One key lesson I’d love for the Left to learn from #Exvangelical folks is this: evangelicalism, the engine of religious conservatism in America, has become increasingly constrictive over the decades. Their ability to tolerate dissent of any kind in their community is near zero.
Over the past few decades, through concerted efforts across a variety of evangelical institutions, social & political dissent has been quashed from within. Examples include Paige Patterson’s fundamentalist takeover of the SBC in ‘98 & the increased conservatism on Xian campuses.
@C_Stroop has documented cases of “theological paranoia” on Christian college campuses. An increasingly conservative donor base that demands campus and intellectual life match their own preferences drives Xian colleges to damaging policy and teaching.

religiondispatches.org/special-report…
But like so much of evangelicalism, the reasons for this push toward hardline stances—with no room for compromise, resulting in the ‘closing of the evangelical mind and heart’—are multitudinous.
Much can be credited to toxic beliefs about “God’s Sovereignty,” and what evangelicals claim is a “plain reading” of the biblical texts, that have resulted in abusive practices in evangelical homes, churches, and institutions. These beliefs are taught in many places & mediums.
Toxic evangelical beliefs are espoused in Christian homeschool curricula, evangelical colleges, evangelical music, Xian TV, and Xian lobbying. An entire media ecosystem has been created to propagate these beliefs, and even so, it can be hard to unmask the underlying assumptions.
This is why #Exvangelical voices and community are vital to public discourse. We know the internal logic and language, because we were inside. We know how this culture pushes out the dissenters and the different, because we have been pushed out.

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More from @brchastain

Aug 15, 2018
I wish theocratic fundamentalists would admit that their understanding of Christianity is completely ahistorical and the refusal to acknowledge their ties to white supremacy, misogyny, and homophobia makes them incapable of confronting their own apostasy & need for repentance.
Honestly, ask any #Exvangelical who left evangelicalism and continued to engage with the broader history of Christianity. It's like escaping a fishbowl and being released into the ocean.
There's still danger there. There's still things to avoid if you want to be healthy. There's still discernment required. But the expansiveness will leave you wide-eyed.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 22, 2018
Ok. So one theme that’s been rolling around my head over the past few days has been one of the key themes of #exvangelical experience: a sense of betrayal by your elders.
This may include your family of origin, or it may not. But it will almost certainly include your faith of origin or your most formative faith experience: evangelicalism itself.
This sense of betrayal manifests itself in several ways, and because evangelicalism is a religious, social, and political movement (all bleeding into and informing one another) these betrayals have various origins.
Read 18 tweets

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