Faith Among The Faithless: 10-Day Reading PlanMuestra

For the Babylonians, exile was the catalyst for immersion and assimilation. In our day, geographical exile isn’t necessary. Immersion happens through mass culture—television, movies, music, social media, and ever-evolving mobile technology. These forces not only work on our imaginations through stories and ideas, they change the way we live our lives.

Consider how constant access to information and entertainment has reshaped the way we live. If you’re old enough to have been an adult without a smartphone, you know what I mean. There was once a time when we weren’t perpetually accessible and where entertainment and information weren’t a tap away. A trip to the doctor’s office or a ride in a taxi or an airplane ran the risk of being dull or cut off from your community. Today, you are accessible in so many ways: phone calls, text messages, emails, and instant messages from any number of social media platforms. Your life is on display as well, and that knowledge—that people are paying attention to what you do on Facebook, Twitter, and the rest—gives ordinary life a performative quality.

I see this in myself. Attending a concert or going to a restaurant isn’t just a chance to see music or eat a great meal; it’s a chance to tell people that I’m doing these things. And that is part of life in our particular version of Babylon. We feel as though we’re on TV all the time. And all of this can easily be dismissed as silly or fun; in reality, it’s soul shaping. . . .

Our thoughtless participation in a consumeristic culture of perpetual entertainment is as clear a sign as any of our assimilation into our own secular Persia. We can sprinkle holy water on it by throwing Christian media consumerism into the mix (Christian media, books, conferences, etc.) and by enshrining Christian celebrities alongside the Miley Cyruses of the world, but ultimately, most of us are deeply ingrained in a soul-forming way of life in service of consumption, distraction, and idolatry.