Extremes in Postmodern Religious Addiction and the Childhood Roots of Victimization

{The following article is another which was written by Cindy Kunsman and originally published on her blog, Under Much Grace. It's being republished here with her permission. It takes a deeper look into some of the recent issues addressed here - balance/imbalance, religious addiction - and looks at what, in many cases, may be the root of the problem. Great article. Many thanks to Cindy.}

Balance, Extremes, and Swinging Pendulums

All three are concepts which turn into crutches for religious addicts - particularly those in the halfway house phase of the journey.

Do As I Do, Not As I Say

The post I wrote last night was an exhausting one for me, if for no other reason than facing and dealing with my own religious addictions and distancing myself from a religious culture over the last couple of years has been an exhausting personal journey (one that continues). I also knew it would step on a LOT of toes, cause there are some sacred cows we prefer to leave out in the pasture uninterrupted. It isn't an easy thing to publicly say "most Christians aren't worshiping God at all, but a religious culture is their real god", but it wasn't bravery or courage that lead me to say it. It was reality. To tap-dance around reality is no different than living a lie.

A Culture Which Feeds Religious Addiction

Christian culture is so desperate for a champion. So desperate. From Tebow-mania, to Courageous, to even Rick Santorum (yes, Rick freakin' Santorum), it becomes evident that Christian culture doesn't really even need Christ to flourish. It just needs someone, or something, to champion its culture. So much addiction that it isn't funny.

Ramblin' Man: The Forest and the Trees

Many thanks again to Cindy Kunsman for allowing me to post her review of Courageous. As her review has made its way around the web, I've watched it generate some interesting, and at the same time befuddling, observations.

A Thorough Review of Courageous

[The following was written by my friend Cindy Kunsman and originally published on her excellent blog Under Much Grace. It's being republished here with her permission. "Thorough" is certainly the proper word, as Cindy examines the film from all angles -  from artistic and production to its theology.]

Scared. Conned. Mined.

If you homeschool for religious reasons (as part of the Christian homeschooling movement), chances are the above describes you. If you actually realized as much, you wouldn't have allowed yourself to be scared, then conned, and then mined. Cons don't work without your cooperation. Your "intentions" have nothing to do with it. If anything, your good intentions are taken advantage of.

The Outhouse

In response to the Halfway House post, a few people have made inquiries as to how I feel the Halfway House mentality should be handled and dealt with, both from an individual perspective and from a church perspective. Before I share my thoughts, they should be qualified with my lack of qualification. I'm not a professional counselor, and my commentary here comes from my own observations and life experiences, as well as the observations and life experiences of others.

The Mars Hill Mess

A lot of you have surely heard about it or read about it by now, but for those who haven't, check out this account of what "church discipline" looks like in the Mark Driscoll/Mars Hill world...

"Purity Balls" - The Anderson Show

For anyone who missed it, last Friday, Anderson Cooper discussed "Purity Balls", and certain aspects of the purity movement, on his show. Here's the preview clip...

Halfway Houses

The thought I'm going to present here is something that's kicked around in my mind for several months now, but I've never, until today, really been motivated to sit down and write about it. I expressed this thought recently in a conversation elsewhere where it seemed to walk right through a door opened by a particular question, and given some recent events in the arena of Christianity (involving one guy in particular - we'll get into him in a bit) it seems an appropriate time to write this.

Culturally Convenient Urban Legends of the Christian Faith

There's a ton of em. Urban legends through and through, yet we're so conditioned to accept whatever comes from the pulpit (from conditioned pastors and teachers), so used to not thinking, not examining, not discerning, that when our beliefs are challenged, we fall into reliance on cliche and urban legends.

Dumbing Down - It Happens

As far as conditioned, desensitized, brainwashed, dumbed-down, evangelical "mainstream" Christianity, a scenario from the world of country music comes to mind. The story I'm gonna share here isn't a first hand account. I may not have every fact spot on. It's a story that's become a part of music business and studio world lore - which is where it was communicated to me a few years ago. It's a true story, however.

Patterns

Interesting responses to my last few posts. Guess I should give you guys a heads-up - some of the things I'd like to write about in the near future might make me radioactive to those who don't already find me radioactive. Even in those, there'll be recurring issues and themes touched on, as they always have been, and probably ever will be, at least as long as I'm publishing this blog.

This Tebow Stuff, I Tell Ya

As if it weren't enough that he's so "in your face" with his religion, he had to go and pass for 316 yards this weekend, causing determined non-thinkers around the world to claim some kind of divine intervention, i.e. John 3:16.


"Yay! Everything he does promotes Jesus! Yay!"

Ramblin' Man: Quivering Scriptures

I'm gonna be all over the place in a short amount of time. QF (as an example in a larger point being made), presupposition, the Old Testament God, the pitfalls of making the OT prescriptive, fungelical rationalizations, maybe more. We'll see when we get there.

When Sycophants Spit Against the Wind

By now, many of you who read here may have read this article, written by someone obviously sold out to the fundamentalist mindset of the IFB. To say that it's a dishonest assessment of the situation would be generous. The writer reminds me very much of the members of the People's Temple and residents of Jonestown irrationally defending Jim Jones, unable to be honest with even themselves. We know how that turned out for them.

Shallow Faith (More Tebow Wars)

This picture has been popping up around Facebook over the last week or two...

God's Will Isn't Rocket Surgery

A lot of you who've been in fundamentalist, authoritarian churches and religious systems, as well as a lot of people like me from somewhat mainstream, or even "fundie-lite", backgrounds, have and still do suffer from various religious addictions. Among those is an obsessive pursuit of "God's will" as if it's some mystical element which we can only obtain if we climb the highest of spiritual mountains, pray until we're spent, and read the bible until our eyes bleed. We'll wring our hands until they're calloused, and we'll lose sleep over the worry of being "out" of God's will.


I don't think God ever intended it to be so complicated.

The Peace Game

My friend Julie graciously invited me to write about this subject on her blog about 18 months ago. With a lot of ground covered between then and now, and more of my own religious addictions having been dealt with since then (hopefully), I want to revisit the issue and give a concise explanation of what I mean when I refer to "the Peace Game", which is a powerful weapon in the arsenal of authoritarians in fundamentalist belief systems.