IN
TWO MINDS:
The Anatomy of a Christian Hate Letter
Introductory Letter of the Seven Page Series
this letter was written by Brian Worley
I
have been on both sides of the
Atheist and Christian
“fence”. From my
perspective, it is rare that you
find a person from either
viewpoint that truly understands
the other person’s mindset.
Many think that they do, but
they are mistaken.
I will give you an
example of what I mean.
Watch and observe
whenever these two opposites
interact. You can feel the
tension and often feelings of
anger are expressed in
frustration. With a few
exceptions, it appears that most
Christians and Atheists have a
certain “mental picture” of
what the others viewpoint is
that is incorrect. This is why I
have named this series, In Two
Minds.
I
have been thinking about this
problem for a long time now. Not
only is this a personal problem,
it is an issue that needlessly
divides society. And no, I am
not going to be able to solve
this by myself. It is a daunting
task to attempt, but I do have
hope that progress can be made.
Someone asked the proverbial
question, “How do you eat an
elephant?” answer: “One bite
at a time.”
This
is an introduction to a
forthcoming series of letters
between myself and
a
well-respected psychologist and
former evangelical, Valerie
Tarico. Valerie
is
a Seattle-based psychologist and
author that
has written about the beliefs
and psychology of Christian
fundamentalists (The
Dark Side: How Evangelical
Teachings Corrupt Love and
Truth). She
holds a Ph. D and has been in
practice since 1987.
I, Brian will share personal experiences from both friends and family, and the website. Most of my adolescent years were spent in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina (WNC), in the Asheville area. It is part of the so-called “Bible belt area of the USA”. The famous writer, Thomas Wolfe who penned the novel “You Can’t Go Home Again” lived there and wrote about it. The evangelist Billy Graham also lives in this area. Life is different there, partly due to religion that hangs heavy in the air.
Now, I can relate to what Thomas Wolfe had written about his home in a letter to his sister Mabel. He writes:
I
think you are wise in wanting to
get out of Asheville. I have
known what happened to it for
years, but I had a good chance
to sum it all up when I went
back last summer. It is a ruined
and defeated town, and it is
full of ruined and defeated
people. If you think that I am
happy about this, you do me an
injustice. After all, it was my
town, I was born there, and some
of the people I care for most on
earth still live there. But I
found out last summer that you
can't go home again, and now I
know why . . . . I am going
better places, and I invite you
to come along . . . . Did you
ever read a story of mine that
came out about a year ago called
"I Have a Thing to Tell
You?" Well, I have a thing
to tell you now: that is you
can't go home again, but there
are other places you can go. So
why not try to find them?
(1)
Now
Asheville is a great town! If
you get a chance to visit, by
all means do so. Since I have
moved away from my (WNC) home, I
have desired to maintain
relationships with family and
old friends. I have had little
success and, frankly, a man
shouldn’t have to try that
hard to make them work! I am in
my 40’s now, and have been an
ex-minister for seven years. The
problem that is in between us
is, you guessed it….religion!
I have left my fundamentalists
religion and this really makes
most of my family and friends
very uncomfortable. If I
didn’t initiate contact with
them, we would not speak at all.
Personally, I think that it is
terrible that friends and family
do not speak to each other on
the account of divisions due to
religious beliefs.
As I have said, this is the introduction to a series of forthcoming letters. Check back because additional letters will be posted as they are completed. We (Valerie and I), hope that this will be helpful to you! Maybe you know of someone that could benefit by reading this, if so pass this on to them!
1.
Thomas Wolfe to Mabel Wolfe
Wheaton, May 10, 1938, in
Elizabeth Nowell, ed., The
Letters of Thomas Wolfe. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1956.
Sincerely,
Brian Worley Ex-Minister.org December 2007 All rights reserved.
Want to review another letter in this series? Just click the link below.
Letter 1 Letter 2 Letter 3 Letter 4 Letter 5 Letter 6