Sandra Dodd

I just found a quote that discusses issues similar to problems that
come up on lists such as this one sometimes.

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"Church used to be that place where people could risk going and
presenting their absolute worst self, once a week, and be heard by
people who would accept you back, through communion, into the
community. Once a week you would have this kind of talk therapy where
you told your worst story and you were loved despite your worst self.
So you never developed this alienation and isolation that split you
so far from your community that you could just walk into a McDonald's
and kill everyone.

"Then church became that place where people went just to look good,
and you didn't get that release of looking bad once a week. In a way,
the support groups and 12 step groups and phone sex chat lines, all
these contexts in which people present their worst selves and find a
community despite their behavior, these have become the new Church.
These are the new escape valves where people go and confess and are
redeemed by their peers."

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He's talking Catholic church there, with weekly confession. It
hasn't worked that way for most Protestant churches for a long time.


Sometimes people want a group like this for a sense of belonging.
That's okay, and sometimes not okay. It's not the purpose of the
list.

(Oh. The "he" of the quote above is Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote Fight
Club and Choke. He may be on to something that applies to
unschooling discussion lists.)

Sandra

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