan to the Koch Brothers' backed candidates that there were a bunch of freeloaders on the disability programs for which they were seeking access. In fact they felt like those freeloaders were why it was so hard for them to get the benefits they deserved. Populism is based on resentment, and Republicans have been devilishly clever in turning that resentment on whomever is the current object of hate (gays under George W. Bush and transpeople under Trump) and electing Ivy League-educated politicians (e.g. Ted Cruz, J.D. Vance, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump) to be the standard bearers of a false populism which enacts a Project 2025 agenda that benefits conservative elites and not average Americans. It's maddening.
I don’t think you are wrong. I think both things can be true.
I am an ordained Baptist minister. Grew up Southern Baptist but now consider myself a "free range Baptist." I also grew up in a working class family in Appalachia. So I identify with your comments about "straddling two worlds." (I hold a Masters degree and PhD, and served on a liberal/mainline theological school faculty for 23 years.) Increasingly, however, it feels like a type of "spiritual homelessness." Anyway, I agree with every word you write here. Thanks so much for this contribution to a much-needed conversation. White liberal pearl-clutching about Trump's recent actions feel hypocritical to me, given that economic elites in the Democratic party contributed greatly to the resentment and, as you note, decline of trust in institutions that gave us Trump.
I don't think of myself as a church leader and I am overeducated (12 years of college) for most people. Maybe I am elite, but I don't feel elite either. That's what makes what I'm trying to do so hard for me. I believe the Holy Spirit has called me to start a weekly Prayer Meeting at my UCC church. I've joined a few different denominations in my 78 years and was involved in what was called The Charismatic Renewal of the Catholic Church in the mid-1970s. I experienced many of the charismatic gifts and through the years I've kept that renewal close to my heart and deep in my spirit. It has the energy to poke through the Zeitgeist of 2025. I've left it in God's hands to do the poking but its not going very well. Even though I've talked about it with people, only 2 of us have been at church. God is poking me to put a flyer together for my church members but also the other churches in my small city. I need help to design and write it because I'm too elite. I think any flyer on the subject of group prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit to renew us, our churches, and our world coming from me alone will fall on rocky ground. Can you help or is there anyone you know who could help me? Thank you.
I encourage you to keep praying!
Another insightful article, with implications for the disconnect between religious leaders and those in the pew.
When congregations with highly educated clergy lose members to those that are led by those who lack such credentials, it's easy to blame (rightly or wrongly) "charismatic hucksters" and those who are "misled by feel good religion." It's harder to check for the logs in ones own eyes.