Washblog || Sex, The Seattle Times and American Fundamentalism.

Sex, The Seattle Times and American Fundamentalism.

By Pen
Mon Dec 04, 2006 at 11:39:51 PM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Church and State

Fundamentalism isn't the sole property of radical muslim clerics. No, we have some of our very own Christian radicals here in America. There not just in the deep south either. In fact, we have one living in Ballard. He's Mark Driscoll and his writings are typical of the fundamentalist right wing authoritarianism that you read weekly in the Seattle Times nowadays.

As you might expect from an evangelical, he espouses male dominance. No evangelical pastor I've ever met would admit it, but after years of observation, I have to say that what drives them to such fanatic frenzy defending authoritarian fundamentalism is something very simple:

Adolescent male sexual fantasies.

It's my belief that fundamentalists represent males who never got past adolescence when they were boys. Simply put, they're immature. From his own blog we can see how his adolescent mind works:

Most pastors I know do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with their wives. At the risk of being even more widely despised than I currently am, I will lean over the plate and take one for the team on this. It is not uncommon to meet pastors' wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness. A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband's sin, but she may not be helping him either.

I'm curious. How Mark Driscoll define "letting herself go"? Does she have to live up to a certain standard of beauty? Keep herself at or below a certain weight? Defy gravity with breast enhancements or is gravity just a liberal scam too, like global warming and evolution? Does she need to be supermodel ready or would getting cut in the last round from being a Seahawk cheerleader be close enough?

Tell us Mark, at what point is a woman "letting herself go"? This is a very important issue, because Beauty is evidently crucial to a pastor to keep him out of sin. Mark says so several times:

As every pastor knows, we are always at risk from the sin in us and the sinful temptations around us. Pastoring in one of America's least churched cities to a large number of single, young people has been an eye-opening experience for me. I started the church ten years ago when I was twenty-five years of age. Thankfully, I was married to a beautiful woman.

Thank Jesus for that Mark. You'd probably be burning in hell right now if you'd married an ugly woman! And hell would be just around the corner if, heaven forbid, you'd married a plain jane. Fortunately for you, your soul's safe since you can resist temptation because you're married to a Beautiful woman.

Which begs the question, of course: What happens if you get tempted by a MORE beautiful woman Mark? What happens when your wife gets old and a younger, sexier woman comes along, drawn to your position in life and tempts you then? It's a sad fact of life that your wife may not remain beautiful forever, despite all attempts on her part to not "let herself go."

He continues on that Beautiful Wife theme (makes me think of Stepford Wives to be honest):

Churches should consider returning to heterosexual male assistants who are like Timothy and Titus to serve alongside pastors. Too often the pastor's assistant is a woman who, if not sexually involved, becomes too emotionally involved with the pastor as a sort of emotional and practical second wife. I have been blessed with a trustworthy heterosexual male assistant who can travel with me, meet with me, etc., without the fear of any temptations or even false allegations since we have beautiful wives and eight children between us.

There he goes with the adolescent male sexual fantasy again. Only men with Beautiful Wives can be trusted not to sin. He can't even trust himself to work with a woman because she might get too close to him. I guess self-restraint isn't his strong point. Sure doesn't seem to be a strong point for many evangelicals.

Which, of course, brings up another facet of an adolescent male: latent homosexuality. It's almost a law of psychology that homophobia equals latency. A mature male comes to terms with his sexuality at an early age, be he heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual. Some males, however, never seem to get past their adolescent phase and as such, they never learn to deal with their sexual orientation. When he would have become heterosexual, well, he just doesn't get laid for a very long time because of anxiety with women. When one of these males would have become homosexual or bisexual, he suppresses his sexual orientation and becomes latent. Instead of anxiety about women, he has anxiety about gay males. This anxiety is turned into rabid gay hating.

Mark Driscoll, like so many evangelicals, is no exception to the rule:

The One God has kindly told us who He is--Father, Son, and Spirit. But some chicks and some chickified dudes with limp wrists and minors in "womyn's studies" are not happy because two persons of the Trinity have a dude-ish ring.

So now this "man of god" and I use the term loosely, no disrespect intended to real men of god, refers to women as "chicks" and makes stereotpical remarks about gay men.

So why has the Seattle Times featured this guy as a weekly columnist for the past two years? Well, thanks to People Against Fundamentalism , they don't anymore:

Former divinity student Lindell Alderman said others who called for the protest were concerned that Driscoll's influence had spread to a congregation of several thousand and to a popular podcast.
The anti-fundamentalist group took issue with Driscoll online with three specific goals: to call mass attention to Driscoll's statements and philosophy; to get him dropped as a popular newspaper religion columnist; and to get a sincere apology from Driscoll himself.
The Seattle Times dropped a weekly column Driscoll had written for two years from its religion pages, announcing that it was searching for another evangelical Christian columnist.
"The decision to discontinue Pastor Driscoll's participation was part of a review that was under way before we knew of any protest against him," Times Executive Editor David Boardman said.

First off, I don't believe Boardman's claim that this protest had nothing to do with dropping Driscoll. Secondly, why are they looking for another evangelical? Wikipedia defines evangelicalism as

The word evangelicalism usually refers to religious practices and traditions which are found in conservative, almost always Protestant Christianity.

Not all Protestants are conservative evangelicals. And certainly not all Christians are Protestants. So why would the Seattle Times insist on replacing one evangelical with another evangelical when Mark Driscoll was the only religious columnist on their rolls? Why not go in a different direction?

Because the right wing conservative movement is fueled by immature, adolescent males who vote Republican, that's why. And the Seattle Times, like virtually every media source outside the internet, has a stake in propagating the conservatives. Isn't it time we demanded better from our media? Isn't it time we told guys like Driscoll, Haggard, Robertson, etc. GROW UP!

< New leadership in Thurston Co. and LD 22 | Changes at KCDems.org >

Sex, The Seattle Times and American Fundamentalism. | 7 comments (7 topical)

Evangelism

Evangelism and charismatic religion are not opposite to reason or tolerance, imo: Conversation with Rose Ehart: Politics, Environment, Social Justice, Religious Faith.

I like this wiki list of ways to evangelize. As a committed secularist, I see an ecstatic understanding of the universe as probably much more in tune to the way things really are -- than a view which makes a religion out of intellectual apprehension.

I love the idea of absolute unconditional cosmic love and mystical beauty -- proclaimed from street corners and through good works. Even when this is expressed from within the structure of an established religion. I would not ask for this to be gone from the world.

Mysticism is something entirely different than politicized religion. Evangelism means to preach. If you preach ugliness and domination and the ascendancy of mere opinion, that's something different.

I agree with you that the sex and gender stuff going on with these guys is truly icky and speaks to some underlying problems.

by noemie maxwell on Tue Dec 05, 2006 at 09:37:33 AM PST

* 1 none 0 *

Beyond Racism; Programming and Indoctrination

Appreciating the story which I also read yesterday in Seattle Times , I'd like to call attention to broader concern beyond the local and beyond the sexist women type remarks made by Mark Driscoll.

Clearly the remarks addressing how a wife ought to behave to keep her husband in line and prevent him from succumbing to his own inability to control his weaknesses are beyond ridiculous. Mark Driscoll's additional remark of comparing the newly elected Episcopal Bishop (a Woman and a first - history in the making) as a step above a mere fluffy bunny rabbit shows his obvious sense of values for a woman's place in society. In essence, it seems he and perhaps others of his belief set believe the state of women is to wear the burka and belong to men.

However, I find a much deeper concern in the incredible growth and influence the evangelical churches and their leadership voices are having amongst thousands and thousands of men, women, children, parents, families, communities, whole societies. It's apparant that promoting a racist type belief set - be it to devalue women (or any other sector of the population) generates the environment of permission to expand that belief set of racism indiscrimately to many other populations.

I am a respecter of diverse religious and spiritual belief sets and can recall a not so distant and recent enough time when denominations challenged the belief sets of other denominations but it remained within the context of religious communities outside of political influence. I also know enough to recognize 'programming' and 'indoctrination' when I see it, whether in religion, in secular community, in politics, or any other collection that comprises community.

Mark Driscoll, using his pulpit, makes it more clear (to me) why I believe it is becoming necessary to find new approaches to call attention to the mind-bending practices being used among many of the large evangelical communities. Mark Driscoll can say what he says and expound his own views, but it can go nowhere if the men and women in the congregations refuse and refute it. That they do not, in my mind, points to a problem beyond a set of faith values. I see the properties, strategies and applied techniques of programming and indoctrination and I shudder to think how such approaches continue to be effectively, successful. History has already shown it to be thusly successful.

I ask and know many recognize the enormity of what it takes to counter the deliberate strategies of 'programming' and 'indoctrination' ......

Might I call to attention to another troublesome and difficult period in history where the role of religion, church, spirituality and personal responsibility influenced politics and the state of the nation. Just two nights ago Arthur and I ordered via Netflix and watched the documentary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and I am stunned his name and body of teachings haven't come up for discussion in many venues these past 3 1/2 years. If it did, I missed it, but his life and beliefs clearly belongs to the present day dialogue and discussion.

Perhaps because of the experience I have had among the faith-based along the progression of the Iraq invasion/occupation, I am more attuned to what were absences of voices from the churches that I am struck by why I did not know of or hear about Dietric Bonhoeffer these past several years when I believe discussion of him would have been highly relevant to today's political dialogue. Clearly other theology needs to be preached alongside that of the Mark Driscolls of this world. Mark's views are but that - perspectives of a belief set he has formed by his own interpretations and beyond that has little to do with Christ-consciousness in Christian community (just my opinion and perspective).

General Paul Eaton video, May 2007If Pres. Bush Won't Listen, Congress Must

by Lietta Ruger on Tue Dec 05, 2006 at 09:43:29 AM PST

* 2 none 0 *

I should like to see that documentary by Pen, 12/05/2006 10:11:12 PM PST (none / 0)

After you watch Dietrich Bonhoefer, let's discuss by Lietta Ruger, 12/06/2006 07:31:33 PM PST (none / 0)

Measured and found to be something short of godly

Lietta has written about Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was - to my surprise - by label a German Evangelical.

Watch the 90-minute DVD and you'll be wont to say that Bonhoeffer "was a German evangelical Christian," not to be confused in any way shape or form with American Evangelical Christians. The American evangelical version is founded in literalism and totally in thrall to Darby and company's End Times fantasies which are as justifiably based on genuine bible verses as Superboy is based on the official history of Kansas.

Although I had heard the name and read a few things ascribed to Bonhoeffer, I knew literally nothing about him. I've been someone who for years has asked if there exists ANY deep Christian evangelical theologian as opposed to the myriad evangelical apologists who have mastered the art of verse memorization, hide behind walls of shallow dogma or shout from pulpits more stage than podium and tossing supposed quote bombs to justify junior high school religious morality.

Nobody ever responded with the name of any in-depth Christian evangelical theologian. And no, I never considered Billy Graham a theologian, merely first and foremost a dyed in the wool tent-meeting preacher whose doctrines never went deeper than anything buddy Falwell, Robertson, Kennedy also found in the shallow end of the scriptural pool.

... until Bonhoeffer. Americans have no evangelical of any equal stature. In this regard Pastor Mark Driscoll is found greatly wanting and merely one of the dime-a-dozen bible-quoters passing themselves off as profound spiritual thinkers.

It's almost an insult to consider the likes of Bonhoeffer the EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN LEADER and Driscoll the evangelical christian leader.

Bonhoeffer's test of fire in the relentless and almost hopeless crucible of 1930's and 1940's Germany where the government was deliberately egging the populace on toward moral suicide brought him face to face with Christ and God in a context of life's most serious and tragic moral dilemmas.

What has been driscoll's test of fire?

From what crucible was forged his little guy's spirituality that revealed a foolish and shallow patriarchal mind?

... a pretended godly demeanor that belittles his Christian sisters in a way barely removed from how the guys all talk about women at the Elk Snout Tavern?

So long as we have shallow and immature thinkers posing as deeply devout and truly Christian ministers, we'll see no movement toward a national spiritual maturity.

What we'll get is on-going embarrasment from mostly men (but not all Christian doofuses are male) who bring forth such intelligent and deep spiritual frisbees as ....

"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."
--Jerry Falwell--

"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good... Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called on by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."
--Randall Terry --

"Nobody has the right to worship on this planet any other God than Jehovah. And therefore the state does not have the responsibility to defend anybody's pseudo-right to worship an idol."
--Rev. Joseph Morecraft, Chalcedon Presbyterian Church --

"This is God's world, not Satan's. Christians are the lawful heirs, not non-Christians."
--Gary North --

"There will never be world peace until God's house and God's people are given their rightful place of leadership at the top of the world. How can there be peace when drunkards, drug dealers, communists, atheists, New Age worshipers of Satan, secular humanists, oppressive dictators, greedy moneychangers, revolutionary assassins, adulterers, and homosexuals are on top?" -- Pat Robertson --

"The number one virtue in America has become the number one threat, and one of the top two or three threats to the cause of Christ. That virtue is tolerance." --Josh McDowell--

"American Veterans are to blame for the fag takeover of this nation. They have the power in their political lobby to influence the zeitgeist, get the fags out of the military, and back in the closet where they belong!"
"Not only is homosexuality a sin, but anyone who supports fags is just as guilty as they are. You are both worthy of death." -- Fred Phelps (Westboro Baptist Church)--

"With all due respect to those dear people, my friend, God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew." -- Bailey Smith --

"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." -- George Bush Sr. (President of the United States)--

"I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status." --Jerry Falwell --

"I don't think so, sir, that Buddhists and other faiths - and I won't speak to all faiths because I'm not a theologian - recognize the Creator, God," Moore replied.
"Some might, but if they do, it's not the God of the Holy Scriptures. And that's why the Bible is used for the very foundation upon which we take our oaths." --Roy Moore, during court testimony over the Ten Commandments monument he installed in the Alabama Judicial Building--

"I have many Muslim friends, but I want the people of this country to know that the god of Islam is not the Christian god. The god of Islam is not a father. The god of Christianity was the father of Jesus Christ." -- Franklin Graham, Billy's son --

"The perversion that follows homosexuality is bestiality and then human sacrifice and cannibalism." -- --Barbara Blewster, a member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints and the Arizona State Legislature --

"God Hates Fags!"
--Rev. Fred Phelps

"If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord."
--Jerry Falwell, on "CNN Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer"--

and finally the summum cum laudanum of driscoll's theology as given by God's Grand Blowhard Mouthpiece, Mr. Robertson:

"I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period.
The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."

Arthur
You sure you ain't staking too much on yer theories? Not enough common sense?

by Arthur Ruger on Tue Dec 05, 2006 at 10:22:16 PM PST

* 4 none 0 *

Driscoll and Hutcherson

Both of these 'god hates fags' preachers somehow are allowed to continue their hate-speak in public school venues.

Driscoll spouts his venom at Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle, while Hutcherson is still huffing and puffing at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland.

It's got to be the definition of hypocrisy - two men who advocate home schooling, and rail on against putting your children in the "religion of secular humanism that permeates the public schools", while holding their jesus camps in a public school gym!

If it's not hypocrisy, then it must be a sign of the apocalypse.

by Brian on Wed Dec 06, 2006 at 12:35:53 AM PST

* 5 none 0 *

What - they are in the High Schools! by Lietta Ruger, 12/06/2006 07:35:46 PM PST (none / 0)

Sex, The Seattle Times and American Fundamentalism. | 7 comments (7 topical)

RE-ELECT
ALEC FISKEN
Seattle Port Commission

www.rentonfacts.com
RENTON FACTS

FISKEN'S PORT WATCH
Environmental Issues

REAL CHANGE
HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT

PIRATE TELEVISION
Challenging the Corporate Media Blockade

Watch Live or Archived Shows:
Seattle SCAN
South End PSA

PNW TOPIC HOTLIST

Blog Directory

WELCOME AND FAQ
ABOUT

Login

Make a new account

Recommended Diaries

MTV goes politics with 'Choose or Lose'. WA finalist Teresa submission features Lt. Watada and more
Teresa, representing what I think are strengths in our young generation, was among three finalists for MTV 'Choose or
By Lietta Ruger (0 comments)
Anti-Gay Activist Running for Renton City Council
Help prevent a fundamentalist, anti-gay activist from buying her way into local politics.
By Renton Citizen (7 comments)
What the Kenmore City Council Doesn't Want You to Know
There was a forum for candidates running for Kenmore City Council last Wednesday. If you are a Kenmore resident and you
By technogramma (27 comments)
Douglas County is the only county in Washington State that does not have a weed board.
The county commissioners and other "Private Property Rights "activists have been fighting the state and county residents for years on this
By Dixie (5 comments)
Political Graphics 101: 34th LD lit deconstructed
As part of my highly opinionated, ruthlessly honest series on political graphics, I zero in on campaign lit from the 34th.
By dinazina (6 comments)
Gulliver's Travels
Jeb Bush came to town today and stopped by to speak with the Microsoft Political Action Committee. Most memorable metaphor on
By BryceM (8 comments)