Episode 78 author Paul Kivel

Cass and Dr. Bob interview Paul Kivel, author of many books but today we focus on “Living in the Shadow of the Cross: Understanding and Resisting the Power and Privilege of Christian Hegemony.” Hegemony is defined as aggression or expansionism by a certain group with the intent to achieve domination. Here in the west, we are fish swimming in Christian hegemony. Paul defines it on his website, christianhegemony.org as the everyday, pervasive, and systematic set of Christian values and beliefs, individuals and institutions that dominate all aspects of our society through the social, political, economic, and cultural power they wield. Nothing is unaffected by Christian hegemony (whether we are Christian or not) including our personal beliefs and values, our relationships to other people and to the natural environment, and our economic, political, education, health care, criminal/legal, housing, and other social systems.  Christian hegemony as a system of domination is complex, shifting, and operates through the agency of individuals, families, church communities, denominations, parachurch organizations, civil institutions, and through decisions made by members of the ruling class and power elite.  Christian hegemony benefits all Christians, all those raised Christian, and those passing as Christian. However the concentration of power, wealth, and privilege under Christian hegemony accumulates to the ruling class and the predominantly white male Christian power elite that serve its interests. All people who are not Christian, as well as most people who are, experience social, political, and economic exploitation, violence, cultural appropriation, marginalization, alienation and constant vulnerability from the dominance of Christian power and values in our society. Christian hegemony operates on several levels. At one level is the internalization of dominant western Christian beliefs and values by individuals in our society. Another level is the power that individual preachers, ministers and priests have on people’s lives. Particular churches and some Christian denominations wield very significant political and economic power in our country. There is a vast network of parachurch organizations, general tax-supported non-profits such as hospitals, broadcasting networks, publishing houses, lobbying groups, and organizations like Focus on the Family, Prison Fellowship, The Family, World Mission, and thousands of others which wield influence in particular spheres of U.S. society and throughout the world. Another level of Christian dominance is within the power elite, the network of 7-10,000 predominantly white Christian men who control the largest and most powerful social, political, economic, and cultural institutions in the country. And finally there is the level which provides the foundation for all the others–the long and deep legacy of Christian ideas, values, practices, policies, icons, and texts that have been produced within dominant western Christianity over the centuries. That legacy continues to shape our language, culture, beliefs, and values and to frame public and foreign policy decisions. Christian dominance has become so invisible that its manifestations appear to be secular, i.e. not religious. In this context, the phrase “secular Christian dominance” might be most appropriate, Christian hegemony under the guise of secularism. Of course, there are many forms of Christian fundamentalism which are anything but secular. Often fundamentalists want to create some kind of theocratic state. But the more mainstream, everyday way that dominant Christian values and institutions influence our lives and communities is less evident, although no less significant and certainly not limited to fundamentalists.

Paul is also the author of: 
“Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice” 
“Men's Work: How to Stop the Violence That Tears Our Lives Apart” 
“Making the Peace: A 15-Session Violence Prevention Curriculum for Young People” 
“You Call This a Democracy?”

www.paulkivel.com 
www.christianhegemony.org

We taped this conversation on Nov. 16th, 2015. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn and most podcast platforms.  If you’re feeling grateful for our podcast, Patreon.com is like a per episode tip jar for our work.

Credits: 
"Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU 
Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson 
All other music is by Cass Midgley

I also want to take this moment to thank my co-host Bob Pondillo. Not only is he one of my very best friends in the world, but what he brings to this show is invaluable. I’m not saying anything our listeners don’t already know, but Bob’s personality and perspective never fails to color every conversation with that unique Bobness. It’s enough that he’s a walking encyclopedia but a deeply empathic human soul as well who seems to always insert quips and comments that add wisdom and context to my often naïve callowness. We all know this show would not be the same without him, nor the cache and value that his scholarship and wit bring. I love you, Bob and thanks so much for doing this podcast with me. I’m forever grateful.   --Cass Midgley

Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is.