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• Tuesday, September 12, 2006 07:48 PM

  Not new but still a little scary

  This story is unsettling but it's not new. There have always been adolescents and young adults who, lacking purpose or direction, embraced religious fundamentalism. I knew them when I was a college student and I encounter the occasional one now. But it's extreme to say that the movement will "swallow a generation whole". For one thing, there will always be plenty of young people who are suspicious of religon and most of them find purpose in life without giving up their entire being to a religious group. For another thing, this movement will eventually take on mainstream properties...which a movement that swallows generations would of course do...and there will be a backlash and resistance. So I have a feeling that the reach of this group is limited. The "come as you are" thing seems more of a schtick than anything else.

  Having said that, the parallels with Mormon fundamentalism, which was the subject of an article some time ago, are striking. The Mars Hill group does not seem to have committed illegalities as the Mormon fundamentalists did, which limits the ability of the outside world to intrude. The subservient women, the multiple children, the commonly owned (and possibly tenous) property, the adherence to the hard line are all similar to the Mormon fundamentalists. Those are some scary people. What will happen to children like Asher, born in the Mars Hill Church to women who frankly don't want children at all, or any more of them? Will they have a decent childhood and will the church toss them if they don't get with the program? That's my biggest concern.

  Summing up, I thought this article was rather extreme but did describe a worrisome phenomenon.

  —psycprof Read psycprof's other letters
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