Daily Experience

This is our town square. If you click on the photo, you can read about the Civil War and see, way in the background, the marquee for the local theater, which features something on the "Gospel Truth."

My last post and the comments on it got me thinking about every day experience. Not all the issues I've dealt with recently have been great ones...my work and my home life are often a little oasis of safety. I've wondered whether to post the difficult stuff on the blog, but heck, life is sometimes about what's difficult. I struggle with where we live--in a time when religious fervor is at a fever pitch worldwide, I live in a part of the USA with a lot of evangelical fervor. Locals say, "Oh, this is the South, get used to it," but that isn't true, in my experience. I've lived both in Virginia and in North Carolina, and while these were states rich with religion, they were also places that accepted diversity and were somewhat tolerant of difference. In both of these states, there's a long history of accepting non-Protestants (Jews in particular) as ordinary citizens and even political leaders. That's not the case in Kentucky. If I question this, I've been told to "go back to where I came from." Where is that? Virginia? I'm a fourth generation American citizen. This is where I came from.

In fact, if anything, Kentucky has made me self-censor. I get cautious when I'm in social situations. What if I say something that will get me in trouble later? This sense of caution and fear is inhibiting. It's also kept me from making many friends here. As soon as I tell people about myself, it can become a difficult situation. For instance, I used to belong to a local knitting group. One group member in particular told me again and again that anything about my religion or my politics wasn't something she wanted to hear. I got tired of the intolerance...I could listen to their chatter about Easter, but could not mention Passover preparations without reproach. Now I knit by myself on the couch and participate in fiber listservs online. This was a painful experience for me, but those people didn't really know me. Even if only one member of the group perpetrated this intolerance, everyone else allowed it to continue. They didn't think it was "that bad." No one else stood up for me--in fact, the others who agreed with me just quit going to the group. In effect, non-Christian behavior, done in the guise of vigilant "moral" Christianity, kicked out the members of the group, Christian or Jewish, who did not tolerant this behavior.

This is a small town, and while I could start another group, there aren't an inexhaustible number of interested, diversity-tolerant knitters here. How do I cope? I strike back by writing about my experiences for big city publications. This is important because many people in big city blue state USA think religious intolerance is no longer prevalent in America. Here's the most recent article:

As American As...Proselytization:Fireworks,the Fourth and Jesus

Since you won't be able to see the photos clearly in the web article, I'll leave you with the flyer that was posted around our town square. Three or four blocks from my home, this is the closest Independence Day celebration...too bad it excludes all of the U.S. citizens who aren't Christian. I'll go to the university's celebration, where religious hymns will be interspersed with patriotic music. At least the fireworks are non-denominational.