Awesome Comment Award: AnotherOne on Repentance

Frequent commenter AnotherOne had this to say in response to Doug Phillips’ resignation as president of Vision Forum:

I don’t know what’s more nauseating, his own hypocrisy, or the orgiastic confession/repentance spiel. This is one of the things that pisses me off the most about patriarchal fundigelical culture. They set up a system that gives men absolute power and stokes the fires of their insufferable egos. Then they promote perspectives on sexuality and romance that are completely out of sync with human behavior and desire, creating a culture where people are self-deluded and unequipped to make honest, healthy choices about sexual and romantic situations that arise.

But when things go to shit, they don’t question any of that. There’s no talk of the inherent failings of the power structure, no thought to helping people actually understand their sexuality, no effort to encourage people to form egalitarian romantic relationships based on their desires and personality and informed by principles of honesty and respect.

Instead, there’s the come to Jesus get out of jail free card. The offender undergoes a ritual shaming that does nothing to improve his self awareness, and in the end he gets to blather on about how he’s now a BIGGER example of God’s grace and love. The sin-repentance-forgiveness song and dance does nothing to address the underlying problems and issues. It’s just an elaborate charade that covers over the systemic problems inherent in patriarchal fundamentalism.

Amen. So much this.