Focus on the Family author inspires Mex. narco-traffickers

[Witsec1]

This is possibly the wierdest thing I have ever read in the annals of Christian machismo. Apparently, a group of narcotraficantes in Michoacan have been inspired by an evangelical "men's ministry" to found an order bent on sacred violence:

Gonzalez penned his interpretations of the Bible in what he called “Pensamientos,†or “Thoughts.†In this theological effort, he was hugely influenced by the work of Colorado Springs-based Christian author John Eldredge, a former board member for James Dobson’s Focus on the Family and founder of a men’s ministry called Ransomed Heart. Eldredges’ 2001 book, Wild At Heart: Discovering The Secret of a Man’s Soul, was required reading for La Familia.

While Eldredge has expressed “sorrow and anger†at the news that his book has found such devoted readers in La Familia, his unique theological focus on male bonding and heroism was evidently just the thing for a gang of “knights†in search of a chivalric code.

“Very Dangerous Menâ€

The best-selling Christian author received his master’s degree in counseling from Colorado Christian University in 2000, and Eldredge’s Wild at Heart is a self-help book for Christian men. It teaches that a polite Christianity has castrated men, turning them into “nice guys†and “posers.†As a result, men have lost their “heart,†and he aims to help them rediscover it. The plumb line of the text is that a man’s heart is untamed, adventurous, fierce, even violent—fraught with a penchant for danger. Masculine heart recovery or “restoration†mandates a connection to wilderness, and to other men; Eldredge argues that masculinity can only be conferred or bestowed to men by men. Hence, central to his work is a benevolent misogyny and a radical homosociality.

*snip*

... Toward this end Eldredge admonishes his readers: “Get some guys together. You need brothers. Allies. Not a gathering of nice men—a band of very dangerous men.â€

Edited to add final quote and formatting.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archi ... orderlands

[prairiemuffin]

*headdesk*

[doggie]

so what are these manly men supposed to do to be men?

[Witsec1]

so what are these manly men supposed to do to be men?

Well, according to the article, decapitation is one popular pastime:

La Familia took the severing of human heads as their signature ritual: all across Michoacan decapitated corpses litter the landscape while testifying to the transformative power of the Holy Ghost. La Famila was in line with other Pentecostal movements throughout Latin America insofar as they prohibit the usage of drugs and alcohol, condemn homosexuality, and require that their members become born-again Christians, attend enthusiastic worship ceremonies, prayer meetings, and Bible study groups. The drug cartels have set up evangelical recovery homes across Mexico for backsliders in the style of U.S. rescue missions.

[Sweetpea1]

*headdesk*

Yeah... me, too. Now my head hurts twice as bad.

[Guest Anonymous]

Anyone else think that maybe John Eldredge could have spent his time more wisely by writing a book about loving one's enemies? I mean, it wouldn't give Mark Driscoll a hard on if he read it, but neither would it be inspiring gang members to saw people's heads off.

The coding of such behaviors as compassion, nurturing, and tenderness as feminine makes them despicable in the eyes of this kind of man. Did Jesus value those things? The Bible says so, but since they're perceived as icky woman stuff, they're rejected out of hand and Jesus is rewritten as a cowboy that punches people in the face for fun.

Shorter version - Aaaaaargh!

[liltwinstar]

Newsflash to fundie writers and speakers: you can't write/speak about violence, danger, murder, beatings etc etc - without expecting people to take you seriously. While maybe Eldredge meant "go on a paintball trip with your best buddies for some guy-bonding time" the language he used talks about sacred violence. So, of course someone is going to find that and take it literally. That's how it works.

It's also how we end up with doctors shot to death in their churches and children hit until they die. Words are powerful.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

Somebody's spent too much time in the cat nip....

[synchroswimr]

Words are powerful.

QFT

[mirele]

bumping this back up...because John Eldredge deserves to be discussed over and over and fucking OVER until he does some concrete things to help ameliorate the harm he caused by writing this crap.

[gustava]

bumping this back up...because John Eldredge deserves to be discussed over and over and fucking OVER until he does some concrete things to help ameliorate the harm he caused by writing this crap.

Somehow I doubt that he gives a fuck.

[apple1]

Even more disgusting than the Mark Driscoll stuff. :-(

[fundifugee]

wow.

Of course when some Muslim yahoo goes off on a tangent like this, it is seen by the fundies as exemplary of the whole nasty violent religion and all Muslims are terrorists.

But if it's one of their own, well, oops, what can we do, they misinterpreted our book.

The article says these guys don't kill women as part of their code, but I wonder if something like this is behind the serial killings of Mexican women in Juarez; most of whom are preyed upon while on their way to (or because they have?) their jobs at the factories. After all, the not killing women is just selective interpretation of the Bible, since the Eldredge book glorifies the old testament massacres of random Philistines, but casually fails to mention the part where the exemplary manly men were often ordered to kill all non-virgin women too, and kidnap all the virgins as sex slaves (umm, wives or concubines).