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John Vaughan's avatar

A great, somewhat dense but “worth it” read that shows how the Christian culture wars are a retread of prior versions, all based in fear and control, is “Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality” by Jack Rogers. Originally published by in 2006 with a clearly Presbyterian historical context from a denominational insider, Rogers backtracks to show how the church treated slavery and more recently treats LGBTQ rights with the same fear-based arguments that don’t actually work logically or practically but are used by leaders and consumed by churchgoers in the same fashion decade over decade. https://a.co/d/6viXzcJ

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Phillip Wright's avatar

Devin, this is spot on. What you’ve laid out here shows how fear and control often dress themselves up in religious language but are really about power — who gets to shape the imagination of the next generation, as you said so well.

I lived through that 1970s culture-war moment, and what strikes me now is how quickly the “issue” could change while the strategy stayed the same. First it was segregation, then textbooks, then abortion, and today it’s LGBTQ rights. Different cover art, same playbook.

And yet, what gives me hope is that alongside those bonfires, there have always been people quietly tending another kind of fire — the fire of compassion, nuance, and courage. People who refuse to reduce faith to fear or morality to a weapon.

Thanks for reminding us that if we don’t name this history honestly, we’ll just keep repeating it.

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