I went to a small Anglican college that rang the chapel bell several times to a day to let you know when prayer service was, and even then the religious people were ghettoized as "the God squad". Still, it was small enough that people mingled somewhat outside their groups.
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
which sells the hell out of stories about how Christians are an oppressed minority.
Oh, cry me a goddamned river.
...So to speak.
I think Amych is dead-on. Although you can't hold higher elected office in this country without visibly and loudly being one, a certain brand of Christianity is dedicated to the premise that they are an oppressed minority.
The whole "closet Christian" thing doesn't exist in any known universe
I think the premise of those books -- teens at a snooty, exclusive private school in San Francisco -- is that, while there doesn't seem to be any shame in being *culturally* Christian (C&E, and maybe even church on Sundays), in that particular snooty-ass, disaffected, promiscuous teen culture, it's uber-UNcool to be all "I LOVE Jesus!!!!" And BEYOND uber-uncool to not have sex with your hot-ass BF because God wants you to save it for your wedding night.
So in that scenario, I'm imagining a Jesus Camp-type fundie Christian trying to be part of the popular crowd at this snooty private school, but being afraid of being outed as a great big square.
Does that make sense?
Does that make sense?
I think it would make more sense except that the whole point of a "snooty" social scene is that almost everybody is ostracized for one reason or another. Now, if Missy Christian is trying to fit in with the losers and the nerds and feels like she would lose social status for her beliefs, that... would be kind of funny, and possibly a 1980s brat pack movie.
a snooty, exclusive private school in San Francisco
Oh, San Francisco. Well of course it's not cool to love Jesus in that hotbed of sin!
Well of course it's not cool to love Jesus in that hotbed of sin!
It's true. I oppress JZ all the time about this.
I oppress JZ all the time
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
I think amych and Teppy are right about this particular set of books. But since I am a Buffista and I have a datapoint to share...
Those of you who didn't grow up in tiny little towns in the buckle of the Bible Belt would be AMAZED how many virginities are lost on choir trips and youth retreats. And I still can't quite get over the fact that one of my most promiscuous classmates has metamorphosized into a fundamentalist Southern Baptist preacher-man.
Those of you who didn't grow up in tiny little towns in the buckle of the Bible Belt would be AMAZED how many virginities are lost on choir trips and youth retreats.
Yay church youth functions! I miss choir trips and youth retreats.
(Disclaimer: I did not lose my virginity on a choir trip or youth retreat. I just kissed a lot more people on them than in the rest of my high school experience combined.)