Sunday, July 27, 2008

How Modern Evangelicals Embody Sodom and Gomorrah

Modern, fundamentalist evangelicals cry out against the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah, without understanding what was happening in that story. The core concept was around hospitality and the core action was gang rape. In many ways the modern church has come to represent this gang-power enforced inhospitality toward non-conformists (democrats, homosexuals, childless couples, women with short hair, single parents, urbanites and generally welcoming people.


Hospitality:

Sodom was a wealthy city whose inhabitants feared sharing that wealth with newcomers. Therefor they actively were inhospitable to outsiders to protect themselves and their city. When the angels came to Lot, they were seen as outsiders who must leave the city. Having Lot show them hospitality was a crime against their whole society, leaving them forced to make an example of these men.

Evangelicals are in a position of power, holding a firm grasp over their brethren through the measurement of sin. This measurement excludes those who break cultural standards such as homosexuality or general "liberal" thought. To question any fundamentalist logic is to question the entire group. Therefore those who "stray" will be shunned, patronized into obedience or actively persecuted with church expulsion, etc..


Gang Rape:

As a means of enacting punishment on those who oppose the group, gang force is used by both Sodomites and Evangelicals. I'm sure there were those in both groups who objected to this use of mob thinking, but like with Nazi Germany, too few were and are silent to prevent the literal or figurative gang rape of the few who speak out against oppression. While rape is associated with sex, it is not about that but about power. Humiliation can be effective in passive ways just as it can in active ways. The modern church has an array of methods for inducing conformist behavior in its members.

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