MONTERO: Unpacking Spiritual Hegemony

Lil Nas X (LNX) recently dropped his music video MONTERO (Call me by your name). MONTERO is a complex and visually stunning piece that is both entertaining, provocative and pedagogical. His piece was released to the public a little over a week before before Easter which allows us to pay close attention to the religious themes and motifs in his piece that make many people feel seen and make a lot of other people very uncomfortable. This polarized response begs for further inquiry, some people love it, some folks really hate it but let’s unpack some of the reasons why. In the video, which can be viewed here, LNX uses powerful imagery to take his viewers to a place where many religious leaders have condemned him. It’s a place where they’ve condemned me and my queer family so Lil Nas X took us to hell for a visit with “Satan.”

Hell is an interesting, socially and spiritually constructed site. While the world for hell, “Sheol,” means gravesite, “abode for the dead, or a place of darkness where dead people go, hell has taken on new and carceral meanings in American evangelical traditions. Hell is often taught in churches as: (1) the place you go if you’re not saved and (2) a burning infierno where the gnashing of teeth and burning of flesh mark the space with fear, misery and most importantly regret. I remember being a young person in child and having my youth pastor preach about Lazarus, a man burning in hell who just wanted a drop of water off a finger tip to help temporarily ease the terror of hell. 

Looking back on these moments and the Hebrew meaning of “sheol,” I can name off a bunch of moments where the concept or threat of hell was (mis)used in spiritually abusive ways to judge others, dispose of others and other-ize people who live and pray differently. When I think about hell now, I conceptualize it as a state of a mind or the space where you feel the most distance from your loving, higher power. Hell is not about burning furnaces, hell is about how close or far away we feel from our savior and guiding force. Hell is also not a place that people can send you, hell is a state of mind, planted by hegemonic seeds with bloom doom within. The concept of hell is cited often in day-to-day communication yet used very differently every time so Lil Nas X served a musical and cinematic masterpiece on a platter to help us unpack “hell.” 

When we watch this video and reflect, viewers can think about hell,  not just to understand what hell is but also to understand how fear of hell has been used as a means of control and as a source of justification for excommunicating diverse members of our community from churches. As an adult, an activist, an artist and a diversity worker, I know diversity is a gift, not a curse. Diversity helps nuance our understanding of connection, humanity, culture and solidarity by showing us new ways to be with one another in respectful, reciprocal and humanizing ways. In fact Jesus lived in places where many cultures lived and people spoke many different languages. Even later in his life when he was going to Galilee, he chose to pass through Samaria, despite historical conflicts between Jews and Samaritans, because despite different views and complex histories, he wanted to share his love with Samaritans and give his followers a lesson to follow. Often times, churches expel  diverse bodies from religious spaces but Jesus shows us an example of extending our love to folks who are different than what we consider normal or with whom we’ve had conflict. This is an important lesson.

In “Call me by my name,” one of the most iconic moments is when Lil Nas X descends into hell (on a stripper pole in patent leather stiletto boots). When he enters hell, he proceeds to twerk on Stan, take his horns and put them on his own head. This moment has taken social media by a storm and many people have been asking really critical questions. 

The question that’s stuck with me since this video release was “Why is this generation so comfortable disrespecting God? Aren’t y’all scared???”

This question is loaded with so much so I’m going to take it apart with you and see where we end up.

First the question starts with a mixed sentiment of shock, contempt for irreverence and a notion of “disrespecting God.” Let’s unpack those. 

The first part of the question is intergenerational, so it’s comparing likely late millennials and Generation Z to their predecessors reverence. When I think about the generation who preceded me, I think of my parents and grandparents. For me, they were the “no questions asked generation,” my elders took the doctrine from their preachers mouths without question. Questions, “grey areas” or debate were considered blasphemous or a sign of a lack of faith. Although hermeneutics and the hermeneutics circle are important pieces of theological analysis, many people view questioning religious doctrine and norms as taboo, rebellious or even demonic. Often times the answers to questions about God are met with contempt, shame and exclusion. 

The second part of the question brings up “disrespecting God.”‘ This part of the question is most important to me because notions of respect and disrespect are both cultural and temporal which means ideas of what is and isn’t respectful vary greatly by person. What one person sees as disrespectful, another person may see as normative or revolutionary. In addition, it’s not uncommon that people in power claim they’ve been disrespected  when subjugated people disagree with their claims. However, a disagreement isn’t disrespect and conflict is not abuse. So, what does it mean to disrespect God?

Some people think disrespecting God is straying away from norms, whether that’s having a baby out of wedlock, infidelity, stealing, entering queer romantic relationships or not tithing regularly. However, when I look at Mary and her contentious pregnancy with Jesus, the love shared between Naomi and Ruth, the way Abraham laid with Hagar despite his marriage to Sarah, the binary of respect and disrespect is problematized. Maybe disrespecting God is something different. 

Personally, I think disrespecting God is manipulating and misrepresenting God to uphold “normative” ideologies and perpetuate violence against those who live and pray differently from the dominant group. In other words, using God to perpetuate hegemonic harms on others whether that be racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, xenophobia and more. The Bible and the US Christian church have used the Bible to justify slavery, manifest destiny, misogyny, abuse, assault and imperialism yet those actions are never named as “disrespecting God.” Why is that?

This generation, especially Lil Nas X, are speaking up against how churches, politicians and Americans have used God and Christianity to abuse and exclude people from congregations. & he’s using imagery to show them how ironic their condemnation is.

In the Bible, there’s a story of Jesus healing a man in the temple on the sabbath day. He heals the man publicly and doesn’t keep his works secret because he wants to teach his followers a lesson. The lesson is: love is the most important charge of Christianity. While there are many rituals and traditions that make up cultural aspects of the faith, we must never value traditions over the well-being of others. Here Jesus is teaching his followers a lesson about the difference between Pharisees and followers of Christ. He also shows us our charge. Our charge is to love, not to judge. Our call is to love, not to exclude. Our call is to love, not to colonize . Our call is to love, God is the only judge. So when churches threaten their congregations with hell, look down on people who have locs, or women in pants and preach homophobia, this is not the word of God. To claim it is, seems…. kinda disrespectful to God. 

If God made us in their own image filled us with the holy spirit, and commanded us to love, why has the same God been used to justify slavery, terrorism, Donald trump, the Republican Party, genocide, family separation, homophobia and more…? Why aren’t these historical events and figures considered disrespectful towards God and condemned nation wide? It’s time to stop projecting condemnation outwards and examine our own institutions for how they fall short of God’s divine charge.

I don’t think this generation is disrespecting God. I think we’re disrespecting Christian-supremacist cultures that empower Christians to think they’re better than non-Christians. Lil Nas X is pushing us to challenge the Pharisee culture that has plagued churches in the US throughout American history. It’s pushing us to unpack notions of “disrespect,” in the context of spiritual abuse, Christian imperialism and intolerant attitudes towards diversity.

The last part of the question is “aren’t you scared?” This question is really important because it pushed me to think about why I would be scared. Often times we are taught about the God of the Old Testament, the God who expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, the God who flooded the whole world and who almost had Abraham sacrifice Isaac. However, in the New Testament, Jesus is introduced to Christians as a bridge between us and a compassionate, parental God. I was taught Jesus was the last sacrifice that had to be made between humanity and the divine. I was taught that God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son… to benefit all humankind. Those are often two images of God oppose one another between the testaments.  We start the Bible with an authoritarian God and we commence the New Testament With a God who gives us the free will to choose our fate yet loves us unconditionally. As I read the Bible, I learned that God orders our steps, knows the exact number of hairs on our head and has plans for us to prosper and grow wise. As we examine the Bible alongside contemporary moments, we get to know a God that leaves us loving parables and allegories to help guide us towards self-actualization, grace, mercy and forgiveness. 

So, to answer that question of “aren’t you scared???” No, I’m not afraid to connect with God and ask them difficult or critical questions. God is my source of peace so I seek them out to advance my understanding of the world changing around me everyday. I’m not afraid of God because I don’t see my God through the lens of oppressor. My God is my healer, my teacher, my confidante, my supporter. El Roi, El Shaddai, Yahweh, Jehovah-Rapha. 

I know God knows my true heart so when I have a difficult question, I’m not afraid to ask. Because I serve the God who sees, the God who heals, the God who provides. 

Lil Nas X’s video is pushing us to reimagine our connections with spirituality. He’s pushing us to think through complex questions that have been on the tip of our tongues for what feels like eternity. These questions include:

(1) Is spirituality a mechanism of control or a way to free ourselves from secular restrains?

(2) After centuries of telling people with any dimension of difference that “they’re going to hell,” why are so many people mad when people descend to those depths to reveal the institution’s hypocrisy?

(3) Who is really disrespectful, those living their lives authentically or those perpetuating spiritual harm and abuse on folks desperate to connect with a loving creator?

In Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler says we shape God through our words, thoughts, actions and policies and in turn those ideas shape us. (4) How can we release hegemony from spiritual realms so we begin to see God beyond institutional and hegemonic projections?