Hatred in the Hallways: HRW responds to the bullying of gay American kids. Links to their 2001 report and suicide prevention resources
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Most of the US Born Agains and fundies are Baptists, however, and baptist are non-hierarchical in much the same way as Islam (there is no central hierarchy between congregations, and congregations may differ in doctrine), so confusion about Islam in the US is unlikely to stem from this source. Oddly enough, identifying as Catholic in the US actually makes you *less* likely to be a biblical literalist than an average member of the population.
So I think the Catholic and Anglican Church are not really useful comparisons - their hierarchies may be what we think of as 'standard' Christianity, but it isn't really the US experience, or that of the fundamentalists and born agains in general.
And there are a few hierarchical Neo-Pagan groups, including most of the groups organised along a Masonic degree ladder system, including the Golden Dawn and its descendants, and the OTO. Of course, being an inherently anarchist organisation, the OTO hierarchy isn't exactly oppressive, but still, it is there - they have Bishops and Primates, which is a level of religious hierarchy the Baptists eschew.
And of course on the Crowley (and wiccan) side of things there is the 'Do What Thou Wilt', which for Thelemic crowd certainly translates to the right to love who you will as a article of faith.
So I am inclined to think that the hierarchical and non-hierarchical question of authority isn't really the key here - the key is what sort of questions it is acceptable to ask of authority, and what sort of answers those authorities can give while still asserting that spiritual authority.
Re the non-hierarchical-ness of Protestantism in the US - that's an excellent point, one which I hadn't thought of! Perhaps that Baptist minister is right - it's a theological issue, rather than an organisational one.
So I think the Catholic and Anglican Church are not really useful comparisons - their hierarchies may be what we think of as 'standard' Christianity, but it isn't really the US experience, or that of the fundamentalists and born agains in general.
And there are a few hierarchical Neo-Pagan groups, including most of the groups organised along a Masonic degree ladder system, including the Golden Dawn and its descendants, and the OTO. Of course, being an inherently anarchist organisation, the OTO hierarchy isn't exactly oppressive, but still, it is there - they have Bishops and Primates, which is a level of religious hierarchy the Baptists eschew.
And of course on the Crowley (and wiccan) side of things there is the 'Do What Thou Wilt', which for Thelemic crowd certainly translates to the right to love who you will as a article of faith.
So I am inclined to think that the hierarchical and non-hierarchical question of authority isn't really the key here - the key is what sort of questions it is acceptable to ask of authority, and what sort of answers those authorities can give while still asserting that spiritual authority.
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