December 7 was the 72nd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that brought America into World War II. Fervent conspiracy theorists insist that FDR (and by implication scores if not hundreds of other Americans in government) knew in advance specifically of Japan’s designs on Pearl Harbor. But he allowed the killing of 2400 Americans and near destruction of the Pacific fleet so as to stimulate popular outrage that would fuel war support.
During the recent commemoration of JFK’s assassination 50 years ago there were similar reminders of equally devoted conspiracy theorists convinced that a vast web of deceit, including parts of the U.S. Government, orchestrated the murder. Oliver Stone’s inane film popularized this theory. A group called the Christic Institute, now defunct, but once funded by church groups like the United Methodists, tied JFK’s death to a decades long murderous secret government that began with Vice President Richard Nixon in the 1950s and culminated with the Iran Contra affair of the 1980s.
In a similar spirit, Presbyterian theologian and 9-11 “truther” David Ray Griffin has written numerous books on how the U.S. Government actually blew up the World Trade Center and Pentagon to justify endless war. One of his conspiracy potboilers is called The New Pearl Harbor.
Griffin directs The Center for Process Studies at United Methodist Claremont School of Theology in California. He is a disciple of United Methodist theologian John Cobb, a godfather of Process Theology, which denies God’s omnipotence. Instead the impersonal deity is a process of unfolding events permeating the universe. In this cosmology, good and evil coexist and intertwine forever without final resolution. Christ’s role is marginal.
Orthodox Christianity asserts that evil is finite and that God’s righteousness ultimately always triumphs. Process Theologians embrace sweepingly vast conspiracies because they believe evil projects can persist unendingly across generations, gaining in dark power across time. There’s no final Judge. Besides shunning traditional Christianity, Process Theologians shun natural law and common sense, which argue against believing that hordes of ordinary people can sustain unspeakable secrets for decades without once spilling the beans. They have faith in a perfection of evil that does not exist among frail humans.
Baptist theologian Roger Olson of Baylor University recently offers this critique of Process Theology. “Is there anything redeemable in process theology?,” he asks. “Not that I cannot find elsewhere.”
And United Methodist Bishop Will Willimon, from his new Christmas book on the Incarnation, here offers his recent critique of Process theology, which he calls the American version of Hegel’s panentheism.
Process Theology illustrates how aberrant teachings within the church, beyond their own intrinsic falseness, can fuel delusional and destructive misconceptions about a wider reality. Orthodox theology, taught by the universal Church, and confirmed by natural law, always offers a more certain anchor. Unlike Process Theology’s chronic paranoia, Christian orthodoxy, based on Christ’s victory, also assures hope for the future.
Comment by Murray Jorgensen on December 8, 2013 at 5:17 pm
This seems to be an argument of the form “Someone who believes X also believes Y; Y is stupid; so X must be stupid too.”
I doubt that a person’s belief in conspiracy theories has much to do with their theology or lack thereof, I would guess it has more to do with social factors and upbringing.
Comment by Marilyn on December 8, 2013 at 9:16 pm
Where are your comments on the death of Nelson Mandela since the UMC seems to be claiming him? Our pastor began his sermon this morning eulogizing him. I came to hear about Jesus Christ, not Nelson Mandela. Then I just read on the UMC website the reason why our minister thought it was appropriate to sermonize about him. What is your take on this?
Comment by Philip on December 9, 2013 at 8:57 am
Let me explain a rule of basic math to you. One person can’t form a pattern. You only cited one self-identified process theologian who happens to be a conspiracy theorist, then you present process theology only in yours and other critics’ terms without allowing the community to speak for itself once. Big surprise. Hardly a rigorous piece. You’ve not shown evidence of any real correlation at all.
Comment by Tony Heine on December 9, 2013 at 6:44 pm
Nice to know that process theology can make the fringe left into strange-bedfellows of the fringe right Truthers. I guess process theology is good for something, after all.
I had never heard of the term until our ELCA Lutheran church went through the mini re-education camp called “Journey Together Faithfully”. Process theology was featured in that document, but was never called out by name. Our pastor, an orthodox hold-out, named it and defined it when we got to the process theology bits and we were all scratching our heads.