{"id":7889,"date":"2012-05-31T12:18:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T16:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=7889"},"modified":"2012-07-03T19:33:01","modified_gmt":"2012-07-03T23:33:01","slug":"the-evangelical-bubble-cannot-be-sustained-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/31\/the-evangelical-bubble-cannot-be-sustained-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The evangelical bubble cannot be sustained (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A standard line of argument for sex education says that if young people aren\u2019t taught the actual facts of the facts of life, then they\u2019ll just wind up learning about it \u201con the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea there is that kids want the truth and they need and deserve to hear it. The desire to protect them, to preserve their innocence by preserving their ignorance, will wind up harming them in the long run. If you deny them access to good information, they\u2019ll seek out whatever information they can find on their own. That may mean they\u2019ll find out the truth for themselves, or it may mean they\u2019ll find a mess of misleading misinformation.<\/p>\n

But either way, it will also certainly mean this: They will have learned that they cannot rely on you or trust you to tell them the truth. And having learned that much the hard way, they won\u2019t make the mistake of trusting you again. Children, it turns out, don\u2019t like being treated like children. And adults tend to like it even less.<\/p>\n

The various items in the previous post<\/a> all deal with this same dynamic from different vantage points.<\/p>\n

I appreciate what the church of the Latter Day Saints is trying to do by, as Peggy Fletcher Stack puts it<\/a>, confronting the \u201c\u2018epidemic\u2019 of online misinformation\u201d about Mormonism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is a problem largely of their own making, but the LDS leaders have seen the writing on the wall \u2014 or the writing on the screen \u2014 and they\u2019re beginning to realize that \u201cprotecting\u201d their people by protecting their secrets is not a sustainable approach. The attempt to preserve innocence by preserving ignorance is always doomed to fail.<\/p>\n

What LDS leaders are coming to realize is that if they<\/em> don\u2019t tell their story, then others will tell it for<\/em> them \u2014 and often in a way that\u2019s critical, or outright hostile.<\/p>\n

Before the Internet, it was possible not<\/em> to tell \u201cthe whole story from the beginning,\u201d to gloss over or avoid discussing \u201cdisruptive facts\u201d or thorny issues or complexities in that story. What laypeople didn\u2019t know couldn\u2019t hurt them. But the Internet has made such glossing-over and avoiding impossible. All those \u201cdisruptive facts\u201d are just a click or two away \u2014 along with plenty of even-more-disruptive misinformation that may be embraced by those seeking the facts they\u2019ve been denied.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think the leaders of the evangelical subculture understand this change. They seem to think that access to information can still be controlled. They think they can still preserve the innocence and the ignorance of their followers by keeping all their \u201cdirty little secrets\u201d secret.<\/p>\n

Many of those \u201cdirty little secrets\u201d are not really all that dirty. The \u201csecrets\u201d Ed Cyzewski writes about<\/a> learning in seminary are not earth-shattering revelations or dark mysteries protected by a secretive conspiracy of seminarians. They\u2019re just a bunch of things that it may seem easier<\/em> not to talk about \u2014 \u201cdisruptive facts\u201d or complicating factors.<\/p>\n

Consider, for example, the \u201cdisruptive fact\u201d of\u00a0 the \u201cSynoptic problem\u201d that J.R. Daniel Kirk discusses<\/a>. The New Testament begins with four different Gospels and no two accounts are the same \u2014 the details don\u2019t fit together, events are altered or ordered differently, and each author seems to have a different emphasis or interpretation. We can learn a great deal from those differences and variations, and seminary students study all of this in depth \u2014 exploring the relationships between these texts, and how and why each may have been composed in the way it was.<\/p>\n

That discussion is pretty fascinating and illuminating if you\u2019re the sort of person who enjoys seminary studies, but it\u2019s also a lot more complicated than what can easily be dealt with in a simple three-point sermon. And unless all that complexity is conveyed with great care by someone willing to tell \u201cthe whole story from the beginning,\u201d then a half-understood discussion of these differences and variations is likely to be perceived by some parishioners as hostility to the Bible. They haven\u2019t had a chance to spend years studying the text in seminary, so it\u2019s likely that some of them approach the text in a more simplistic way. Why risk upsetting them? It\u2019s easier for pastors just to keep much of what they studied in seminary as \u201cdirty little secrets.\u201d It seems easier to try to preserve the congregation\u2019s innocence by preserving their ignorance.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a long history of such behavior \u2014 especially by pastors in evangelical churches where the gap between the seminary-educated clergy and laypeople is often particularly large. But, again, such secret-keeping is no longer possible. Every such dirty little secret is now just a Google search away.<\/p>\n

And that is a Very Good Thing. Keeping secrets isn\u2019t what seminary education is supposed to be for. The pastor doesn\u2019t study theology in order to shield the other members of the church from having to study it. The pastor studies theology on their behalf,<\/em> in order to share that knowledge with them.<\/p>\n

I understand the dynamic Cyzewski describes when he writes of that which \u201cpastors aren\u2019t allowed to talk about because they\u2019d lose their jobs.\u201d That\u2019s not hyperbole in evangelical churches, where even the most innocent passing remark \u2014 mentioning that Isaiah wasn\u2019t written all at once, or saying \u201cthe author of 2 Timothy\u201d instead of saying \u201cPaul\u201d \u2014 can provoke a fearful backlash from someone whose fragile faith requires them to fiercely defend a simplistic, imaginary version of the Bible.<\/p>\n

But the actual truth is that this simple, imaginary Bible doesn\u2019t exist. And if they don\u2019t learn that from their pastor \u2014 if the pastor doesn\u2019t tell them \u201cthe whole story\u201d complete with all the complex, \u201cdisruptive facts\u201d \u2014 then they\u2019ll eventually learn it from somewhere else. Or they\u2019ll learn something else from somewhere else. And either way, they\u2019ll have learned that their pastor cannot be trusted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are tremendous pastoral issues at stake,\u201d here Kirk says, because \u201cmedia will tell people the truth if we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s always been true, of course, as that story from Latebloomer illustrates<\/a>. Her fundamentalist church and sectarian home-school curriculum refused to tell her the truth about what Kirk calls \u201cthe Bible we actually have, rather than the Bible of our imaginations.\u201d But she stumbled across the truth anyway \u2014 first in her family encyclopedia, then years later in the New Testament survey class at an evangelical Christian college.<\/p>\n

(A dirty little secret about evangelical Christian colleges is that many of them teach the same dirty little secrets that Cyzewski learned in seminary. And not just in New Testament survey classes, but in history, biology, astronomy, geology \u2026)<\/p>\n

To keep the insular bubble of the evangelical subculture intact has always required some defense mechanisms. \u201cI slammed the encyclopedia shut,\u201d Latebloomer writes, and then, as trained, she \u201cmentally explained away the data as yet one more humanistic attack on God\u2019s obvious truth.\u201d That\u2019s the standard 1-2 combination for those determined to defend the bubble: 1) Keep the walls up and the encyclopedia shut; 2) Inoculate against potential glimpses of \u201cdisruptive facts\u201d that get past the perimeter with a mythology of conspiratorial persecution.<\/p>\n

But such defenses were never wholly effective, even in the past, when the media threatening to pop the bubble with disruptive truth-telling were mainly libraries and distant colleges that could be avoided or navigated with blinders intact. In the late 20th century, the rise of television and mass media made it more and more difficult for the evangelical subculture to preserve innocence by preserving ignorance. The Internet makes this almost impossible.<\/p>\n

The LDS leaders seem to understand Kirk\u2019s point. If \u201cmedia will tell people the truth if we don\u2019t,\u201d then we must tell people the truth. Otherwise they\u2019ll just learn about it on the street. Transparency, openness and the end of \u201cdirty little secrets\u201d is the only hope of preventing misinformation and maintaining trust.<\/p>\n

But \u2014 and here\u2019s the rub for those currently in charge within the evangelical bubble \u2014 maintaining trust will mean giving up control<\/em>. For those who have sought to attain and maintain power by controlling information, that will mean giving up power<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I doubt they\u2019re willing to do this voluntarily. I don\u2019t think they have much choice, in the long run, but in the short run I expect them to put up an ugly fight to preserve their power \u2014 trying to preserve their control by preserving others\u2019 ignorance.<\/p>\n

The good news is that this is a fight they cannot win. Their ability to monopolize the information available to those within the bubble cannot be sustained. These controlling leaders may do some damage on their way down, but the writing is on the screen \u2014 they\u2019re going down.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A standard line of argument for sex education says that if young people aren\u2019t taught the actual facts of the facts of life, then they\u2019ll just wind up learning about it \u201con the streets.\u201d The idea there is that kids want the truth and they need and deserve to hear it. The desire to protect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11,50],"class_list":["post-7889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicals","tag-bible","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nThe evangelical bubble cannot be sustained (part 2)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A standard line of argument for sex education says that if young people aren't taught the actual facts of the facts of life, then they'll just wind up\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/31\/the-evangelical-bubble-cannot-be-sustained-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The evangelical bubble cannot be sustained (part 2)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A standard line of argument for sex education says that if young people aren't taught the actual facts of the facts of life, then they'll just wind up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/31\/the-evangelical-bubble-cannot-be-sustained-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-31T16:18:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-07-03T23:33:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/31\/the-evangelical-bubble-cannot-be-sustained-part-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/31\/the-evangelical-bubble-cannot-be-sustained-part-2\/\",\"name\":\"The evangelical bubble cannot be sustained (part 2)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-31T16:18:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-07-03T23:33:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"A standard line of argument for sex education says that if young people aren't taught the actual facts of the facts of life, then they'll just wind up\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/31\/the-evangelical-bubble-cannot-be-sustained-part-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/31\/the-evangelical-bubble-cannot-be-sustained-part-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/31\/the-evangelical-bubble-cannot-be-sustained-part-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The evangelical bubble cannot be sustained (part 2)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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