Escape

I recently read a book by this title, by Carolyn Jessop. She is describing her life and escape from that life while a member of the radical sect, the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, an offshoot of the Mormon religion. I talked about this "cult" after reading Under the Banner of Heaven, and am slightly obsessed with the idea that this happens right underneath our noses. Carolyn was married at age 18 to a man 30 years her senior, the father of some of her classmates, and a powerful man within the FLDS. She was an independent woman, which is looked down within the religious sect. I don't want to ruin the book for anyone, but I would highly recommend checking out this link of Carolyn sharing her experience.

Altough my life has been nothing like Carolyn's, it still makes me think about "radical" religion. I've talked about this before, but it is still something I am struggling with in trying to find out where I fit into the picture. I hate the idea of "submitting" to your husband, as is recommended in the written word. My mother always told me that it meant that my father was the man of the house, and he made the decisions, and she must support him, no matter what. I always, always, loathed this. I didn't understand when my mother would just stand aside when my father was doing something that she didn't agree with (his methods of "discipline", job-hopping, being disrespectful, etc.) When the time comes, I will stand by my husband and support him, but I will not keep my mouth shut if I think he is screwing up. My husband and I will be equals.

It is very hard for me to accept the strict conservative Christian outlook that I was raised in. Isn't there a happy medium between loving God and showing tolerance for others? This election season gave me a horrible taste for "Christian ideals." These so called "Christians" were forwarding emails to each other (I got most of these from my mother after she had received them from other family members), posting bulletins on MySpace, and promoting hate and preaching condemnation upon Barack Obama. Obama is a terrorist. Obama is the anti-Christ. Obama is a Muslim who will destroy our country. Obama loves abortion.

Ugh. It made me sick. What happened to the ideals of freedom that our country was founded upon? Freedom from the government pressing its religious ideals onto others. Government should not be used for promoting religious ideals. There are other places and organizations for that purpose.

I am just so tired of fanaticism. Fanatical Religion. Fanatical Politics. Fanatical Ideals. None of it is good. Why can't we all just get along?