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| The money cannon being worked by 'Bang Girls' at the Turing Point USA conference |
Every organization needs funding. Compassion International has child sponsors, the Salvation Army has their kettle drive at Christmas, and your local high school sports boosters probably has a 50/50 drawing at home football or basketball games. How an organization generates the revenue it needs to fulfill its mission is an important question, especially if that organization purports to be a Christian one or to champion Christian ethics. Case in point, Turning Point USA, founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk, who has a partnership with Liberty University (the Falkirk Center along with Eric Metaxas: The Downward Spiral of Bonhoeffer biographer Eric Metaxas the person interviewing Metaxas is Kirk) which gave him an honorary doctorate. At the Republican National Convention in 2016, Kirk said this, “I have never had the opportunity to visit a university that embodies the teachings of Jesus Christ better than Liberty University, If you decide to profess your faith and say you are a Christian, this world is going to make it difficult. For those of you who are believers in Jesus Christ, wear that badge proudly.” It seems clear that Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA are seeking to present themselves as a 'Christian' organization, or at least one aligned with Christian ethics.
Which brings us to this extraordinary moment at the just completed Turning Point USA conference where the event sponsor, Bang Energy (they make energy drinks) utilized young women in skin-tight revealing outfits (whom they referred to as 'Bang Girls', itself a disgusting double entendre) to work a 'money cannon' shooting out into the crowd of (unmasked during the height of the pandemic, another troubling aspect of this event) screaming young people. There is so much wrong with this moment that it almost seems self-explanatory why this organization should forfeit any credibility with, or access to, Christian universities or partnerships with Christian organizations {If you want to see the video of the event for yourself, or read Dreher's similar criticism: Charlie Kirk's Hooters Conservatism - by Rod Dreher at the American Conservative}
You can be a Christian conservative, or a Christian liberal, you can be a Christian believer in the Free Market, or a Christian advocate for a Planned Economy. Being a Christian does not require that we adopt a set of beliefs regarding politics, or even become involved in politics at all {Some would disagree, but I believe that minority view to be in error: Beware of the Political Church: John MacArthur declares, "any real true believer" can only vote one way}.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
The Bible spends an enormous amount of its space discussing the morality of money and the danger of greed. It is a topic addressed pointedly in the Law of Moses with the requirements to leave a portion of the field unharvested for the gleaners and the debt-relief program of the Year of Jubilee. It is one of a handful of topics that Jesus repeatedly addresses, going so far as to tell his followers that they must choose between loving God and loving money. Long story short, the ethics of how a Christian should act toward money is a field with a wide and firm foundation.
It is no secret that the Church in America struggles with materialism. This nation is where the heretical Prosperity Gospel was invented, and where it continues to thrive. It is also well known that many of the Church's worst abuses and most scandalous sins have involved the love of money (and/or earthly power, the two are intertwined). The only other sin that has plagued the Church as readily as the love of money/power is lust, here too the Church has had its most shameful moments, especially regarding the failings of its leaders.
Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
From a Christian perspective, things like pornography, prostitution, and promiscuity are sins to be rejected and temptations to be avoided. The Church certainly struggles with how it portrays the ethics of human sexuality, but we need to do significantly better than using sexuality to entice people to purchase products (the foundation of much of the advertising industry, I know, that's fodder for another post).
As I said before, if your study of the Word of God and your commitment to discipleship leads you toward advocating conservative political views, so be it. If your study and commitment leads you toward advocating liberal political views, then do that instead. Whichever direction our politics may take us, if the road is sponsored by the love of money and lust, it is NOT a Christian path.
Why take the time to write about Turning Point USA or Charlie Kirk? Two reasons: (1) My Facebook feed is filled with memes and links that people share from the organization, (2) they claim to represent Christianity against their 'godless' political opponents.
The American Church needs to do better than this type of affiliation, for it only feeds our own failings of greed and lust and makes a mockery of the name of Christ. Charlie Kirk believes he's fighting a Culture War to save America, the problem is that this version of America is the one that Christianity should be denouncing, not embracing.
