I’m often asked what I believe now, and I often answer that I’m blissfully uncommitted. Having spent my whole youth being warned about the Rapture and the need to “make a decision for Christ” right now (indeed, I was always pretty sure that I was already too late), it’s great not to feel rushed. I feel certain that no God of quality would hold my soul to account for cautious indecision. As a teacher, I know I’ve failed if my students... Read more
I recently joined Pinterest. I resisted for a little while, like I always do, but eventually decided that it would be a convenient way to store ideas for home decorating (I just moved house) and wedding planning (for next fall). The result was my sudden immersion into Pinterest “culture.” You see, there are a lot of evangelical-fundamentalist Christians on Pinterest. It’s yet another venue where they share child-rearing advice and inspirational messages made into art projects for the home. Fundamentalist... Read more
Credit isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’m not talking about your credit score or the plastic in your wallet. I’m talking about public accolades. I’m talking about the river of molten gold that comes out of the mouths of people like Ann Romney when describing (what used to be) “women’s work.” Before I go any further, I want to promote an excellent article by Mark Greene at MegaSAHD that challenges the ugly view of masculinity and the outdated,... Read more
When I was growing up, I believed our church to be mostly apolitical. This was because we were anti-dominionist. As premillennialists (Christians who believe that Christ will return before the millennium, a period of paradise on earth), we believed that Western government was irredeemable and that getting involved in politics was submitting to “the prince of this world,” Satan. The only salvation for the earth was Christ’s return and the expurgation of the wicked. We were supposed to observe the... Read more
You may have noticed that the menu section now includes a link to my blogroll. It took a while to put back together, but I’ve managed to save all the links I had collected on wordpress.com. I’ve also been working on organizing my google accounts, so I can better stay on top of the latest news in the religiosphere. The sad fact of the matter is that I had five email accounts and two Google Readers, all of which I’ve... Read more
Following up Paradise Recovered as the second recent cinematic portrayal of a fundamentalist girl’s journey out of oppressive religion, Electrick Children was released in the UK on July 13, 2012. Starring Julia Garner, the movie follows 15-year-old Rachel McKnight, who discovers and listens to a forbidden rock and roll cassette tape and has a new kind of spiritual experience. Believing that she’s become pregnant through immaculate conception by listening to the tape, Rachel flees the quickly arranged marriage her father... Read more
Some of you may remember this post, in which I described the frustration of discovering that a clerical error had cost my mom her chance to go back to school for her bachelor’s degree. Leaving for school and realizing that my mother would not be able to get her degree felt a lot like survivor’s guilt. I was the only one on a clear path out of poverty. She threw her support behind me, and I did the only thing... Read more
So, I keep seeing this seriously problematic image circulating on facebook. It’s an ugly beige and red graphic with the following text: If you can afford beer, drugs, cigarettes, manicures and tattoos, you don’t need foodstamps or welfare. Now, first of all, let me critique this thing as quickly as possible: 1. What you’re basically saying is that you can take one quick look at somebody and decide that they don’t deserve to eat or have a roof over their head.... Read more
A comment on Libby Anne’s blog recently got me thinking about love, and what it means to fundamentalist Christians. The comment went like this: You’re forgetting that love has nothing to do with our actions, it’s a feeling that can be arbitrarily asserted to make anything okay. The problem is, that’s the opposite of what I was taught. Don Francisco’s “Love is Not a Feeling” was an incredibly popular song in my evangelical-fundamentalist circle. It encapsulated the doctrine that you... Read more
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll recognize William Branham as the name of a faith healing evangelist in the mid-20th century who inspired a group of churches that collectively call themselves “The Message of the Hour.” The name refers to the belief that Branham served the role of a major Old Testament prophet for the modern age, delivering the Word of God “fresh” to pre- and post-World War II America (and, increasingly, the rest of the... Read more
The Phoenix and Olive Branch
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