Three Steps Part 2: That Old Time Liberal Religion

[crabby_lioness]

Introduction
Part 1:  Recollection, Remembrance, and Discovery

Give me that old time religion,
Give me that old time religion,
Give me that old time religion,
It's good enough for me. The church that I was brought up in no longer exists.  The buildings still stand, I could lead you inside and give you detailed tours.  They still have the same name,

Comments

[sistermu]

I find this very interesting. It is hard to imagine how such an open, liberal organisation could change so quickly. Did many people fight the change or was it too insidious? Was there a schism?

I've read bits of the Bible and never understand how people who admire Jesus can also accept the Old Testament. Jesus in the Gospels seems a pretty decent chap with much to be admired in his teachings. When I read the stories in the Old Testament I can't fit Jesus' philosophy in with them, like when Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac, I imagine Jesus saying, "What are you DOING?! Are you crazy?" But maybe I'm missing something.

[crabby_lioness]

All this happened when I was a child whom no one explained what was happening to, so it was many years before I had enough pieces of the puzzle to realize what went on out of my sight. A good place to read about it is Bruce Bawer's _Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity_. Bawer pins down what happened to the end of the Baby Boom. As the population of children shrunk, there was a widespread tendency to shut down supplemental educational programs as "no longer needed", which meant that the end of the Baby Boom and Gen X didn't get the the opportunities the Baby Boom had to develop as extensive a mental toolkit. One of those programs that was shut down in the mid-'60s was the one that taught children in Southern Baptist churches the value of being liberal Christians. Within ten years you had a generation of young adults who no longer valued what their parents had valued, and didn't see why maintaining the traditions of liberalism were important. In the words of the song from South Pacific, "You have to be

[swordznsorcery]

Those last three points look to me like "reasons to beware of the Christian Right". It's always been claimed that right and left eventually reconnect if they go far enough...

I'm sorry that your church changed. I have no religion to speak of, but I appreciate that it can be an important part of your life, and it must be frustrating to see it change and be unable to do anything about it.