Found out yesterday that a relative who is a physician’s assistant and an old family friend who is literally a doctor (and a specialist to boot) are mask refusing COVID deniers who have been traveling unnecessarily.

I’m not surprised. Sad, but not surprised.

#exvangelical https://twitter.com/umairh/status/1342877593008300035

My parents are more sensible than most white evangelicals (and, after decades as a music pastor/tech and creative director in evangelical churches, my dad actually now works for a mainline denomination and an LGBTQ-affirming church).

I’ve never fully understood why/how.

But these more sensible evangelicals do exist despite the authoritarian nature of their theology. Unfortunately, they often seem just weirdly oblivious to how extreme everyone around them is (that extremism making more logical sense wrt the extreme beliefs tbh). It’s bizarre.

By shrugging off that extremism, they enable it. Sometimes too they get awfully defensive when you bring up how it’s harmed you. “We never taught you that!” is classic “respectable” evangelical gaslighting. Um, yes you did—at *least* by putting us in your churches and schools.

But in fairness, both my parents are really caring people. Hard conversations over the last decade or so have made it possible to have a pretty healthy relationship. As far as I can see, most ex-evangelicals will never be able to have that. I didn’t expect it, frankly.

It’s not perfect. But my boundaries are now mostly respected, which is not what you get from most evangelicals, not by a long shot.

I also have one close relative who believes all kinds of pseudoscience about medicine but is being careful with social distancing because of an immunocompromised member of her household.

When you only accept science some of the time, why do you make this particular call?