I thought I had heard it all when it came to fundamentalists hating on people who leave their closed minded organizations, but no, this one tops the list.I have heard/seen fundamentalists lash out at former fundamentalists in many different ways, saying that they were never "true Christians" to begin with, attacking their character (because, you know, anyone who isn't living according to our horrible ideas must be a vile, awful "sinner").
They will dismiss them by calling them "bitter" in a very patronizing tone, as though you are a child who is sour over your family not buying the toy you wanted for Christmas, and even go as far as to deny the sexual abuse that some people suffered, and call the victims "opportunists" who are out for money in a lawsuit.
They will lash out at former fundamentalists in many different ways, but I never heard a fundamentalist pastor or group out rightly call former fundamentalist excrement. Call it what you want, excrement, poop, even shit, but it is very clear what a group/blog that calls itself Ministry Best Practices means when it says this about people leaving their churches:
"On one hand it can be a healthy thing. Perry Noble say that because the church is a body, and every good body has a back door (I think you know what I mean here!) - it is important for the church not to be constipated. It can be healthy for a people to leave a church. If they are not aligned to the vision or if they are being contentious, then we should allow them to leave."
That is exactly what they intended to say, to compare people who leave churches that agree with their fundamentalist beliefs. Notice the last line:
"If they are not aligned to the vision or if they are being contentious, then we should allow them to leave."
Let me translate from fundie speak here, it should read:
"If they don't agree with the pastor or the leadership of the church in any way, shape or form, whether that be in church doctrine (beliefs), or in how their church should be run, then they should be forced out of the church"
That is what they truly mean, I never thought I would see the day when a fundamentalist group would just come out and compare people who disagree with them (whether it be more liberal Christians, or former Christians) to excrement, but they are being honest here, and I think they speak for many groups out there, but most of those groups wouldn't have the nerve to come out and say it.
Big hat tip to Joe Sands of Incongruous Circumspection for bringing this to my attention in a blog post of his, and for calling this group out on their blog.
When I was in the process of leaving the church, I realised just how easy it was to put someone into one category or another to explain away their rejection of the church. In fact, there's no way to avoid it. In tribute to Morton, I called it Satan's Fork. http://recoveringagnostic.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/satans-fork/
ReplyDeleteI must confess, though, I rarely see anything quite so explicit about celebrating the departure of someone who doesn't fit in. What a great advert for the church - we chew you up, exploit anything that's useful, then shit you out. Sounds like something the Naked Pastor would come up with.
I agree, and yes, the analogy is fitting when you put it that way. I was shocked more by their bluntness about it.
DeleteSure, we probably knew all along that's how they think, but for a group to come out and admit it, and say it so boldly and publicly is really an eye opener.
As for your post, I remember trying to explain away why people leave: "they couldn't take the high moral standards", "they will be back, it's just disobedience to god, they'll repent eventually and come back"
I remember you writing a guest post for My Secret Atheist Blog not long ago, Godless Poutine helped me to get started in blogging.
Do you accept guest posts for your blog, or write guest posts for other blogs? Either way, I would be interested.