Comments on: be afraid. be very afraid. http://www.challengerappears.com/blog/2007/05/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/ Rob Fahey on games, media, journalism and politics. Thu, 06 May 2010 08:45:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: ottocrat http://www.challengerappears.com/blog/2007/05/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/comment-page-1/#comment-60 ottocrat Thu, 24 May 2007 18:43:01 +0000 http://www.challengerappears.com/blog/2007/05/20/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/#comment-60 Good post, Rob. As someone who grew up in precisely the fire & brimstone environment you describe, though, there is cause for hope. Firstly, the evangelical movement with its megachurches, its highly politicised congregations, and its links to the US religious right, has been a fixture in the English social landscape for a long time. I have no idea whether it's actually growing or not; honestly, I suspect not. I do believe that there are fundamental differences between the US and the UK contexts. In the UK these people do not set the agenda; they are the outsiders. They love to see themselves that way, in fact. They're outsiders within a secular society. In the US, they're not: they see themselves as the bedrock of US society, they see the United States as being their creation. Being fundamentalists, they need to see themselves as persecuted outsiders too, but in their case, it's the whole country which is the persecuted outsider, and the rest of the world as godless pagans serving Satan's power. As I say, I grew up in a happy clappy community in the south-east of England, but spent a couple of years living in the Bible Belt of the US, in rural Kansas. I feel that I know these people. I share your view that atheists, agnostics, and moderate religious people should make their views heard. But I am honestly rather optimistic. If I (and my sister) managed to survive an upbringing like that - thanks in large part to our exposure to wider secular society through school and through the BBC - then there's hope for England. :) Good post, Rob. As someone who grew up in precisely the fire & brimstone environment you describe, though, there is cause for hope. Firstly, the evangelical movement with its megachurches, its highly politicised congregations, and its links to the US religious right, has been a fixture in the English social landscape for a long time. I have no idea whether it’s actually growing or not; honestly, I suspect not. I do believe that there are fundamental differences between the US and the UK contexts. In the UK these people do not set the agenda; they are the outsiders. They love to see themselves that way, in fact. They’re outsiders within a secular society. In the US, they’re not: they see themselves as the bedrock of US society, they see the United States as being their creation. Being fundamentalists, they need to see themselves as persecuted outsiders too, but in their case, it’s the whole country which is the persecuted outsider, and the rest of the world as godless pagans serving Satan’s power.

As I say, I grew up in a happy clappy community in the south-east of England, but spent a couple of years living in the Bible Belt of the US, in rural Kansas. I feel that I know these people. I share your view that atheists, agnostics, and moderate religious people should make their views heard. But I am honestly rather optimistic. If I (and my sister) managed to survive an upbringing like that – thanks in large part to our exposure to wider secular society through school and through the BBC – then there’s hope for England. :)

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