Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

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Mind Over Matter: Spirituality That Fueled a Stigma

by Lydia Joy in Christian Issues

For far too long mental illness has been associated with spirituality or, more rather, the lack of it. It’s a complex issue, and conversations surrounding it is often challenging. Why is this? Why does society find it taboo, deeming it something we just don’t talk about?

I’m here, speaking and listening, jumping head first into this very important conversation.

I come to this conversation through my experience of growing up in Christian Fundamentalism as well as a front row seat to watching a loved one battle depression and multiple suicide attempts. Both of these gave me feelings of dread and embarrassment I carried for many years. The stigma accompanying mental illness overshadows individual bodies, their brains, and welfare, reducing their value to an oversimplified concept of sin.

Not too long ago, I reached out in a post on social media, telling my friends without too much detail that I just didn’t understand why things had to be a certain way. I was upset and disappointed for a dear friend, but the perception was that I was battling depression. This was unintentional, but it led to an opportunity for others to comment and began a conversation that only a few years ago I would have avoided entirely.

One of those comments, from what I believe was a well-meaning Christian, suggested that we all struggle, but when we confess our depression as a sin then God offers forgiveness in this battle.

The comment took my breath away. Momentarily stunned, I found myself… [Read more…] about Mind Over Matter: Spirituality That Fueled a Stigma

The Terrible Tragedy of Christian Fundamentalist Legalism

by Randal Rauser in Fundamentalism

Christian fundamentalists have distinguished themselves as ferocious defenders of doctrines like biblical inerrancy, a literal 6-day creation, the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, and a pre-tribulation secret rapture.

Historically, that commitment to doctrine has been complemented by an equally doctrinaire commitment to a range of ethical “don’ts.” For example, don’t drink alcohol, don’t watch restricted movies, don’t dance socially (remember the movie Footloose?), and don’t use playing cards.

Fortunately, fundamentalists had a couple innocuous substitutes for the standard deck of sinful French playing cards: Rook and Uno. And so, on Christmas vacation and at summer camp I played countless games of Rook and Uno.

How widespread was this stigma of French playing cards? Consider the results of my recent Twitter survey on Christian attitudes toward playing cards:

Frankly, those are stunning results. Almost half the people who responded were raised in a Christian church that stigmatized a deck of cards as sinful. I know what that’s like because I grew up in precisely that context. Here is an excerpt from my book What’s So Confusing About Grace? (p. 68) in which I recount one particular incident from my youth more than thirty years ago:
•REAL CHRISTIANS DON’T PLAY WITH CARDS SIDEBAR•

Yes, even playing cards. After an emotional time around the campfire
at Green Bay Bible Camp, our counselor Gord pressured us to throw
our playing… [Read more…] about The Terrible Tragedy of Christian Fundamentalist Legalism

How Evangelicalism Fosters Sexual Abuse

by Carly Gelsinger in Christian Issues, Current Events

Sexual assault thrives in the evangelical church, but why?

The sexual assault confession of Texas evangelical megachurch pastor Andy Savage is just the latest in a disturbing trend we’ve seen over the last decade.

It’s time to face the music. Evangelical pastors sexually abuse.

I realize this issue isn’t unique to evangelicalism, or religion (hello, Catholic Church circa 2002) or humans in general. There are abusive schoolteachers, parents, bosses, Hollywood directors, and strangers in parks. But there is a unique microclimate within evangelicalism that fosters the growth of abusers while silencing their victims. Whether they do this explicitly (as in Savage’s victim, who was told by the senior pastor to “not tell another soul”) or implicit in the theology and lifestyle in the congregation, the effect is the same. Victims of sexual abuse in evangelical churches often stay quiet. I grew up in the evangelical church, and while it never happened to me personally, it absolutely could have. This is why:

Pastors are elevated
There is a verse in the Bible that says “touch not the Lord’s anointed,” which in my church was interpreted to mean “don’t disrespect the pastor.” This kind of respect is given by title, not necessarily earned.  Pastors are often seen as an elevated spiritual human, and while they’ll refute this at the pulpit (“I’m a sinner just like you!”) some pastors secretly enjoy the elevated status they receive from their job. This is… [Read more…] about How Evangelicalism Fosters Sexual Abuse

Hypocrisy 101

by Darrell Lackey in Current Events

I wondered how long it would take and it didn’t take long. Jeff lorg is the president of Gateway Seminary, my alma mater, a Southern Baptist, evangelical school. In a recent blog post, after watching the Golden Globe ceremonies and Oprah Winfrey’s speech, he wrote:
“…But while Oprah is calling for moral leadership by men in power, she models immorality by a woman in power. She has openly acknowledged multiple sexual relationships in the past and has lived – without being married – with the same partner for more than 30 years.”
And, of course, what he is concerned about is the possibility that Oprah might run for President.

Here is the problem:  I have no idea how Dr. Iorg voted, but I do know that 81% of white evangelicals voted for Trump.  I also don’t know if Dr. Iorg has been critical of Trump while in office. A cursory Google search did not reveal much either way. In that regard, let’s give Dr. Iorg the benefit of the doubt. I like and respect Dr. Iorg. My sense however, is we will hear similar sentiments regarding Oprah and others like her from the 81%, or from the evangelicals who have remained silent, complicit, tacitly during Trump’s first year in office. In that context, let us now consider Dr. Iorg’s words regarding Oprah and then take the measure of the current occupant of the White House:

Here is a man who has been married three times (hey, at least Oprah has been with the same person for 30 years!)  Here is a man who bragged about his affairs. He bragged… [Read more…] about Hypocrisy 101

Something good comes out of…

by Marguerite Sheehan in Christian Spirituality

Since the middle of the week, when I sat with some church and community folk to read and re-read the Gospel I have been praying on Nathanial’s question “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Nathanial was a lot like us. The commentaries say that the reference to sitting under the fig tree was an allusion to the practice of Jewish people who sat under the fig tree and studied Torah. When Jesus said “I saw you sitting under the fig tree” he was saying to Nathanial “I know you and I know that you have been waiting a long time for the Messiah and you know that way before you were sitting here God created the whole wide world and declared it good.”

Nathanial was yearning for something good to come and yet he doubted that this something good would ever arise from the back waters. His heart was in the right place but his eyes were clouded by his prejudice. Like our eyes are clouded, if not blinded, by what we think God’s gift should look like and where it should come from.

This week while praying on Nathanial’s question, I heard on the news terrible comments reportedly said by the President about people from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries, places that you might call a Nazareth. I thought: We have not come so far. We, meaning the President and you and me too, have not come far from Nathanial’s question. When I hear Nathanial and I hear the President and I hear the rants and raves of the commentators, both the Bible commentators and the news reporters, I hear my… [Read more…] about Something good comes out of…

Alarmist Evangelical Apologetics and the So-Called Post-Truth World

by Randal Rauser in Christian Issues

If you listen to evangelical Christian apologists for any length of time, you will soon hear reference to an ominous “post-truth culture” or a “post-truth world.” As Lee Strobel observed in a 2017 interview: “we see a trend toward a postmodern mindset and ‘post-truth’ culture.” And as John C. Richards, Jr. opines in Christianity Today: “culture asks us to capitulate and live as ‘law-abiding’ citizens in a new post-truth world.” Richards continues,
“Last year the assault on truth was stunning. ‘Post-truth’ was named Oxford Dictionaries’ 2016 word of the year. Americans witnessed a tension-filled presidential campaign where truth-telling took a back seat to statistical errors and talking points. People shared fake news articles that hardly met the lowest levels of journalistic integrity. The world is changing rapidly, embodying this post-truth ethos.”
This sounds dramatic and, as I said, ominous. If these apologetic reports are to be believed, the sun is setting on truth as we move into this brave dark new world where truth no longer matters. Enter the apologist who is concerned to defend the objectivity of truth and beat back the forces of darkness with astute arguments and evidence and savvy cultural analysis.

Richards is right about one thing: there was an assault on truth during the last American presidential election. And that assault on truth was indeed stunning. But that is largely due to an American presidential campaign and presidency that avails… [Read more…] about Alarmist Evangelical Apologetics and the So-Called Post-Truth World

10 Novels for Recovering Fundamentalists

by Yvonne Shao in Christian Spirituality

[Editor’s note: see the end of this post for a chance to win a signed copy of Lila, by Marilynne Robinson.]

When I left fundamentalism and evangelicalism behind, I educated myself by reading books on theology, self-help, church history, and current church issues. Rachel Held Evans, Peter Enns, Anne Lamott, Keith Ward, NT Wright, CS Lewis, Barbara Taylor Brown, Sarah Bessey, Lauren Winner, and others came to my rescue.

However, reading non-fiction could only take me so far. Sometimes you need art, because art is a gentle teacher, reorienting your thinking by showing you images instead of facts. I needed that, because no matter how many facts I took in, my default setting seemed to be anxiety. I needed pictures of people leading lives free of dread and worry, pictures of people who relied on God because of love and not fear, pictures of people treating their neighbors with kindness and understanding. That’s where fiction came in.

Here are ten novels that meant alot to me, with a quote from each one.

1, 2, and 3. Three novels by Marilynne Robinson, Gilead, Home, and Lila, are the stories of a gentle small-town minister and his family and friends. Don’t let that fool you, though—nobody gets off easy in these books. When characters’ lives get derailed, through their own actions or the actions of others, these novels emphasise caring for each other and listening.
“It seemed to me to be half sadness and… [Read more…] about 10 Novels for Recovering Fundamentalists

Shattering Snow Globes

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

Reflections for the First Sunday of Christmas

shattered globe

womb-water gushes out

mingles with sacrificed innocence

in war-wilderness streets

mama and daddy smuggle their

baby across jagged borders

feet pierced by fractured pieces

of heart-pondered dreams

escape into broken reality

birth half-remembered blessings

beneath the light of a new moon

Anna and Simeon. Their faces map all that they have seen of life. Luke tells us Anna is 84 years old. People have come and gone in her life. Life and death have danced together and then danced some more as the earth has spun and spun again on its axis. Yes, Anna and Simeon have seen and heard and felt in their bones the hopes and fears of many years. Then, when Mary and Joseph appear in the Jerusalem temple with Jesus, Anna and Simeon burst forth in a Spirit-seasoned duet of praise.

After everything they have encountered over many decades—after all that has gone awry in their lives and world—how do they know that this stable-born child is “destined for the rising and falling of many in Israel” (Luke 2:34)? What recognition stirs in Simeon to release from his spirit letting-go lyrics about his own mortality, his world-weary soul settling into a serene certainty about the future as he looks into the untested face of Jesus? What story still to be sung does Anna hear in the rhythms of Mary’s pondering heart? What truth does she imagine that baby holding in those tender, tiny… [Read more…] about Shattering Snow Globes

Lovingly Waiting

by Janene Cates Putman in Christian Spirituality

Truly he taught us to LOVE one another; his law is LOVE and his gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall cease.
Have you ever had your plans changed right in the middle of carrying out your original plan? Take, for instance, this week’s blog. I had it almost ready to go with all my research done on LOVE—I had my dictionary definitions (y’all know how I adore Mr. Webster), “Love is…” quotes (“Love is giving up the last bite”) and even a song from the 80s (Huey Lewis “Power of Love”).

And then I read this quote:
“Ask yourself what is really important. Have the wisdom and the courage to build your life around your answer.”
—Lee Jampolsky, psychologist and author
Mary, the mother of Jesus, had her life planned. She was to marry Joseph, a local carpenter who would care for her and their future children. Her life was scripted by society and religion. And this is the part that gives me chills: BUT THEN GOD!

God showed up to a peasant girl in a small town whose future was set. God showed up and asked her to be the means by which God was showing up in our world. God showed up and Mary said yes. To the most important question, she said yes. From a certain future to risk, uncertainty, and fear, this young woman said yes. Yes to God’s disrupting her plan. Yes to playing her part in changing the world. Yes to making the impossible possible, to making the invisible visible.

We often see her portrayed as… [Read more…] about Lovingly Waiting

Advent Four and Christmas Eve: Wrinkling Time

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

“Have you seen the baby Jesus?” the headline of a small-town news bulletin asked several days ago. Someone stole the baby Jesus from a local church’s outdoor nativity scene. Mary is still there pondering and keeping all of these things in her heart. The shepherds are still watching in wonder. Cows and donkeys are gathered around. But the manger is empty. Jesus is gone.

Jesus disappears from manger scenes more often than I knew. “Baby Jesus theft” even has a Wikipedia entry. Sometimes sheep or other figures are stolen from outdoor nativity scenes, but most of the time, the thieves take the infant.

In an interesting turn of nativity theft events this season, a figure of Mary holding the baby Jesus was taken from an outdoor display at a church in Bancroft, Ontario. A donor replaced the stolen figure with a new one that “worked,” but was not an exact match. Soon after, the original was returned. Now, the scene in Bancroft has “doubled down” (as the news headline announces), featuring two figures of Mary holding Jesus.

While I lament the vandalism of Christian icons and worry about the violence that accompanies some of the acts, reports of nativity scene thievery have caused me to reflect on possible meanings of empty mangers. This Advent season, I have found myself skeptical of too-nostalgic waiting and restless for the arrival of God’s promised reign of justice and peace. Realities of pain and suffering in our communities have stirred for me the question: How do we… [Read more…] about Advent Four and Christmas Eve: Wrinkling Time