Cultural Evangelism
My mother is a fundamentalist religious Jew for Jesus Christian, an evangelical who spends vacation time every year handing out pamphlets to change others to her way of thinking (ideology for those of us who have spent too long in school). Her view of what is “the right way†is so narrow. Because of growing up with this, I am turned off by organized religion. I want to be clear, I am not turned off by people’s spirituality or faith or quest for knowledge outside ourselves, but only by any one institution that says they have the one answer for everybody. The world is too complex, people too different, their needs too diverse. That’s why this class is a difficult exploration and why too many people don’t talk about social justice in any meaningful way. Because what is often meant by social justice, especially by policy makers, is showing others our way (whatever that means), acting as cultural evangelists about our ideas for education, technology use, family relationships and personal independence, nutrition, etc. and then everything will be ok for them. We really mean, by social justice, easing the process of assimilation and we get very angry at cultures that resist our efforts of “goodwill.†(We’re especially aggravated at Iraq right now.) I know that theoretically, giving people the tools to hold onto their own culture and navigate the dominant culture to their own advantage, an emancipatory approach, is recommended. But how does that happen in real life?
