*Alyssa Ford recently wrote an article in The Rake entitled "Do You Really Believe That What You Believe Is Really Real?" I highly recommend that you read it yourself. It covers definitions of evangelical christians and the James Dobson "Focus on the Family" offshoot, "The Truth Project", led by Del Tackett.
Ford describes in detail The Truth Project's work in Minneapolis churches and communities. The Truth Project includes dedicated evangelical christians determined to reign in christians who develop a wandering eye and tools to yank back right-wingers who drift toward center.
The article provides a survey conducted by George Barna, an evangelical pollster, which was used to provide some hard numbers to the church going faces. Barna's survey questions and Ford's follow-up paragraph comes from her Rake article.
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1. Would you call yourself a Christian?
2. Have you made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?
3. Do you believe that you will go to heaven when you die because you have confessed your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?
4. Do you believe that you have a personal responsibility to share your religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians?
5. Do you believe that Satan exists?
6. Do you believe that eternal salvation is possible through grace, not works?
7. Do you believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on Earth?
8. Do you believe that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches?
9. Do you believe that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity?
10. Do you believe that God created the universe and still rules it today?
1. Would you call yourself a Christian?
2. Have you made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?
3. Do you believe that you will go to heaven when you die because you have confessed your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?
4. Do you believe that you have a personal responsibility to share your religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians?
5. Do you believe that Satan exists?
6. Do you believe that eternal salvation is possible through grace, not works?
7. Do you believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on Earth?
8. Do you believe that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches?
9. Do you believe that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity?
10. Do you believe that God created the universe and still rules it today?
Barna discovered that a solid thirty-eight percent of the U.S. population could be classified as “born-again” Christians, meaning they answered yes to the first three questions. The part that knocked strict Bible literalists on their heels was how few of those born-again Christians have a “Biblical world view”: only nine percent of them qualified by answering yes to all ten questions.
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This is one way to define evangelical fundamentalists. They don't pussyfoot around. Either you're in, or you're out. Six years ago, I would have passionately, whole-heartedly, from the deepest depths of my soul answered YES! to all ten questions.
When I first started confronting the fact that I may have been brainwashed all along, the scripture that sat heavy on my heart and gave me heart burn was a top-ten favorite in the fundamentalist churches I attended and in my family circle.
Behold the words of a hallucinating-allegorically-speaking prophet: Revelation 3:15-16. (JC speaking to the church in Laodicea)
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth."
I found myself not being able to answer YES! to all ten questions. Time passed. Soul-searching. Shit happened. I changed my answer to NO! and NA (not applicable) on all ten. A girl has the right to change her mind. I didn't pussyfoot around. I went from being hot in Jesus' mouth to being HOT for Jesus' mouth.
I can't tell: because I'm not lukewarm, did Jesus swallow me?
If nothing else, christianity effectively instilled in me a "either you're in or you're out" mentality . I got out. I have no regrets. I force myself to look into the gray areas, those lukewarm areas of life. Life is not always a matter of being in or out, here or there, black or white. I work on deprogramming that hot or cold "biblical world view". It is a struggle. The struggle is a blessing.
Sometimes it's a good mentality to have. Emotionally, physically abusive and/or used-up relationships are full of people who are half-assed about staying or leaving: noncommittal, afraid to stay, afraid to go. Sometimes the best thing for a person is to get out, leave it all behind, and not look back until the Lot's Wife Syndrome has passed.
It took me a good six year cushion of deprogramming to get the point where I could look back and go public without taking it too seriously. Christianity is something I left behind. It was a relationship that served its purpose and needed to end. I can look back without turning into a pillar of salt.
Christians like to argue the "once saved, always saved" schtick with me. People suggest that I will go back and pick up the pieces. Others suggest that I will learn to take the good parts and be a christian as an admirer of the philosophy of Jesus. All of these arguments and suggestions I will leave for future posts.
As I find them, I will offer more definitions, quizzes, and surveys about evangelical fundamentalism. I also recommend that you read more of Alyssa Ford's works that expose the traveling religion and spirituality circuses. From what I can tell, she is a "been there, done that" kinda gal when it comes to fundamentalist christianity, and we kids gotta stick together.
In the meantime, I'd be curious to know how you do, or did, answer the survey's 10 questions. Do tell.
*"Jesus" and "The Last Supper" by Liz Lemon Swindle. Bravo, Liz!
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10 comments:
Ten years ago or so I would have answered a big fat YES to all ten. These days I usually just ignore the questions altogether. I find that most people just can't understand our position- evangelical christians, especially my old friends who knew me personally, just cannot imagine how I could go from full-on believer to full-on unbeliever. And the unbelievers can't imagine how I could have ever believed any of that in the first place. I think de-conversion is one of those things that you can't really relate to unless you've been there yourself. Exchristian.org is a great site, by the way. I spent a lot of time reading there in the early days. Have you read Dan Barker's book, Losing Faith in Faith? I've already read it twice. I plan on a third time one of these days.
Your site fascinates me...because this is very much foreign to me. I grew up without organized religion, we had bibles in the house, but they were kept with the other literature.
I did go to a religious school for a couple of years - because my parents thought I would get a good education there, not because we were religious. I felt out of place and unaccepted for who I was and after two years I convinced the folks to set me free.
It's probably no surprise to you, but I categorically answered no. Although, I too, was raised in Christianity, and I am still on my journey to come out of the religious closet, I don't think there was a time (beyond childhood) that I would have answered yes to all ten (at the very least, I have never fully believed number 8).
Quite frankly, these questions and the mentality they suggest anger me. I am getting better at not letting it bother me, but it's hard partly because of my extended family. I still struggle with the fact that they would not unconditionally accept me if they knew how I felt, and/or they would pull a #4 on me, which might just cause me to go postal. ;)
Ironically, I just posted today regarding the moment I 'realized' Christianity was a big hoax.
JB: no I haven't read Dan Barker's book, but have just added it to my reading list. I understand where you are coming from. It's hard to find ppl who have left the faith for good.
Trista: and I am fascinated with people like you who had an nonchalant relationship with religion/ church/ christianity. I love to hear stories from the other side. They soothe me.
BE: These questions anger me at times too... more in the past than present... especially when in the context of #4. Family has a way of turning that screw as far as they can.
Oh man. That was a perfect 10 for me. That means I was super hot! And now I must be more like you a 0 for I am being digested and deposited outside of the body of Jesus. Never a pleasant experience to be put out like that, but at least it was my own choice.
I didn't start realizing that I wasn't a Christian anymore until I started putting maybe as a few of those answers. Esp. referring to #8 (but also 9 and 10) # 4 I just hadn't done in an awful long time. then I started thinking that I was actually scared of the idea of eternal life praising some weird ass god that I supposedly believed in......
Truth project = scary project.
I hate it when my Christian friends tell me things like "You'll come around" or "You're a Christian, Kevin, Don't be silly! I know your heart."
*sigh*
Have a blessed day!
--Kevin
Really interesting stuff. Actually, I'm Jewish (kind of) but I love reading new points of view.
Hi Christine,
I came across this website by some pastors in Kansas City who aren't afraid to openly talk about the hypocritical, money-grubbing religious system in America: http://www.steveandkathygray.com/
They have some pretty funny skits. I'm sure Fundies are probably offended by them, too.
I'm sorry to hear you've left Christ. However, we do know that in the end they'll be more that are not with Him, then are. Hopefully, you'll end up being one of the ones who come back.
lew - belated but whatever - sometimes a girl just knows that she is NEVER going back to an old boyfriend. This is one of those sometimes.
In the end, lew, we All die. I'm okay with that. Hopefully, someday you will be too!
Not too long ago I would have answered all 10 questions with a resounding "YES!" And even more than that, I would have added, "And you should too!"
How far I've come. I can now honestly answer each question "no." It originally started by realizing that the church I had been attending was quite cult-like. In reading books on leaving cults and the hive mind mentality, I started reading more about Christianity itself, to see what I really believed. I concluded that the Bible is not the written word of an all-knowing, all-powerful God.
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