Spencer on Christian Bookstores

Michael Spencer says:

"Evangelical Christianity has evolved into something that I no longer recognize and Christian bookstores are in the forefront of the descent into madness. As a self-identified reformed Christian, I've always known that my relationship with my local Christian retailer was strained, but recent developments have sealed the rift. Whatever is going on in the churches that produce and consume the wares of today's Christian booksellers is wandering a long way from Biblical Christianity.

Today's Christian bookstore is generally devoted to all kinds of junk, relics, trinkets and totems called gifts, but there are still a lot of books. The largest section is usually Christian fiction, the home of hundreds of mediocre and embarrassing forays into bad theology and none-too-subtle preachiness. Next is the personal issues industry, containing Christian excursions into weight loss, finding a mate, raising perfect kids, becoming wealthy and interpreting dreams and voices. Then a generous amount of display space goes to what can only be called 'end of the world fever'. Is there an answer as to why American Christians gulp down hundreds of bizarre, contradictory, mind-numbingly idiotic tomes speculating on the end-of-the-world? I'm up for the discussion if you are.

And then there are lots - and I mean warehouses full - of books that are just insubstantial. No doctrine, all devotion. No depth. Pablum. Cotton Candy. Bubble gum. Idiocy. Every tv and radio preacher has a shelf. Heretics and wackos are welcome. People who would have been burned at the stake in other generations happily sell their latest concoctions as if they were Aquinas. Acres of devotional guides whose pages might as well be blank. Christian celebrities and recording artists are now authors, as if they had anything to say worth hearing. Chicken Soup for the Soul. How to this and How to that. Harry Potter versus the Bible. Guides to finding demons in everything and everyone. This is a carnival that would send Luther screaming from the room.

[...snip...]

I am abandoning Christian bookstores because they have become extensions of the pagan culture in which we live. They market the worst of evangelicalism and pour poison and placebos down the minds of Christians who believe that Christian bookstores are trustworthy. I am swearing them off in protest, but I am swearing them off for the good of my own soul. Thankfully, the internet allows me the opportunity to buy books and music without traveling through this idolatrous wasteland."