"A sibling converts to evangelical Christianity" -a thoughtful account

[G_j]

I enjoyed reading this. I also am the oldest of two. My younger brother also became 'born again' so I found this story compelling.
(Although I think the church my bro belongs to is basically RW, I am pretty sure he voted for Kerry)

MY SISTER'S KEEPER

T. Eve Greenaway, AlterNet

A sibling converts to evangelical Christianity. "No one
close to me had ever been committed to placing religion or
spirituality at the center of their life before."
http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/20710/

My sister was strangely secretive about the whole thing. In fact, I don’t think I heard about it from her at all. I guess I must have known that things would change for her in college. But I expected her to shave her head, or experiment with drugs, or start dating an ex-con. I thought maybe she’d become a vegan.

Instead, she started going to church.

I know, I know. To some this would seem the better option. But to me, the older of the two, the one born when our parents were going to see Swami Sachidananda speak and using the word “consciousness” a lot, it was a little traumatic.

As kids, Mara and I were so close it was sometimes suffocating. I was Beezus, she was Ramona. We were three years apart but shared a bedroom, had all the same clothes, watched the same TV shows. After school, before our ballet class, we would spend hours at a time in the public library, doing homework, avoiding homework, reading the racy parts of the fashion magazines. In high school I moved into my own room, started wearing only dark colors and carrying my journal everywhere. My need for autonomy was overwhelming. I hated being part of a duo, hated that her name was always attached to mine, that we were so often referred to as “the girls.” I harassed her relentlessly, accused her of imitating everything. One night, at dinner, in a cold, adolescent frenzy, I remember slamming my fist down on the table and screaming at her, telling her to “get her own life.”
..more..

[mhr]

1. Google The "God Gene" - This Might Explain The Passion That Many

Profess for religion.

The basic premise is that some people are hard wired genetically to be religious i.e. they have biological need to believe in and seek out spiritual thought and dogma.

Some research suggests that those predisposed to this condition demonstrate different brain chemistry associated with seratonin related molecules.

If true, this would explain the power of religion for many and the delusional states that it engenders. It would also explain how manipulatable these people truly are by political hacks like Karl Rove.

[Poppyseedman]

2. Interesting article

"In fact, I now realize that there had been a lot in my life up to that point that reinforced the Christian = ignorant and fanatic equation. And even as I saw myself as tolerant and progressive, I had
unconsciously bought into a lot of anti-religious hype.

Up until that point, I had always believed that people involved in group religions were victims of some kind of low-grade mind control. Like so many any other larger cultural institutions, I saw the Christian church as oppressive and dominating. In retrospect I realize these were extreme perceptions,"

As a man of faith it is nice to see one more person understand this complete nonsense that religion is low grade mind control.

Certainly, there are cults which need to be exposed for what they are.

It is one of the most frustrating parts of being a progressive and a religious person.