Fundagelicals live in a bubble. I was raised in a little fundagelical bubble myself. My family was all fundagelical. We went to a fundagelical church. Our social activities revolved around the church and most of my social interactions were with other fundagelicals. I went to a fundagelical private school. Every person I knew was a fundagelical. So, when the pastor told me that gay men were evil and agents of Satan who had only one goal in mind which was to convert little boys into gay sex slaves for Satan, I believed him.
When pastor and friends and family and the whole fundagelical world told me that all scientist are liberal, God-hating, pawns of the Devil who want to seduce me into losing my faith by teaching evolution, I believed them.
When pastor said there was a vast conspiracy of Satanist who wanted to open my soul up to demonic possession through the use of Dungeon & Dragons, heavy metal music and magic 8 balls, I believed him.
I believed him because I had never met any of these people. (As far as I was aware.) I had no frame of reference to judge my pastor’s statements by. I had also been trained that pastor spoke for God. If you question pastor, then you question God, and that would be a very bad thing indeed.
But the world has now changed, and fundagelicals are being forced out of their bubble. Television, the internet, and our children are making us meet the demonic hoards. I recently saw where a former fundie, Susan Cottrell, found out her daughter was lesbian. Her fundie church told her to turn her daughter over to Satan and have nothing more to do with her. However, Susan Cottrell simply couldn’t. She actually knew her daughter. She knew her daughter was a good person and not the evil pawn of Satan as she had been taught. When the church forced her to chose between her daughter and her fundamentalism, Susan said bye-bye to fundamentalism.
This isn’t the first time nor will it be the last time this happens. Fundies are meeting people outside their bubble. They are meeting Muslims who are nice, decent citizens and not raving mad jihadist bent on destroying Christianity. They are meeting scientist sitting next to them in the pew who are solid Christians that worship just like they do. They are encountering their sons and daughters who are LGBTQ and won’t label them as evil or demonic.
So, I’m sorry fundagelicals, the party is over. You once had a captive audience that believed everything you told them, and you filled them with hatred and fear of outsiders. They are switching to the other side because they figured out Jesus loved outsiders. You said there were demons and when you overreached and pointed to their children, you ran into your worst nightmare: a protective mama.
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