Y'all Are Goin' Ta Hell, Part Two

There has been an awful lot of talk about 'attacks on Christianity' by those of us who believe differently, and in particular from those who have chosen not to believe. The rights of Atheists don't really exist in the United States - they are expected to go along with the needs of the majority because, after all, they don't believe anything. Pointing out that believing there is no God is just as valid a position as following a traditional, patriarchal religion doesn't go over very well, I've noticed.

Perhaps this is why Christians and Moslems appear to have formed a covenant against the rest of us heathens. I never really understood how or why this would come about until, a few years ago, I read an attack on what the author called 'Earth Mother Mysticism' in Christianity Today. Donald G. Bloesh said, "The new spirituality represents a kind of naturalistic mysticism, a re-emergence of the ancient religion of the Earth Mother. In this view, all nature is seen to be alive, filled with divine energy. It is not simply the handiwork of God, but the very body of God."

This is exciting, I thought -- this man is saying exactly what I believe! It was only when I read a little more that I discovered what I should have expected all along; in a magazine that raised Donald Wildmon to a kind of heroic stature and actually put him on a cover (August 19, 1991) this could lead to nothing but a diatribe. And what exactly is Bloesch's objection to what seems like a rational explanation of the workings of the universe?

"Prayer in the new spirituality is a reflection on life and the world, culminating in creative action. (Yes, yes!) Or it is reaching out to the possibilities of an unknown future (again, yes!) In classical mystical religion, prayer in its fullness is contemplative adoration. Although the more avowedly Christian mystics make a place for petitionary prayer in the beginning stages of Christian life, in the highest stage petition is left behind. In biblical religion, on the other hand, the essence of prayer is humble supplication, pouring out our souls before God, crying out to God for help from the depths of our being."

So the objection rests in the fact that the new spirituality teaches self-reliance rather than applying to God for assistance. But if we are on earth to prove ourselves, why is it up to God and not us to make us good? Why are we meant to be 'humble supplicants' if the earth is our schoolroom, in which we are put to learn? How can we learn the lessons of life if we constantly run to a patriarchal 'daddy' figure to solve our problems for us? The 'big three' patriarchal religions all have this in common. They are all 'desert' religions, that came about in the hostile environment of the desert countries. Their only differences have to do with when they were conceived and the type of people who conceived them.

Judaism and Christianity necessarily have much in common -- until the birth of Christ there were no Christians, only Jews. The old testament of the bible is common to both, and it is here that we first encounter all the specific references to men being superior to women. Indeed, what else would be expected from a nomadic, desert-dwelling people who lived under extreme conditions and knew little of the luxuries of life? There is a harshness to all patriarchal religion -- it comes from an area of the world where life is harsh, and quite naturally unforgiving. The Jewish God is a most unforgiving entity; the Christian God is tempered only by his 'son', Jesus Christ -- a gentle mystic who saw the flaws in the religious system of the time and attempted to change them. Human nature being what it is, that proved impossible.

Islam, the third of the 'big three', is also the harshest. Again, it comes out of a culture wherein the weak cannot survive, and women are feared and hated so much it has become an ingrained psychosis of a male-dominated society. And it has another important thing that separates it from Christianity and Judaism -- a complete hatred and contempt for any people not of the faith. If you think this is also true of Fundamentalist Christians, try thinking in terms of degree. According to Raymond Bakke, of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangalization and Director of International Urban Associates, an urban evangelism consulting firm in Chicago, Illinois, "A hundred years ago, the new immigrants were ethnic Catholics from Europe. I think that pales in insignificance next to the new waves that are bringing the temples and the mosques with them. The U.S. is becoming more like the rest of the world. I'm not surprised; I'm not sorry. Since God owns the whole world, he's bringing the whole world to the U.S. for a wonderful purpose...evangelism."

So the idea behind this concept is to make the patriarchal religions supportive of one another. Why, if each believes their God is the true and only one? Because they all serve male gods -- they are all patriarchal in nature. If Judaism and Islam can never reconcile, Christianity would rather align itself with Islam and Judaism aside. Their power would be magnified enough that those of us who don't believe in or follow any of the patriarchal religions could become outcasts in a country founded on the principles of religious freedom. According to Yvonne Haddad, professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, by the year 2015 Islamites will outnumber Jews in America. And a third of them will be black; mostly black males.

But Islamites in America who emigrate from the Middle East have a different agenda than those black men who converted because they found Islam to be an aggressive, take-charge religion that would conceivably give them control over their women. At the twenty-eighth annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America, the featured theme was 'Developing an Islamic Environment in North America'. Seemingly, no one in this country is worried that a religion like Islam is taking a prime position -- to the contrary, as evidenced by Christianity Today, many Christians believe they can peacefully co-exist with Islamites. These are, needless to say, males.

If there is a threat to the freedom of American women as they face the end of the 20th century, it is the turning of Patriarchal religions toward Fundamentalism. In The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, she told the story of the Kingdom of Gilead, part of the United States that had seceded and become a religious theocracy ruled by Fundamentalist males. When the book was made into a movie, most people dismissed it as 'futuristic fantasy'. But how impossible is it, really? In the book Backlash, Susan Faludi argued forcefully for the existence of a conspiracy to drive women out of the workplace and back into subservience. The plan of the religious right is becoming the dream of the working-class American male. Whether he turns to Christianity, Judaism or Islam, they all offer him the same reward -- a woman to call his own, much as he would his dog or his car.

In fact, many Fundamentalist Christians are willing to accept other religions as long as they are Patriarchal in nature. This excludes the White Supremacist cults, who have in a bizarre manner managed to incorporate two extremist views and come up with a mish-mash of insane rhetoric. But many will accept one another, because they hold the same values as regards the roles of men and women; men are to be the masters, women the servants. Men are made superior in nature; women are simply the 'sacred vessels' they choose to fill with their seed. Terry Mack, Associate Professor of Comparative Religion at Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas, claimed in 1998 that

"As Christians, we need first of all to understand Islam in a fair and objective way; and second, to think about how we can articulate our Christian faith in a way that Muslims will relate to."

This feeds into the concept that other religions are acceptable as long as they follow the Patriarchal model. This acceptance doesn't extend to religions that aren't Patriarchal in nature. The attacks against Goddess-worship are becoming frequent and increasingly vicious, and I believe they come mostly from fear. Fear of a religion that promises true equality for the sexes, that teaches people to be self-reliant rather than looking to a 'father figure god' to solve their problems, and has no use for a Satan figure. That last is particularly repugnant to Fundamentalist Christians -- without a Satan, people are forced to confront the difficult idea that evil exists within man and must be dealt with as such. How much easier to blame the 'devil' and believe man is 'born in sin' -- otherwise, he has less excuse for his atrocities.

A number of books have been published in the last few years dealing with those of us who frighten the followers of Patriarchal religions. Two written by Christian theologians are a concentrated attack on anyone who refuses to follow their ethic. The first published is also the most vicious -- Painted Black by Carl A. Raschke. At the time the book was published, Raschke was the Director of the Institute for Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Denver. The subtitle read 'From drug killings to heavy metal -- the alarming true story of how Satanism is terrorizing our communities'. Raschke's premise is that some kind of a Satanist conspiracy exists in America and is working to overthrow 'the very foundations of America's social values.'

I was somewhat surprised to learn that I am a part of a growing network of 'aesthetic terrorists', and that I am motivated by 'metaphysics, exhaustion and hopelessness'. According to Rashke, this is the result of not believing in the Christian version of God. I am, apparently, seeking to undermine the family values of this country through my taste in games, music, art, literature, cinema, and religious views which are pervaded by the symbolism of evil. Raschke uses examples of Satanic cults from newspapers, news reports and police records, and he has spoken to people involved in Satanism. What he fails to mention is that Satan worship is a twisted form of Christianity; Christianity turned around -- without a basic belief in the Christian religion there can be no Satanism.

Rashke would have me believe I am a Satan worshipper without believing in Satan. The author of the second book, The Cosmic Self, by Ted Peters, is different in tone and even in content from Rashke's book, but it must be noted that a fanatic follower of one religion is rarely sympathetic to another -- particularly one that undermines his entire belief system. Peters is a Lutheran theologian at the Graduate Theological Seminary in Berkeley. He takes pains to point out that 'new age religions' are fundamentally incompatible with Christianity. I have news for him he obviously hasn't picked up on yet...that's the point!

Of the two, Rashke seems better to understand the threat that a non-patriarchal religion poses to the 'big three' -- the freedom of choice, of living in a world in which person is solely responsible for whatever good or evil he does. That threat goes a long way to explaining something I've always had trouble understanding -- how women could choose to follow a patriarchal religion; how they could come to be as fervently devoted to one as a man. Mary Ruthsdotter, Co-Chairman of The National Women's History Project, has an explanation as to why women might choose a religion which classifies them as inherently inferior and designed to be under the rule of a man.

"The outside world can be a terrifying thing if you're not equipped to deal with it. For a person with no job skills, being sequestered by choice is very comforting. For that same person, being able and capable of getting a job if she wanted to could be a scary proposition. You wouldn't want it to be the norm."

In the past, women were usually forced into the position of not being able to care for themselves. But as the baby-boomers reach middle age, many are turning back to the comfort of patriarchal religion. While this might be easily understood for a man for reasons we covered earlier, why would women choose this strange sort of mental flagellation? Who would want to follow a religion that taught her she is inherently inferior to 49% of the population and should defer to that minority throughout her life?