‘Jesus hung out with freaks’

Theo Hobson

1 January 2011

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Meet Jay Bakker, minister to the hipsters of Brooklyn

Why does the American religious right get all the attention: is there not also a religious left? Why is it always on the back foot? Why, though such a basic part of the nation’s history, does it seem un-American? It suffers from the same problem as its political cousin: most Americans think of the left as something for metropolitan elites or angry black radicals. (President Obama is associated with both.)

But liberal Christian voices are breaking out. A few young preachers have edged away from conservative evangelicalism, but their criticism of the dominant religious culture tends to remain cautious (why lose the chance of a massive congregation?). A notable exception is Jay Bakker, 35-year-old pastor of a church for the young hipsters of Brooklyn, called Revolution NYC. This is no megachurch, but it might be a sign that a new sort of American Christianity is brewing.

Bakker (pronounced baker) is a smallish chap with big black specs and tattoos almost everywhere, including ‘HELP ME LORD’ on his knuckles. There’s a Southern gothic feel about him, which is borne out by his story. He is the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, the televangelists who were hit by a sex and fraud scandal in the late 1980s. He has today decisively rebelled against the turn-or-burn moralism of evangelical culture, though he retains some of its keep-it-simple-and-soulful style.

In his memoir, Son of a Preacher Man, he tells of the weird world in which he grew up. His televangelist father built a Christian theme park that was for a while the most popular visitor attraction in the US after Disney’s. Jay was the sad young prince of this strange world; his parents were busy asking viewers for donations; his only friends were his security guards. When scandal struck, the frail high-life collapsed into farce: his dad went to jail, his mum had a breakdown and an affair, and Jay went off the rails and did some serious self-medicating, as they say. What pulled him back from oblivion was the sense that he should be a minister to his skateboarding peers. He felt that life was a choice between being a drunk and being a new sort of Christian minister. But he did not become a clean-cut convert to the evangelical ideal; instead he felt called to challenge this ideal, to claim that God accepts all sorts of misfits, including a dyslexic recovering-alcoholic drop-out from a dramatically broken home.

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Henrik Blunck

January 10th, 2011 6:48pm Report this comment

There are many theories nowadays, and the freakier they are the more more people seem to be attracted towards them. Funnily, Dan Brown was almost lynched for his words, and xtianity seems to be as violent as cults when their savior/messiah is mentioned in controversial ways.

James Curtis

January 28th, 2011 1:08am Report this comment

I think there's something to be said, Mr. Blunck, about the fact that what the world defines as Christianity and what Scripture defines as Christianity (let's not be naive though. Granted, Scripture doesn't use the word 'Christian' or 'Christianity', but neither does it use 'trinity' or 'triune' but these are foundational doctrines of the church). While the world may have seen what they define as Christians running around trying to, as you say, 'lynch Dan Brown', the Christians as defined by Scripture recognized the silliness of Brown's 'theory' (which, if I recall correctly isn't actually a theory at all; I believe "The DaVinci Code" is still, indeed, labeled as fiction) and accepted it for what it really as (as I said before): Fiction. So, I would encourage everyone to confront their definitions of Christianity (or 'xtianity') under the heaviest scrutinies.

Also, in response to the actual article, I have a question: Wait. Conservatives receive the most 'attention'? Firstly, where does Christ mention anything about desiring attention is a good thing, and secondly can I please reference the numbers of the Episcopal (non-Reformed), Catholic, Anglican, PCUSA, and other liberally theological churches in comparison to the conservative? (ARP, PCA, Reformed Episcopal, Reformed Baptist, and OPC for a short, but almost complete, list!)

Not only is the intial claim of the article ridiculous, but the entire push for liberal theology! These protestant (for they must be, since they aren't Roman Catholic, right?) denominations/churches are not following their fathers in the cry of 'Sola Scriptura!' Where has the ideal of Scripture, not our own emotions and sinful (yes, Paul calls them sinful) desires, gone?

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