Read on Twitter
I often think about the lack of writing, art & entertainment by people who grew up evangelical. a continuation of a previous thread:
https://twitter.com/long_napper/status/1356053862927491079
1/
https://twitter.com/long_napper/status/1356053862927491079
1/
why aren't there more depictions of the experience and texture of the evangelical world that aren't cartoonish & filled with stock villains whose only purpose is existing as foils for progressive, enlightened heroes?
2/
2/
so much of our news media, op-eds and the entire NPR class talk ad nauseam about Christians and fundamentalists—it's a never-ending hot topic but they rarely ever engage with people who are or were evangelical. They just talk about them, condescendingly, from the outside
3/
3/
you'd think there would be a market and an audience for artistic renderings of that world. (and no, Hillbilly Elegy is not an Evangelical book, for those who might be trying to make that connection).
4/
4/
well, if other evangelicals are like me then you have the sense to know that it's embarrassing to reveal your evangelical upbringing. It's low-status and people assume that you are traumatized by that world, or are dumb for having a lack of sophisticated education
5/
5/
and why would anyone take the very unpopular stance of trying to humanize the people in the evangelical world? It's a huge risk.
6/
6/
if you actually depict the evangelical world with nuance and as it is people will probably hate you for it because so much of the media class's narratives are built on hating deplorables and deplorable-adjacents
7/
7/
although not perfect, my experience growing up evangelical was happy, stable, healthy and often fun. It was nothing like the world depicted in the book Educated by Tara Westover. Yes, she was depicting her own personal experience in a specific form of religious fundamentalism
8/
8/
"Educated" has been used by a multitude of people, educational organizations & Freshman intro courses to speak about a whole population of people in a crude way. If the book reflected what it became in its popular use it would be called "Re-Educated"
9/ https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/education/csuns-2020-2021-freshman-common-reading-explores-one-persons-educational-journey/
9/ https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/education/csuns-2020-2021-freshman-common-reading-explores-one-persons-educational-journey/
I am no longer evangelical, or Christian. I have complicated feelings about it for reasons I'll continue to write about, one of those reasons is that I am gay
But as a writer I prefer honesty and truth. What I see in media about the evangelical world is false & inaccurate
10/
But as a writer I prefer honesty and truth. What I see in media about the evangelical world is false & inaccurate
10/
If a large segment of the country grew up as some sort of Evangelical, surely there are many of us living normal, secular lives in disguise. Surely we have assimilated, surely we feel a twinge of—discomfort, pain?—when seeing our past selves & our families as the face of evil
/e
/e
