Jimmy Carter & John Lennon’s Leftist Anthem – The Imaginative Conservative
Jimmy Carter was a nice, good man who epitomized American Christianity’s reduction to Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism. As such, the singing of John Lennon’s atheistic “Imagine”—Carter’s favorite song—at the former president’s funeral was entirely appropriate.Last week at former president Jimmy Carter’s funeral, country singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood sang ex-Beatle John Lennon’s song Imagine, and Christian social media erupted in dismay. Bishop Robert Barron expressed the disapproval of many Christians—describing the performance as “appalling.” He highlighted the lyrics, noting they included phrases like “Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try” and “imagine there’s no country; it isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too.” Barron called it a “hymn to atheistic humanism” and suggested it was an insult to Carter’s memory as a devout Christian and an indicator of the “spinelessness” of much of established religion in the country.Bishop Barron is right about the spinelessness of much established Christianity in the USA, but I think he missed the point that the ex president and Mrs Carter had both chosen that song to be performed at their funeral. As such it indicated not only the sentimental spinelessness of much established Christianity, but also the heart of the Carters’ own creed (or lack thereof). Carter was famous for his toothy grin and as a devoted Christian believer of the Southern Baptist denomination. He taught Sunday School in his home town church and was properly honored for the humanitarian work he pursued after his notoriously unremarkable presidency. He built houses for poor people and worked for peace and justice through a polite and dignified diplomatic presence on the world stage. While this is laudable, it is worth asking what, exactly was the theological underpinnings of Carter’s good works.John Lennon’s song would seem to be the answer. That is to say there was no theological underpinnings to Carter’s smiling good works. There was no heaven and no hell and no religion too. There was simply a smile, kindness, and the offering of a helping hand. In other words, a Christianity that has been boiled down to MTD: Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism.Moralism is the reduction of Christianity not just to doing good works (although that is to be expected) but to being a nice, kind, smiling, respectable person. Moralism makes no real demands. As long as one doesn’t rock the boat, remains quiet, and strives for tolerance in all things, moralism’s motto is “Why can’t we all just get along?”Therapeutic Christianity reduces the historic Christian faith to “a belief system that will make you (and the world) better. Going to church will help you with your family problems, your addictions, and your worries and fears. It will help you parent your troublesome teens. Meditation and prayer will relieve your stress, make you more calm and more compliant. Christianity will also help to make the world a better place. Good Christians will work for peace, get involved to solve the climate crisis, welcome immigrants, the homeless, the downtrodden, and the marginalized.Deism is the belief that there is a god, but he is on the other side of the clouds having a nap. Deism is, in fact, simply a coward’s form of atheism because if there is a god who is both indifferent and incompetent, then that entity is not really Almighty God, and if there is no Almighty God, then Lennon’s banal song is the proper national anthem.Jimmy Carter was a nice, good man who epitomized American Christianity’s reduction to Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism.Now the problem with criticizing MTD is that one is accused of being heartless and lacking in compassion for the needy. Attack MTD and you’ll be accused of ignoring the second commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. The charge is a scarecrow—a straw man. Of course Christians are to care for the needy, work for peace and justice, be good stewards of the environment, help the homeless, care for the dying, etc. But while this is what Christians do, it is not Christianity. Christianity is not less than being good. It is more than being good.It should be obvious that Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism is, at best, a reduced form of Christianity (and thus a heresy), for heresy is not a total lie. It is a half-truth.MTD is the ancient heresy of Arianism taken down, dusted off, and remodeled for the modern age. The Arians were famous for being members of the educated, elite, established ruling class. By minimizing (and thus denying) the fullness of the incarnation they fabricated a form of Christianity that was acceptable, respectable, and relatable. Arianism was nice. It recommended good works, helping people and the world to be better, and while it did not explicitly teach Deism, its reduction of the divinity of Christ had the same effect.Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism is therefore not Christianity. It is not even a religion because every religion everywhere in every epoch has been an encounter of human beings with the divine. MTD is not a religion. It is an ideology that is followed by some religious people.More worrisome is the fact that MTD is precisely the sort of “religion” that any worldly totalitarian state would endorse. Recognizing humanity’s instinct for religion, the smart rulers in a totalitarian government would not ban religion. They would promote a “religion” that was no more than MTD. Why? Because who could possibly be opposed to a religion that calls everyone to be nice, compliant and tolerant?— a religion that helps people?—a religion that makes the world a better place?—a religion unencumbered by “superstition, dogma and an unscientific metaphysic?”This, of course, is the attractive ideology of communism: to be good, to help people, to make the world a better place—and to do so without God. John Lennon himself agreed that Imagine could be interpreted as a communist anthem.Maybe the songwriter’s name was misspelled.The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.The featured image is a photograph of John Lennon, as pictured in an advertisement for Imagine from Billboard, 18 September 1971, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.All comments are moderated and must be civil, concise, and constructive to the conversation. Comments that are critical of an essay may be approved, but comments containing ad hominem criticism of the author will not be published. Also, comments containing web links or block quotations are unlikely to be approved. Keep in mind that essays represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Imaginative Conservative or its editor or publisher.I feel like some to many Christians called MTD are maybe more MTT, Moral Therapeutic Theists. They don’t believe in a God who is on a cloud. They think God does intervene sometimes and miracles happen, at least on rare occasions. Said miracles would mostly be ones that make you happier and don’t offend anyone. Still sometimes the hostility to the therapeutic among many Christians strikes me as excessive. Many many of Christ’s miracles were of a healing nature. Like you say it’s more than that though. As for Carter I think the explanation might be less deep than either you or Bishop Barron are thinking. Most people really don’t think of the lyrics to “Imagine.” (Hence the Olympics can play in stadiums full of Muslims without even them caring.) They just think it’s a sweet melody about world peace or something. The atheistic or communist elements slip by them unless pointed out. That might sound silly, but many to most people really don’t listen to lyrics to anything at all closely. Hence in the 1980s I know children sang “My Sharona” but obviously didn’t know it was literally about a grown man nearing 30, I think, lusting for a seventeen year old.Sorry Thomas R, but when I hum Imagine to myself it’s usually the ‘no heaven’ and ‘no religion too’ phrases that usually come to mind. And I am very much a theistic Christian, fully trinitarian, Greek Orthodox! Longenecker did well to mention Arius. But he failed to mention one of the keys to Arianism’s spread: Arius composed songs in which he promoted his theology, especially the phrase “there was a time when he was not.” His songs were sung by people on the streets and in the marketplaces. Never underestimate the power of songs to change people’s minds. The article it seems accurately represented Carter’s version of Christianity.Thomas: I agree with you that some conservatives go overboard in their denunciations of the “therapeutic.” Christ did heal both bodily and spiritually, and as I understand the Eastern Christian tradition tends to regard sin as a sickness or delusion requiring healing.Spot on analysis of the state of secularized and reductionist popular Christianity that is acceptable to the elites and media, and unfortunately, many self professed Christians..The one point I differ with is chracterizing Carter, and his foreign policy efforts as well intentioned and benign. As someone who watched Carter, as a young adult in 1976 to today, Carter was an embittered partisan, who was not “nice”, and was well prepared to malign and abuse those who didn’t share his non benign views, which in his post presidency were vile. He also constantly undermined his successors who didn’t share his hatred of Israel and promotion of anti American dictators and organizations.Even as a teenager back when “Imagine” was released, I felt annoyed by the song, and not just because of its references to no religion or God. There was John Lennon, an extraordinarily wealthy man who owned at least two condos in the Dakota on Central Park West, one of which served as his own private recording studio, telling me to “imagine no possessions.” It’s like “socialist” Bernie Sanders owning three homes. I wish I could afford to be a socialist!Please offer a Mass for repose of the soul of John Lennon. Just on the off chance…Thank you, Father, for these insights into the “Being of Nice”!My Freshman year in college, I roomed with a guy who was always playing that dreary, boring, insipid song on his portable record player. I hated it then; even more so now, and should have moved out. But when you are young, you put up with more things that, later in life, you realize you don’t have to.I wish someone more talented than I, would produce a parody version of “Imagine”. The world deserves it.Wonderful article: “Jimmy Carter Re-Imagined”.Nothing to live or die for. Except for power and possessions.Superlative analysis of Jimmy Carter’s “belief system,” perhaps the best I have read. Previously I had speculated that Carter was lukewarm, but was unaware of some of these details.Moreover, those who insist that Jimmy Carter was a “good” Christian miss many signs that spotlight egoism in his post Presidency endeavors. True, he personally helped built houses for the poor, lived rather simply when not on the world stage, and appeared congenial. Yet, his fervor to be a notable world “peacemaker” often disclosed either gross naïveté or inflated self importance and made ensuing elected persons’ work more difficult if not unsuccessful. Furthermore, only time will reveal if his forefront presence aggravated the Israeli-Palestine resolutions rather than lead to just outcomes. (Hamas is terrorism at its core.)The only way really to discover a person’s belief system is through their own statements or writings. The essay to my mind does not present evidence for the claim that Carter was a Moral Therapeutic Deist other than the fact that Carter apparently chose the Lennon song. It would have been better to present some actual statements of Carter as evidence for his adherence to “MTD.”Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
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