Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Serving Two Masters? Christian Smith on American giving
From Terry Mattingly’s syndicated religion column:
The bumper sticker said: “Don’t let my car fool you. My treasure is in heaven.” This echoed the Bible passage in which Jesus urged believers to, “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. ... For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
This sticker’s creator probably intended it to be displayed on the battered bumper of a maintenance-challenged car, noted sociologist Christian Smith, director of the Center for the Study of Religion and
Society at the University of Notre Dame. Thus, the sticker suggests that the driver knows his car is a wreck, but that he has “other commitments and priorities” that matter more.But Smith was puzzled when he saw this sticker on a $42,000 SUV parked at a bank.
“Let’s be clear. I have no problem with abundance. I have no problem
with capitalism,” he said, speaking at Gordon College, his alma mater
near Boston. “The person driving this car may give away 40 percent of
their income. I have no idea. I’m not trying to nail people who drive
SUVs or whatever.“But it seems to me that the meaning of this bumper sticker has
changed from what I thought was the original meaning to, ‘Well, Jesus
didn’t quite get it right, because I have a lot here and I also have
it in heaven, too. So I have all the bases covered.’ “
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