Tennessee and idiocy...

I just finished a discussion with a friend on Facebook about Bill Ketron's rediculous bill to outlaw the practice of Shariah in Tennessee. I decided to move the conversation here, since I think it is a valuable one, and one some may wish to comment on. So, here goes!

Original post:

War Room: Tennessee lawmaker would make practicing Islamic law a felony

www.salon.com

Tennessee state senator Bill Ketron introduced a bill to make practicing Shariah law a felony equal to treason

Jeremy Spiers Sometimes I think Tennessee is awesome... and sometimes I am reminded that we, too, have our share of total idiots...

Clifton Holloway So where do you apply the awesome comment and where do you apply the idiot comment...Where do you stand?

Frank W Callo You don't make religious practice a felony, period. Anyone who claims to be against big government intervention should be against this. You can't be against big government when it is convenient for you, i.e., when it is YOUR private affairs that they seek to regulate and for it when it is the private affairs of someone you disagree with.

Jeremy Spiers

Sorry for the late post... just got back to a working computer!

Good question, Clifton... I'll try to lay out exactly how I feel about the current fear over the insidious attack of "Sharia Law" =:-) --- nothing said, by the way, is directed ...at you or anyone else in particular, especially since I don't know your position... so I'm not making any assumptions from your question - just answering the question

OK... the very idea that a nation such as ours could POSSIBLY make religious practices illegal without becoming essentially fascist is asinine. The attempts to prevent Muslims from practicing "Sharia Law" are at best misguided in their ignorance of what Sharia is; or at worst, racist, bigoted, and/or anti-religious folly.

- Disclaimer: Before I get accused of being a shill for terrorists or a fool who doesn't understand "real" Islam, I should explain that I have studied Islam (as a comparative religions scholar) for a couple of years and have friends that are Liberal, democratic, peace-loving, and Muslim, (some of whom are as American as you or me) - I should also explain that I know Muslims that are racist, pathetic, whiny, and/or bigoted... in other words, they are just about the same as every other group of individuals that I know =:-) -

At any rate, Sharia is part and parcel of Islam. The harm that has resulted in some areas and instances from Sharia is caused by particular understandings of or interpretations of Sharia. Outlawing Sharia to prevent undesirable practices simply won't work, as it will never stand up in court.

SO... if a politician doesn't want to see women beaten or thinks that people shouldn't be forced by their family to dress in certain ways, then they should make laws to prevent THAT, and work with members of the Muslim intelligentsia and rank-and-file who are working against the same things.

To outlaw Sharia as such means almost nothing. In a country such as ours, you can't stop someone from purchasing certain foods, washing their bodies in certain ways, or going to a religious figure for counseling on family matters. That would be like a law outlawing Jewish dietary practice or forbidding Apostolic Pentecostals from teaching their children to wear gender appropriate and modest clothing... It simply can't be done without giving up more personal freedom than Americans are willing to part with. --- the time at which this ceases to be true is the time in which I will do everything I can to leave this country and go somewhere that still values religious freedom.

The current fear-mongering that equates Sharia with some insidious force which will sneak up on us and capture us is exactly that... fear-mongering. It is the equivalent of the claim that Native Americans were savages which needed to be forced into Christian schools away from their parents in order to be "civilized," or the fears bandied about during the civil rights movement that black males were all looking for chances to rape white women. At the heart of it is fear - fear of losing political power, fear that one's own God isn't big enough to compete with someone else's, fear of the unknown, or even fear that one won't be re-elected. People that are frightened by it should probably do two or three things... go meet some Muslims in their community and ask them about these fears as well as these Muslims' own fears; get some books by objective scholars that teach about the Muslim world; and read some actual texts by Muslims - both the more liberal members of the community as well as others - then make up their own mind.

At the heart of these types of fears is lack of knowledge, community, and relationships. Anyone who conquers these sources of fear will find that - just like every other group of people they are familiar with- they like some things about Islam and dislike others; they like some Muslims, and dislike others; and they agree with some Muslims about important issues, and disagree with others.

I reject attempts to limit the religious freedom of others, I reject attempts - based on ignorance - to demonize people I know and have close relationships with, and I wholeheartedly reject the fear from which these attempts arise.

... I guess this statement will sit well with some and less well with others... especially those who think Rush is Right. However, this is the great thing about our country, and I hope we keep being known for this liberty, rather than one day being know for fear, ignorance, and fascism.

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From Wikipedia, but based on good references, here is a pretty decent analysis of fascism...

"Fascists believe that a nation is an organic community that requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong. They claim that culture is created by the collective national society and its state, that cultural ideas are what give individuals identity, and thus they reject individualism. Viewing the nation as an integrated collective community, they see pluralism as a dysfunctional aspect of society, and justify a totalitarian state as a means to represent the nation in its entirety."

Clifton Holloway

I wonder how many Christians have committed acts, such as flying a jet airplane into a building full of innocent Muslims? The point I am trying make is, yes, people are afraid, but they're not afraid of change, well maybe some, but i think... most are afraid of another attack similar, or worse than the previous one. Every one has their guard up, as they did after the bombing of Pear Harbor. It is very unfortunate that a small group of people have created this identity for the whole. But when it is said, that it was done in the name of their god, then anyone that worships in the name of their god is a suspect. After the David Koresh incident, people started calling Christians, fanatics, cults and so on. Once again there was a small group people creating a bad identity of the whole. Unfortunately this idea says that any devout, conservative christian might have an arsenal of weaponry, and militia, ready for big government to come and take away their basic rights as humans. Obviously this is a false picture that was painted about all conservative Christians. I just believe that for the most part, people do not believe that Islam is at peace toward Americans and/or Christians, and that most people are afraid of being attacked again. If a 9/11 were to happen to to a group of, predominantly Muslim believers, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, then the fear would be in reverse, and all Christians would be a suspect of another similar attack. I do not listen to Rush. He's a trouble maker that stirs up mischief, and very arrogant.

Jeremy Spiers

Well, I agree with much of that, but my point is about equating "Shariah Law" with "Terrorist"... it simply isn't so, and you can't make the religious practices of 1/3 of the world's population equivilent to treason, which is what this idio...t was calling for. And, of course, I assume you are very narrowly defining Christianity in this case, since self identified Christians around the world have routinely committed terrorist and/or violent acts =:-) Religion is part and parcel of culture, and often used as an excuse for violence. Just as we would argue that "real Christians" wouldn't bomb women and children in Ireland, pour acid on their children's faces to drive out demons, or force their underage daughters into arranged marriages, many MANY Muslims (and importantly Muslim leaders) have repeatedly said that those who bombed the WTC, those who beat women for not wearing a burqua, and those who shoot up buses in Palestine are not "real Muslims."

My main point is that by identifying Shariah as the problem and trying to outlaw it, the legislator in question exhibits an almost unbelievable level of ignorance. Shariah includes such things as rules for fasting, dietary practices, washing rituals, relationship rules, guidlines to prayer, guidance on the use of drugs and alcohol, etc. These things are religious practices and ideas, and as such cannot be equated to treason without eliminating our freedom of religious practice.

What COULD be passed legally, though I believe it to be unnecessary would be a law that forbid the INSTITUTIONALIZATION of Shariah law for non-Muslims in a state or country, though if any country ever had a majority of conservative Muslims large enough to actually vote in Shariah law, then such a regulation would be a moot point.

I agree that people are afraid of being attacked, but fear of attack has led to horrendous attrocities and loss of freedoms in the past (consider the massacre of native American women and children, the internment and subsequent deaths of Japanese Americans during WWII, and the lynching of Blacks after the civil war) and simply put, we should at some point learn from our mistakes, and quit having these rediculous knee-jerk reactions to our fears!

Also, people need to get over their panic. Reactionary rhetoric spreads fear and hate, and doesn't make us ONE BIT safer. What has made us safer is our nation's attempts to work with Muslim nations to prevent the growth of violent sects inside their borders, the whistle blowing by Muslims which has led to the capture of terrorists, and the renewed interest among Americans to get to know their neighbors and fellow travelers in order to make intelligent decisions regarding their own safety and security.

The point I am making about Shariah is perhaps best illustrated by an example. When the Oklahoma City bombing happened, it is true that many began to fear almost all fundamentalist and conservative Christians. What did NOT happen, however, is any member of government daring to suggest that we should make such things as fasting, foot-washing, pastoral marriage counseling, and modest clothing treasonous. The comparison is not exact, but it is very close, and does explain why it is absolutely impossible to enforce such a law in a country such as ours.

In the end, the fact remains that such a law, even if passed, would result in almost immediate dismissal by even the most conservative of courts as it is entirely unconstitutional. Then, Tennessee would look ridiculous... which brings us back to where we started. Tennessee is awesome, but it does, indeed, have its share of idiots!

Clifton Holloway

I didn't say that this fear was right. I only wanted to point out that most people are not afraid of change, as you stated. Most are afraid of being attacked again. If the majority of American people were afraid of change, then we would hav...e never voted in a President of the African descent. "Change "is the platform that Obama stood on so firmly. I never said that I agreed or disagreed regarding this bill. I just don't want people to think that the motives of the ones pushing for it, were not driven with bigotry, hate, fascism, and fear of change. It is a defense. After someone breaks into a house, people usually take countermeasures to prevent it from happening again. Laws are written, so that there is a penalty for someone breaking into your home. This group of Muslims flew those planes and committed terror in the name of their God, for religious purposes. So, now you are seeing people do things such as this, to prevent this from happening again. The other thing is, that we as Americans, haven't gotten any closure for the acts that was committed on 9/11. The politicians all know this. The people responsible haven't been caught, and there isn't any justice for the innocent women, men, and children that perished that day. Politicians feel that it is there job to make the American people feel safe again, so they present bills similar to this one to get that result. The sad part is that this bill will not bring back the many innocent people that were killed on 9/11. I want justice. I want the people that did this, brought in. I think that if the people that did this were brought to justice, then most of these pathetic countermeasures would stop. Its just another way for the government to try and give us closure and/or justice when what we want is the ones responsible for it. It will have been ten years and still no justice. This will be my last post regarding this matter.

Jeremy Spiers

Just so we're clear, none of this is aimed at you, so please don't take it personal. I actually agree with most of what you've said, with a few qualifications. I agree that closure would have helped quite a lot, and I would say that topplin...g Saddam was no substitute for catching Osama and bringing him to justice.

I do disagree about fear of change. I never said that a majority of Americans fear change (which is why I don't think this bill will pass), but I DO think a good chunk of the population is fearful of change at one level or another. All I have to do is listen to the rhetoric of my extended friend and family group to know that! Also, I believe that there are many bigoted people (I've met a lot, from all groups including conservatives, liberals, Christians, and Muslims), but I think this bigotry is a direct result of the fear and lack of knowledge that afflicts our generation. Unfortunately, this fear and lack of knowledge is not addressed by our leaders, who are busy spreading their own forms of fear to get re-elected, or our media, which is busy finding the most sensational version of events out there as to present as "the truth!"

Your scenario about a house break-in is accurate, but the laws were made directly after 9-11.... increases in laws against terrorist activities, the creation of the Homeland Security Department, etc. The laws being passed now are aimed at individuals who, for the most part, have no relationship whatsoever with, and disagree with, terrorism of any type. THAT, I would contend, is due either to colossal ignorance or extreme bigotry. I don't think people like the legislator Bill Ketron are looking for closure or justice... I think he is a bigoted Jack-ass! Otherwise, he would have followed the lead of surrounding states and attempted to outlaw the use of Shariah law in our courts and law system, not its use in the lives of individuals! His bill would require the attorney generals office to investigate individuals and groups that prayed in certain ways, washed their bodies or certain ways, or practiced certain dietary laws. That is a law against religious practices, is unconstitutional, it is rooted in a fascist mentality, and if passed (which it won't be) would say some very sad things about our state.

To carry your example to a logical conclusion, an appropriate response to a break-in would be better locks, a shotgun, and lobbying for stiffer penalties for thieves... an inappropriate response would be finding out which religion the thief was, then declaring everyone of that religion evil, no matter what they say or practice, then outlawing all practice of their religion. It simply doesn't make sense, and can only be, as I said, a result of fear and/or bigotry.... it certainly isn't a logical reaction!

In the end, I think discussions like this are extremely profitable. Taking positions on political issues always creates high feelings, but open-minded discourse helps all participants expand and elucidate upon how they feel about these issues. In fact, I wouldn't have ever presented my views on this bill so thoroughly if you hadn't asked me about it, and I doubt you would have thought about it as much either! To be clear, I think that you are a thinker, not a close minded bigot, which is why I really wasn't aiming any part of my comments at you.

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If I get any more responses, I will move them here, or feel free to respond here.

Just for Fun... And the END OF THE WORLD

I had to write a paper for Dr. Kelly Baker's class on Apocalypse early this week, and I had a little fun with it. So, I am posting it here, for better or for worse, and If she has some critical comments, I may post them as well when I get it back, and YOU can criticize it too, if you want to!

[Warning... it's really long, and I included the bibliography except for the last one which somehow got cut off]

So, without further ado, here it is...


Hope Through Horror: Five Examples in Media of How Portrayals of Apocalypse Demonstrate Hopeful Themes

In our class on Apocalypse in American Culture, we have addressed many of the key concepts embodied in the popular visions of “Apocalypse” and other forms of millennial thought. Through pop culture, films, stories, books, and articles, we have seen the ways in which – as Amy Frykholm would have it – “evangelical belief, symbolism, and… apocalypticism has seeped into American culture” (Frykholm, p. 27), and we have been exposed to the deepest and darkest corners of the American fascination with apocalypses and the millennium. In this revelatory process we have seen that, while visions of the apocalyptic variety almost inevitably include destruction and death (either implied or explicit), their greater purpose is not necessarily warning but, as William Katerberg reminds us, they are also “about redemption and hope, as the end of an old, sinful unjust world prepares the way for the creation of a new one” (Katerberg, p. 160) Through the use of five media portrayals, we will demonstrate some of the ways in which this saturation of apocalyptic thought into popular American culture has been used (more or less subtly) to portray a vision of hope on the other side of destruction – no matter how much that destruction might be deserved.

Æon Flux
“Now we can move forward… to live once, for real. And then give way, to people who might do it better. To live only once, but with hope. (Æon Flux, Æon Flux)

Æon Flux (loosely based on the MTV animated series of the same name) is not, strictly speaking, an apocalyptic film. Instead, it deals with the concept of a dystopic post-apocalyptic future in which the citizenry is unknowingly being cloned to continue the species in lieu of the ability to actually reproduce on their own – due to the vaccine for an unidentified virus called “The Industrial Disease.” The conflict in this film arises from the decision of the leadership to kill women who were becoming naturally pregnant in order to maintain their place as an essentially immortal benevolent intelligentsia. Of interest to our discourse, however, are the particular versions of hope and horror evident in this beautifully portrayed post-apocalyptic tale.

While the hope in the film is not always directly in one’s face, neither is the horror. The film, though full of violence, is set in a veritable utopia gone slightly sour on the outside and completely rotten on the inside. Thus, the horror which one perceives lives on in beautiful settings and is often only revealed only in references to past events, glimpses of character flaws, or dreamily rendered images of loss, separation, or simply disjointed wrongness. Most tellingly, almost all of the evil and wrong that exists in the film (past or present) arises from mankind’s attempts to modify or correct nature. While we are not shown the root cause of the disease that devastates mankind, the name “Industrial Disease” hints at its origins. Likewise, the attempt to save humanity results in infertility for the species; the act of restoring fertility via cloning and experimentation leads to loss and mental disorders; and the imposition of order on organic society leads to megalomania and murder. Nature is kept at bay with toxic chemicals, and violence is often perpetuated via body modifications or genetically modified plants. Conversely, hope is portrayed through the beauty of nature unmodified. Pregnancy, death, and even chaos are eventually seen as the vehicles by which hope arises. Interestingly violence is portrayed as necessary to reverse the mistakes which mankind has made, though one is left with the feeling that perhaps violence and destruction are part and parcel of the same natural processes which allow hope to survive despite human attempts to derail it – well intended or not as those attempts may be.

For Christians, Elves and Lovers

“Enter His courts, enter with praise. Praise God the Father, the Son He did raise Spread the message from coast to coast. Every boy and girl can have the Holy Ghost.”
(All Saved Freak Band – 100th Psalm)


For Christians, Elves and Lovers (FCEL) by the All Saved Freak Band is a compilation with a millennial and specifically apocalyptic message. Aside from the importance of the band as one of the very first “Jesus Music” and “Christian Rock” bands, the fame of their ex-James Gang lead guitarist Glenn Schwartz, the groups tragic past as members of the Church of The Risen Christ commune founded by Larry Hill, the subsequent loss of band members to accidents due to sleep deprivation and electric shock, and their demise along with the collapse of their highly controversial commune; the album itself deserves respect as probably the only Christian album designed specifically to tie together Christian evangelism and “what [J. R. R.] Tolkein believed about the Gospel and God, and their relationship to fantasy… the real world, angels, men, and elves” (FCEL, liner notes). The album itself is fairly upbeat and produced in the bands usual style – which Rachel Khong of the Yale Herald called “part folk, part garage, part psychedelic, part blues and part who-knows-what" (All Saved Freak Band, Home Page). References to common themes in American apocalyptic thought abound throughout the album: the love song “You Haunt My Mind” references John’s vision in “Revelation” of a city “coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” and the dark “The Theme of the Fellowship of the Ring” uses Tolkien’s words as a vehicle to introduce a dark force of which we are asked, “Can we do as well in this hour, [and] destroy its power?” (FCEL).1

More importantly, however, the lyrics hold dire warnings of the eschatological collapse which the band saw coming. The opening song calls upon the trope of Biblical martyrdom through references to Stephen’s death at the hands of the Sanhedrin. “We are chosen people to do a task, and we're gonna meet the devil someday when he takes off his mask,” it warns, “Soon the hour will come, it's gonna get very, very dark” (FCEL, “Stephen”). Due to the albums evangelistic purpose, however, we hear in the album a deeper message of hope. “He's [God’s] gonna give the power to some,” Mike Berkey croons, “the light will shed forth in your heart.” After all, if we take heed, we “still have a choice” to be saved (FCEL, “Stephen”). In fact, the song “Old Man Daniel” reminds us that we too can reach heaven and avoid destruction if we can “finally learn to pray” (FCEL). Coming out of a world freshly exposed to Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth and from under a strong-willed commune leader who had visions of an invasion by China and the USSR (Terry, “The Journey to Heal”), it is amazing that these new converts had hope, but hope they proclaimed, and despite the horror which they thought was to come, hope they believed in.

The Parable of the Sower

"A unifying, purposeful life here on Earth, and the hope of heaven for themselves and their children. A real heaven, not mythology or philosophy. A heaven that will be theirs to shape.”
(Lauren Oya Olamina, The Parable of the Sower)

In The Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler leads us into a world peopled by the survivors (and non-survivors) of an apocalypse which has left the West Coast where her heroine lives and prepares for the inevitable destruction of her home and family in a state of cultural, societal, financial, and legal disarray. When the destruction of her family’s compound is realized, she sets out with two companions through the post-apocalyptic landscape to America’s North-western coast where she begins to see her dreams of a peaceful humanistic society realized. Though we see the despair in the hyper-empathic Lauren’s presentient musings, we are immediately introduced to the hope implicit in the story, as she “discovers” the god that she will follow, and thus the path she will embark upon to create a religion that will change the world and create a future for the human race.

Butler’s work is particularly interesting in that the post-apocalyptic landscape inhabited by her characters is created through a series of what appears to be highly plausible “mini-apocalypses.” Unlike many visions of apocalypse in popular culture, Butler provides us with a world in which what might be considered somewhat “ordinary” crises combine to create an effect which is usually visualized as the result of large scale destruction in more traditional versions of pop-ocalypse. Of more importance to our purposes, however, is the vision of hope which she buries under extremely graphic rape, pillage, murder, and starvation. Through her masterful first-person narrating of the tale, Butler manages to show us a message, path, and plan of created hope via the voice of her juvenile prophetess of doom.

Rocky Flats Gear

“We are bathed in radiation from a variety of sources both natural and man-made, we are trying to do our small part to improve general health and enhance dignity. Thank you for your interest in our products.” (Rocky Flats Gear, Home Page)

Rocky Flats Gear and their radiation proof underwear first came to my attention through a link on the website of Coast to Coast AM, a radio show dedicated to “UFOs, strange occurrences, life after death and other unexplained phenomena” (Coast to Coast AM, Home Page). The article referenced was a piece from CBS News in which Rocky Flats Gear describes their new underwear “that purportedly prevent the [new TSA] scanners from peeping at your privates” (“Thanksgiving Wishes,” CBS News). Upon visiting the website of the company itself, however, I found that the story was a bit deeper – provided us a glimpse of yet another way in which apocalyptic thought and language has crept into American Culture.

While underwear advertisements are the last place one might expect to find references to the Bible, apocalypse, and atomic weapons; this company’s website – advertising inventor Jeff Buske’s anti-radiation undies – has it all. The blurb at the top of the page provides us this highly commercialized version of horror and hope in two short paragraphs. “Background radiation has increased over the decades from atomic weapons testing, coal power plants,... industrial accidents, medical/security imaging, and use of depleted uranium munitions,” the site trumpets, “putting us all at greater cancer risk and generational DNA damage.” (Rocky Flats Gear, “Home Page”) However, Rocky Flats Gear’s fig leaf imprinted underwear (Bible reference alert!) can provide us with the hope that we need, since their “novel products can protect tissues from a broadband of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation,” and provide us for the first time “radiological shields [that] are attractive, durable, affordable, fun, and comfortable to wear” (Rocky Flats Gear, “Home Page”)

Dilbert
“The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers. So you really want to avoid being, let’s say, in mobile home number 1,000,000 in the year 2000.” (Dogbert, Dilbert)

While a comic strip might seem an unlikely choice to demonstrate my theme of apocalyptic hope through horror, I found the Dilbert strips from March 24-26, 1994 to give an excellent example of the ways in which this concept has entered into our popular discourse. In these episodes, Dilbert creator Scott Adams uses the voice of his highly cynical Dogbert character to humorously voice popular fears surrounding apocalypse. Based on the premise that people must fear large round numbers, Dogbert begins to terrorize various Dilbert characters with threats of apocalypse in the year 2000 – either for simple fun or for financial gain.

While Dogbert does indeed offer hope of a sort to his victims (by avoiding mobile homes numbered 1,000,000 for example, or giving up all their money – to Dogbert – since money is evil and the world is ending), this hope is – of course – completely fallacious and for humorous intent. However, behind this very skeptical humor lies the real hope which Scott Adams gives us. Dogbert, in allowing us to see the absurdity of the apocalyptic narratives which so many of us buy into, offers us the chance to think… about ourselves, our fears, and the panacea’s provided to us by those who we should treat skeptically. In the end, this is perhaps the best hope of all.

Conclusion
“WELL DONE… YOU’RE FIRED” (God, to David Koresh)

Apocalyse is part and parcel of the social and cultural world in which we, as Americans, live and breathe. Of this we can be certain, and from this there is no escape visible in the near future. But while – like the proverbial poor – apocalypse may always be with us, there is nothing preventing us from having a little fun with it. In the end, this is what we have. As Amy Frykholm points out, American apocalypticism… provides the material out of which we make the world,” and it “shapes our stories about America itself and… the direction and meaning of the world.” (Frykholm, p. 14) However, as this selection of media demonstrates, part and parcel of the apocalyptic package we are offered includes HOPE. The hope is often barely imaginable, just out of reach, and poorly described; but this is perhaps simply a result of the function of hope itself. Hope is by its very nature often ineffable and incomprehensible, but thanks to the (apocalyptic) stories we tell ourselves, it is also inevitable. For this, I am thankful.

Adams, Scott. "Dilbert - Search Results for 'end World'" Dilbert Archive. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. .

Aeon Flux. Dir. Karyn Kusama. Prod. Gale Anne Hurd, David Gale, Gary Lucchesi, Gregory Goodman, and Martha Griffin. By Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. Perf. Charlize Theron, Marton Csokas, and Jonny Lee Miller. Paramount Pictures Corporation, 2005. Netflix.

All Saved Freak Band. For Christians, Elves and Lovers. Rock the World Enterprises, 1976. Vinyl recording.

"The All Saved Freak Band (Home Page)." All Saved Freak Band. Web. 28 Nov. 2010.
.

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. New York: Warner, 2000.

Frykholm, Amy Johnson. "The Rapture in America." Rapture Culture: Left behind in
Evangelical America. Oxford, England: Oxford UP, 2004.

"Home Page." Coast to Coast AM. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. .

Jaslow, Ryan. "Thanksgiving Wishes: TSA-Proof Underwear for Travelers - Health Blog – CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS
News. CBS News. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. 20023795-10391704.html>.

Katerberg, William H. "Transcendent Horizons and the Redemption of Time." Future West: Utopia and Apocalypse in Frontier Science Fiction. Lawrence: University of Kansas, 2008.

"Rocky Flats Gear protect your heath, privacy and dignity." Rocky Flats Gear protect your heath, privacy and dignity. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.
.

Terry, Shelley. "The Journey to Heal." - ExChristian.Net - Ar

Anger and Other Things

I have just finished reading a blog post that everyone should read. Hugh Hollowell has managed to capture the deep down unease which so many of us feel when we are truly aware of, and in relationship/conversation with, those whom our society ignores or considers irrelevant. (Here is the link, for those who wish to check it out.)

Though I am in no wise in a class with this inner city minister who runs Love Wins Ministries,I can relate. The sheer ignorance and lack of compassion that I see every day can be daunting. It is, in the end, one of the reasons I left organized religion, and it is one of the reasons I sometimes am almost debilitated by the unbelievable size of the task that lies in front of us if we are to see real change.

I can relate to the worry. Realizing suddenly that an recovering addict (and true friend) has disappeared again on the street and I haven't heard from them for several days, sitting in a council meeting where the (rich white) business owners are allowed by our (now governor elect) mayor and the city board to pass a massively unpopular bill to tell (specifically homeless) people they can't sit on the sidewalk in front of the shelters where they spend their nights and eat their meals, trying to decide how to teach my kids to not just care, but CARE, wondering if my chosen educational track will allow me at some point to create true Change.

I can relate to the sadness and sometimes almost shocking sorrow. When the 4 year old who escaped with her family from the violence in the Congo looks at me with big eyes as I help her mother set up a donated computer and asks "are you going to hurt me?" When I read (on the Internet because it doesn't make the news) of massive public rape and killing of innocent civilians in Guinea and realize that no one I tell that day really even cares, when I read Bishop McLeod Baker Ochola's appeals for peace and reconciliation (to whoever will listen) in Northern Uganda knowing that his wife and daughter are dead because no one in the Western world could be bothered by a dirty war in which tens of thousands have died (His daughter committed suicide after being abducted and gang raped.)

And I can relate at times to the anger. Having a pastor reject my notion that recovering victims of the war in Uganda deserve help ("Aren't they pagans?") or that we should try to help the needy in a nearby city ("don't you go down there?"), seeing the legislative changes that help the underdogs (laws that have been sweated and fought and prayed over) burdened with so many changes, amendments, requirements, and licensing fees that they only benefit well off old ladies on the "good" end of town, reading the manifesto of David Adkisson and realizing that he had allowed the conservative values that I grew up with and loved (the ones that taught me to value family, to value individuals for who they were, to distrust hegemonic authority) become so perverted in his mind that he felt he had to open fire on children during a production of Annie Jr.

But there are rewards as well. Just recognizing that people like Hugh Hollowell exist, watching the documentary of Transcendence Gospel Choir as they worship God in between dual worlds where they don't really fit, knowing that my friend has been clean for over a year, realizing that the 4 year old from Congo (and her big sister, and her new born sister, and her mother, and her father) actually have a chance to live free of fear now, sitting with my (spiritual) brothers and sisters in a living room and singing/worshiping/testifying/loving, listening to a room full of students discuss religion and intolerance and how they can possibly make a difference, seeing a "like" on a really important issue on Facebook, simply knowing that dialogue is happening, a few want to make a difference, a few care. Sometimes, this is enough

The task is not insurmountable, the odds are not too great, our numbers are not too small. In the end I must find comfort in the words of the great (and pretty "progressive" for his time) Apostle Paul: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8:31

This week I began reading Lift High the Cross by Ann Burlein. Her book, subtitled “Where White Supremacy and the Christian Right Converge,” attempts to use the presumed core beliefs of the Christian Identity movement and James Dobson's Focus on the Family to demonstrate that the supposedly benevolent Christian Right comes from the same roots – and shares many core values with – the White Supremacist movements led by such “ministers” as Christian Identity's Pete Peters.

I must admit that, as I began to read, I started with a deep ambivalence about the core thesis of the book. Though I would stylize myself now more as a “Progressive Libertarian,” I come from a conservative pentecostal family with a history of deep involvement in the Republican party. (My own credentials as a member of the 90's Christian Right are strong. As a child I stood on street corners holding abortion protest signs, and as a young college student I was heavily involved in the movement in Maine to prevent “sexual orientation” being added as a protected class to the state's bill of rights.) Although it is true that I have since moved to a much more politically ambiguous position, I have always seen myself as a very “tolerant” person... even before I began my major in comparative religions and left the world of established religion for the much more open interpretations of life and religion inherent in the “emergence” circles in which I increasingly find myself functioning these days!

However, as I read on, I found myself agreeing that Burlein's main point was justified – if not all of interpretations leading to her conclusion. In fact, as I read her background research on the Christian Identity movement, I found that many of the practices and methodologies inherent in the movement were extremely familiar to me from my Apostolic Pentecostal background and did, in fact, present some of the same issues which led to my separation from organized Apostolic circles. As Burlein elucidated upon the scriptural re-interpretations necessary for Peters' ideas to have legitimacy, the creation of “countermemories” which allow for the revisualizing of Biblical narratives to fit the worldview held by a particular group, and the ways in which Peters sets up an “ideal” version of masculinity and femininity which can never be truly met, I found myself recognizing many of the sources of my own discomfort within the Pentecostal tradition. This was truly brought home when Burlen pointed to the fact that Christian Identity's beliefs in Whites as Israelites were shared by Charles Parnham and that the movement began in San Francisco, birthplace of Pentecostalism!

All of this is, of course, separate from the actual racism, sexism, and genderism inherent in Apostolic circles. As a member of several churches, I had had my share of uncomfortable experiences in this department. When my childhood pastor justified the current state of Blacks in the South by using the “Ham/Canaan” narrative, when another pastor described his curly hair as being from some “ooga booga” in his blood line, when it was suggested in front of visitors who I brought to church that the “homosexual problem” could be solved by putting all of the “male gays” on one island and all of the lesbians on another, or when my wife was labeled as rebellious for asking doctrinal questions which were perfectly legitimate for myself to ask, I found myself repeatedly justifying these actions as local cultural foibles which were not representative of the actual doctrinal narratives of the overall “church” to which we belonged. However, the fear of the “other” inherent in these discourses has never made sense to me. In many ways, my search as an “Emergent Apostolic” has been to hold to the good in the socio/religious culture that is my heritage while somehow freeing myself and my family from the sexist, racist, and bigoted views which make up so much of the current dialogue.

In this, I find myself sympathizing with Dr. Dobson who – though tarred with much the same brush by Burlein – is attempting in his own way to create this sort of dynamic on a larger scale. As the culture has changed, Dobson has attempted (with sometimes more and sometimes less success) to find ways to articulate his strong cultural and religious beliefs in a way that makes sense in our post (or perhaps post-post?) modern world. While I don't agree with the ways in which his viewpoints contribute to the hegemonic power structures in our society, I do find many of his articulations useful. If nothing else, they shed light on the very struggles which I and my wife struggle with on a daily basis...

More on this later, but feel free to comment!

Cheers!

JS

Welcome!

This is a blog I started mostly to hash out ideas and thoughts that I am struggling with, discussing with others, or hold dear. Feel free to read, browse, or bypass, but please recognize that I may disagree with myself, contradict myself, or entirely change my viewpoint on any or all of the concepts embodied in whichever posts you may or may not have read in the past.

JS