"Religion Gone Bad"

[keltic63]

who has made it to the end of the book???? I just finished the part that describes fundamentalism as fascism. PLEASE tell me that the book ends optimistically..............

[BruceChris]

I hope I'm not being too pushy, here, but I believe that your argument tends to support mine. That we are all both part male, and part female. And if there is no such thing as pure male or female, words like homo or hetero sexual lose a lot of their meaning. So if we are all somewhat bi-gendered, being somewhat bi-sexual is a natural consequence of that.

BodiesLikeOurs.org seems to have taken down one of my favorite web pages, one that I like to use to illustrate this point. But If you are born intersexed, as are the people at bodieslikeours, you are very aware that we are ALL both male and female.

Keltic, no I haven't read the book. But I just got done listening to a couple hours of Mel White, which gives me some background here. He had 10 handouts, and a Plan! Someone (Jerry Falwell?) said that a fundamentalist is an Evangelical who is angry about something. And anger is a mask for fear, a mask that we put on when we are afraid to admit that we are afraid. Fundamentalism as spiritual fascism? Well, the angrier someone is, the more dangerous they tend to be.

A good Christian is always an optimist, and no, I'm not always a good Christian. But we've got our work cut out for us.

Peace and Love, Chris

[keltic63]

I just took a look at "FSTDT" website for a quick laugh and the first thing I find is exactly what Mel talks about in his book:

"Dawkins, you and your atheist friends cannot win. America WILL become a Christian Republic even if we have to write a whole new constitution. Millions of us are dedicated to this righteous cause. We will suceed. And then we will invade godless countries like "Great" Britain and kill all of your heathens. First we need to take care of things at home and in the Middle East but we will get around to Europe. You Godless freaks will die but then you will roast in hell for infinite time. Goodbye you loser"

[Daniel]

I finished the book last week, and did so in a 'soup' of several other books: on Nonviolence (Kurlansky) and while also reading Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation. Spicy soup, you might say. It may not be the place to tackle these last two books here, but what Sawyer said about his family not really responding to his coming out set off a chord of recognition with me. After 15 years, it is still very hard for my family to talk about my being gay and their faith. I believe their silence to be more than mere politeness, and even though my husband and I are often at family gatherings, there is an essential chasm that hasn't been crossed- by them. Their beliefs hinge on near, if not, actual literalism, and if taken away, you would think their faith would crumble (is it really that fragile- one wonders? I actually think that if they really thought about things they would be embarrassed- and since they don't want to feel that way, they don't deal with things.) Is their silence a way- consciously or not- of protecting themselves? (Alert: Defense Mechanism Engaged! Stand Away From the Curb!) I think so. Idolatry, as Dr. White suggests- and Dash rightly observes- may be the MO that keeps their avoidance in play. If so, then no theorizing will be of any help whatsoever. If anything, they make sure to be impervious to anything that smacks of science. Faith- of the blind kind- isn't open to reason. In sum: we may really have to 'out-love' them. That's the part of Mels' book that makes the most sense to me.