A Godless Fundamentalist: Chapter Seven – Fired by the Bill Rice Ranch

Maybe I’m unaware, but are wallets on a chain supposed to be an indication of rebelliousness? I’ve always just thought the person who has one simply had it as an extra precaution to keep from losing their wallet. (I see farmers with them, truck drivers, etc.)

As I’ve read this series I’ve been convicted of my insensitivity and inability to discern the true spiritual condition of the young people I ministered to when I was a CDS teacher/administrator. The general tendency was to be thankful for and even promote those who conformed to the rules and to weed out the rebel tares. Along with John, I thank God for those who tried to reach him.

As to cultural standards that disn’t make sense: Imagine a CDS teacher being confronted by the head of the school for letting her kids sing Frosty the Snowman at Christmas time. Or the music teacher who was accused of promoting witchcraft for teaching his choir ” Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” from Disney’s Cinderella.

[Ron Bean]

As to cultural standards that disn’t make sense: Imagine a CDS teacher being confronted by the head of the school for letting her kids sing Frosty the Snowman at Christmas time. Or the music teacher who was accused of promoting witchcraft for teaching his choir ” Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” from Disney’s Cinderella.

1. The school’s band teacher had the band practice a special piece of music for a school “pep rally” (if you will; I don’t remember exactly what it was called). Well, in marched the band playing a rousing version of the Hogan’s Heroes March (the theme music from the television show). Complaints ensued, from various parents and others. Apparently it was unacceptable to use any type or style of music associated with a television program…..

2. During my senior year, in our English Literature class, one of the selections we read was Macbeth. It so happened that the local Guthrie Theater [ https://www.guthrietheater.org/] , a regional theater of considerable renown, had Macbeth on its schedule that year. Our teacher (side note: a BJU graduate) wanted to take the class on a field trip to a weekday matinee performance, an idea which excited the class. Nope! Nada! Forbidden! I recall someone in the church sharply intoning, “You can’t take the children to a theater!” So we could read & discuss the Shakespearean classic in class, but not see a professional, live production of it. (That still makes no sense to me.)

I am very, very, very glad I go to a church in the Pacific NorthWest that has no history of fundamentalist self-identity. It’s much healthier than any other church I’ve ever been at.

• I once faced a church revolt because I wanted to have the kids fund-raise so they could afford to go to summer camp.
• I was also once told (at another church) that I had to return 100 new copies of The Case for Christ, because Strobel had ties to Willow Creek and, thus, we would be partaking in his sin if we distributed the books at a teen apologetics mini-conference I organized.

So glad to be free of that bizarre sub-culture.

Or rather—you may be surprised—not about the rules at all. The way I’m reading John’s columns, it strikes me that the worst thing about “the rules” is not the rules, but rather that the time spent in enforcing them is time not spent actually reaching those subject to them. I could be wrong, but the thing that screams to me from those pages is “as long as the external appearances looked good, everybody thought that things were fine.”

Not that there isn’t a very real harm in rules for the sake of rules, as other comments indicate. They can, when wrongly used, separate people from sound thinking and the love of God. But that noted, I think the bigger thing than what IS being done with the rules is the question of what can NOT be done when attention is focused on rules.

PS. Larry, your band should have played “Liberty Bell” instead. (the Sousa march used as the Monty Python theme) Would a rebellious tuba player have done the requisite “blatt” at the end to give the game away?

PPS. I think there has to be a nice medium between not seeing Shakespeare at all, and my high school showing the 1968 Zeffirelli “Romeo and Juliet”. Excellent movie for the most part, but high school freshmen tend to forget all that after seeing one scene.

[Ron Bean]

As I’ve read this series I’ve been convicted of my insensitivity and inability to discern the true spiritual condition of the young people I ministered to when I was a CDS teacher/administrator. The general tendency was to be thankful for and even promote those who conformed to the rules and to weed out the rebel tares. Along with John, I thank God for those who tried to reach him.

As a middle school teacher at a Christian school, I have been following this series closely. Thank you, John, for sharing your experiences, and thank you, Ron, for this comment that condenses my thoughts as I’ve read. I passed on the link to the series to my administrator this afternoon. I appreciate the spirit of the writing, and I have needed the nudge to examine how and why I do what I do as a teacher. Again, thank you!

Larry wrote

Maybe I’m unaware, but are wallets on a chain supposed to be an indication of rebelliousness? I’ve always just thought the person who has one simply had it as an extra precaution to keep from losing their wallet. (I see farmers with them, truck drivers, etc.)

I am close to John’s age- just a few years older- and did not become a fundamentalist until I was in my mid 20’s and then I went to historic rather than extreme fundamentalism where I remain today. Thus in 1994, I was wearing cowboy boots (still am) instead of Doc Martins, and was listening to Jeff Foxworthy say, “if both your dog and your wallet are on a chain, you might be a redneck.” I’m guessing John would have been forbidden from listening to Foxworthy as well. Of course Foxworthy was more part of the country music scene than the grunge. I actually heard that cowboy boots were taboo in some parts of fundamentalism, but I never had a problem in either Bible College or seminary classes when I wore them (I went to Bible College after becoming a fundamentalist). Perhaps that was partly due to the strain of fundamentalism that I was in.

Larry, I think wallet chains were proscribed, along with Doc Martens boots, because of connections with skateboarding in the 1990s. They reminded people of rebelliousness. And, to be sure, a fair number of skateboarders were, which would be why we would condemn John, who has not to my knowledge fessed up to being a “skate punk.” Or something like that.

I forgot denim!!!! In 1976 I accepted my first teaching position at a CDS we were taught by the pastor/founder that denim was wordly. No blue jeans, denim skirts, or materials that resembled denim were allowed. As a new Christian I took that conviction with me when I went to seminary and then into the pastorate. 18 years later I returned to the same CDS as an administrator and was shocked to see the same pastor mowing his lawn in blue jeans!!

Sarah N, thank you for your kind words. And thank you for being willing to do the hard work of pouring your life into an age group that has many challenges. I pray that God will be pleased to bless your efforts for His glory and that you will be encouraged as you see the fruit of your labors.

Larry, Bert, and JD Miller, during my time in a CDS, BRR, and BJU there were distinct identity groups based, in large part, by the clothes and overall appearance. My CDS had uniforms, but even with those constraints we managed to create differences among the student body. At BJU, there were several chapels, dorm meetings, lectures in class, etc. that made it known that the school was not pleased with the small (yet growing) segment of the student body that dressed “grunge.” There were a variety of responses from the authority figures over things like Dr. Martens, wallet chains, mismatched ties/shirts, and other ways in which were able to identity with grunge while still managing to stay within the rules.

Things like wallet chains were interpreted based on the overall “look.” I was roommates with a farm management major and he had a wallet chain (which irritated me), and it was obvious that there was not a hint of rebellion in his choice to use one.

Within my sphere of fundamentalism, especially at the Ranch, cowboy boots were never considered rebellious. Growing up in the Deep South meant that while country music, especially Garth Brooks et al., was frowned upon, it was often frowned upon in a way that left room for the older country and western artists like Jim Reeves, Chet Atkins, and Hank Jr. In the minds of many of my authority figures, pop music had ruined the patriotic, God-honoring wholesomeness of true country music.

JD Miller, by the time I became aware of Foxworthy, he was not verboten. I’m sure that his albums wouldn’t have checked at BJU, but confessing to listen to him wouldn’t have brought the same level of condemnation that confessing listening to Nirvana brought. His whole redneck shtick fit fairly well with the growing bifurcation between God and country Americans and leftists. In other words, Foxworthy and friends may have said things that “we” disagreed with, but overall they spoke “our” language. Kind of the same perspective that allowed adult men in my life to watch John Wayne movies that contained profanity while roundly condemning movies that contained profanity.

Bert, I was never a skate punk. However, my “identity” did cross into the punk scene. I wanted longer hair than the punk scene was willing to allow, so punk, as a scene (I loved the music), never really appealed to me.

By no means do I believe that attending professional productions of Shakespeare is wrong, but I would (and do) recommend discernment. Considering identity politics, many directors approach Shakespeare through a lens designed to push agendas. Queer and feminist theories have infected much of the contemporary world of Shakespeare. Even in the late 90s and early 00s, many of the roughly 20 Shakespeare productions that I was in contained elements designed to directly challenge the Christian worldview.

P.S. In my opinion, that Zeffirelli production of R&J should be considered child porn. Olivia Hussey was just a child when that was filmed and she was sexually taken advantage of.

My friends and I could never understand why denim was viewed suspiciously. Even during the times and settings that we were allowed to wear jeans, it was often apparent that many of the authority figures weren’t entirely happy about it.

And yet, puzzlingly, denim skirts eventually became the standard uniform for homeschoolers.

G.N. Barkman, one of the the things that was puzzling to us was how “enthusiastically” denim skirts were embraced for females yet the same people would view jeans on guys with such suspicion.

The was a constant changing code of what certain clothes and styles communicated. The “good” kids constantly lived in the area that never really changed. The “normal” kids or the kids who wanted to fly under the radar were often confused. The “bad” kids adjusted what they wore based on the authority figures’ ever changing opinions.

One of the fun things about church camp or other activities that allowed us to interact with Christian school kids from other parts of the country was comparing the differences in clothing rules.