[Vision2020] Re: Never Letting Go

[Joan Opyr]

On Mar 31, 2006, at 2:29 PM, kerry becker wrote:

> Rose,
> I agree with what you have said,
> " slavery under the guise of godly paternalism is wrong,  ignoring 
> city zoningcodes  is wrong and exploiting the naivete of well meaning 
> people is wrong."
>
> Those are complicated things.  However, it is not complicated to 
> accept the fact that it is every right of those church people to 
> conduct themselves as they see fit.  I am separating the zoning issue 
> which I have already said was a legitimate case.
>
> The rest of these endless arguments seem to be different 
> interpretations of how ourselves/others view the world and why one way 
> is seemingly better than the other.  That is the 'diversity' I speak 
> of.  Different strokes for different folks. Live and let live.  That, 
> to me, is uncomplicated.
>

Different strokes for different folks are fine and dandy.  To be 
honest, I don't much care one way or another how Doug Wilson and his 
followers get their strokes -- it's when they try to reach out and 
touch me that I get concerned.  Doug's theology is bizarre to me; his 
misogyny, his homophobia, and his understanding of "covenant" damned 
peculiar.  But I expect my own theology is just as bizarre to him, as 
are my feminism, my lesbianism, my economic lefty-ism and my 
democratic/libertarian politics.  That's all well and good; I'm in 
favor of all forms of diversity.  But where we run into trouble, Kerry, 
is that Doug Wilson crosses the line into promoting theocracy -- he is 
trying (and, nationally, his co-horts are succeeding) in replacing 
secular rule with rule by Biblical fiat.  This makes it difficult to 
talk about Doug Wilson and Christ Church without talking about his 
theology -- his theology is central to his economic, business, and 
political plans.

Why is Doug Wilson a serial zoning violator?  In part, because he 
doesn't care about the laws and ordinances of secular government.  He 
is very clear in his many writings and public utterances that we should 
not be governed in secular fashion by our elected leaders.  As he 
doesn't believe women should hold positions of leadership over men, or, 
indeed, that women should have the right to vote, accepting the 
authority of Mayor Nancy Chaney cannot be easy for him.  There has to 
be disconnect between his oft-stated beliefs and the reality on the 
ground.

We also cannot simply live and let live when we encounter real people 
who are suffering financially and spiritually, and they ask us for 
help.  I can't, anyway.  The distinction between church and cult is a 
fine one, I admit.  Some rely on an anthropological definition; I rely 
on gut instinct.  When people come to me and say that they want to 
leave Christ Church but can't because their livelihoods are threatened, 
they can't face the shunning, or they fear what will happen to their 
friends and family, I believe we're coping with a dangerous and harmful 
entity, not your garden variety church.  If Doug Wilson did not claim 
to be Christian, if he called himself the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and 
his followers shaved their heads and dressed in saffron robes, I 
suspect he wouldn't get away with nearly so much.  He's played well 
into our cultural biases, and those biases have blinded us to the fact 
that he has broken our secular (and hence meaningless) laws repeatedly 
and thereby wormed his way into the Central Business District.  He has 
been so successful as re-casting his lawbreaking as our religious 
persecution that the previous Moscow City Council rewrote zoning 
ordinance rather than enforce the existing rules.  We have had no 
trouble in the past saying no to the University of Idaho, but we're 
afraid to say no to something that calls itself a Christian school.

  That's a sad state of affairs and, as far as the previous city council 
is concerned, it was a chickenshit cop-out.  From a secular government, 
I expect secular governing.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.joanopyr.com