I grew up two counties south of McMinn County. I haven\u2019t lived in the area in quite some time, but trust me when I say it hasn\u2019t changed a whole lot. I have no doubt the school board and the people who made the complaints meant what they said. I also have no doubt that if Maus<\/em> was a story about brave GIs fighting evil Nazis these same people would describe it as \u201cgritty\u201d and \u201crealistic.\u201d<\/p>\n As others have pointed out, their real problem with Maus<\/em> is that it\u2019s told from a Jewish perspective. There are no heroes. There are no \u201cgood Germans.\u201d There is no happy ending. There is only \u201cthis horrible thing happened, and you need to know about it so you can make sure it never happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The good citizens of McMinn County \u2013 and a lot of other places in this country, many of which are not in the South \u2013 don\u2019t want their children exposed to such realities. They don\u2019t want to confront such realities themselves. They want Hays Code<\/a> approved stories that tell them the world is fair and just, that good always triumphs over evil, and whatever problems there are exist because people who don\u2019t look or sound or pray like them are destroying the proper order of things.<\/p>\n And they believe that\u2019s the primary purpose of government \u2013 to maintain the proper order of things, by punishing those who deviate from it.<\/p>\n Some would say the book banners want to feed their children fairy tales. But the original fairy tales \u2013 not the modern Disneyfied versions of them \u2013 were often harsh and frightening stories. They were told to warn children and adults alike away from dealing with the Fair Folk. Do so skillfully and you may be OK, but slip up in the slightest and you may find yourself taken away from your family to serve the Fair Folk for centuries, or just forced to dance until you die from exhaustion.<\/p>\n The people of McMinn County aren\u2019t stupid. They aren\u2019t uneducated. But they\u2019re so invested in The Way Things Are Supposed To Be that they can\u2019t see another way. Deep down they know the world is unfair and unjust, that it will chew them up and spit them out in a minute. To comfort themselves they tell their children that if they just play along, if they work hard and follow the rules, everything will work out OK.<\/p>\n Maus<\/em> reminds us that\u2019s a lie. So do dozens of other books similar people are trying to get taken out of schools and libraries around the country.<\/p>\n The good news is that one of the best ways to insure that something gets done is to tell children \u2013 especially teenagers \u2013 they can\u2019t do it. Maus<\/em> is sold out around the country. Several comics shops near McMinn County have free loaner copies for anyone who wants to read it but can\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n But the core issue isn\u2019t Maus<\/em> or the Holocaust. The core issue is people who are so invested in a certain social order that they can\u2019t see it\u2019s killing vulnerable people, and it\u2019s no friend of themselves or their children.<\/p>\n And that brings us to the second piece of bad news out of Tennessee. Last week, Greg Locke, pastor of Global Vision Bible Church east of Nashville held a book burning<\/a> that included Harry Potter<\/em>, Twilight<\/em>, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, and materials relating to Freemasonry (this despite the fact that the vast majority of Freemasons are Christians). He calls all this \u201cwitchcraft\u201d and says his event was \u201cdeliverance from demons.\u201d<\/p>\n Locke has spread Covid misinformation, refused to allow masks in his church, said that autism is demon possession<\/a>, and insists Donald Trump won<\/a> the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. He\u2019s been permanently banned from Twitter for spreading lies. Discerning the truth is not his strong point.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen several people say Locke is in it for the money. Maybe he is \u2013 he\u2019s certainly trying to build an empire in the independent fundamentalist world.<\/p>\n But I think a simpler explanation is more likely. Locke says these things because he really believes them.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know Greg Locke. But I know a lot of people like him. They\u2019re cut off from the historic Christian tradition: from the Church Fathers, from the early councils and creeds, and from traditional Christian theology. They\u2019re even cut off from the leaders of the Protestant Reformation like Luther, Calvin, and Wesley. They claim total fidelity to the Bible, but they ignore the fact that all texts in any religion must be interpreted in the context of foundational assumptions about the world and about the texts themselves.<\/p>\n With no bishop, elder, or even a church board to tell them \u201chey, wait a minute!\u201d Locke and his ilk are free to interpret the Bible in the context of a demonic conspiracy theory that casts themselves as warrior heroes battling against the forces of hell.<\/p>\n Like other conspiracy theories<\/a>, this one is simple, it reflects a lack of knowledge and analysis, and it provides meaning for those who follow it. That it\u2019s completely untrue is irrelevant.<\/p>\n 19th<\/sup> century German poet Heinrich Heine<\/a> said \u201cwhere they burn books, they will end in burning people.\u201d He hasn\u2019t been right every time, but he\u2019s been right too many times.<\/p>\n Greg Locke will not burn people because our officially-secular society won\u2019t let him get away with it. I\u2019m sure he would tell you he\u2019d never do that. I\u2019m equally sure that if he could, he would justify it with scripture and light the first torch.<\/p>\n Third-rate preachers have been burning books and records for years. This isn\u2019t the first such burning and it won\u2019t be the last. In an era of mass production, it\u2019s an exercise in futility.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s also a warning. Like those who banned Maus<\/em>, Locke and his church see society changing in ways they don\u2019t like. And so they try to destroy what they see as upsetting the proper order of things.<\/p>\n For a long time, I thought the war against fundamentalism was essentially over<\/a>. Church attendance is in steep decline, same sex marriage is the law of the land, and we\u2019re experiencing huge growth in witchcraft and Paganism. All that was left was to clean up the mess and wait for the last of the homophobes, xenophobes, and fundamentalists to die off.<\/p>\n I\u2019m now convinced that was wishful thinking. Or at least, celebrating at the 5-yard-line and fumbling the ball. Fundamentalists and their followers \u2013 and those who co-opt them for political purposes \u2013 are highly motivated and very well organized. They\u2019ve succeeded in essentially banning abortion in Texas and they\u2019re on track to overturn Roe v. Wade<\/em>. They\u2019re tying up school administrations with a search for books they don\u2019t like. They\u2019re trying to stop the teaching of critical race theory, even though they don\u2019t know what it is and it\u2019s not being taught in primary and secondary schools. Their attacks on trans people \u2013 especially trans kids \u2013 are bad and getting worse.<\/p>\n And some of them are burning books.<\/p>\n For now, we are safe from the Greg Lockes of the world because the law constrains them. But as we are seeing, laws can be changed, and those who think like him are skilled in using that kind of power.<\/p>\n Every election matters. Every office matters. In this era where many states are under single-party rule, voting in primaries matters as much or more than voting in the general election.<\/p>\n We are in what Jason Mankey called \u201ca witch moment<\/a>\u201d and so I think the possibility of a new Satanic Panic<\/a> is relatively low. That doesn\u2019t mean some would-be Grand Inquisitors can\u2019t harm others or even ruin lives on a local level. Because they can, and if they can get away with it they will.<\/p>\n![\"Tennessee](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/02\/Tennessee-Memorial-at-Vickburg.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTelling their children comfortable lies<\/h2>\n
<\/a>A \u201cpastor\u201d burning books<\/h2>\n
A demonic conspiracy theory<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nFundamentalism\u2019s last stand, or a resurgence?<\/h2>\n
Complacency is death<\/h2>\n