My Blind Eye in Conversation with My Highland Presbyterian Calvinist Childhood
A People Ripe for Plucking: Spoken word performances that explore and engage with the formative experiences of erasure and suffering in the 1750 - 1860 Highland Clearances and its link to the adherence to Calvinism in the sect of the Free Presbyterians that was established in 1892
The project emerged for me, out of a sudden (and as yet, unexplained) partial ischemic stroke in the left eye, leaving only light and shadow for vision on the left side.
The description and nature of the project may change over time as the project explores and evolves.
Antisemitism and Christianity: Engaging in a project with my childhood requires an acknowledgment of the myriad ways in which Christian practices, both historically and currently, have antisemitic beliefs as an integral thread in the cloth. A small number of these are listed below by way of example only.
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1) Claims to "legitimacy" through using the term "Judaeo-Christian." The entire premise of Christianity is that the Nazarene was the promised messiah and that Christianity, therefore, supersedes the Jewish faith. This seeks the erasure of the Jewish as a faith and as a people.
2) The ongoing conversion programs of evangelicals aimed at the Jewish people.
3) The appropriation of the sacred texts of the Torah and subsequent changes to those stories made by Christians including fundamental errors in translation due to a profound lack of cultural understanding and the profound lack of humility when you claim your translation is God's work and not human and is, therefore, not open to either questioning or correction.
Basic Terms
Spiritual Abuse: Whenever god or any spiritual construct is used as a weapon to control, demean, disempower, or reinforce "place".
Abuse, generally, must have a power differential present. In the spiritual arena these fall under three main heads:
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1) Spiritual Leader to Congregant or Follower: Tthis includes all spiritual leaders whether institutional entities such as the Free Presbyterians or Catholics, pagan communities, wellness communities etc This also includes other figures of authority in a spiritual community such as teachers, coaches, or spiritual directors.
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2) In the Home: A caregiver such as a parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle. It can also include a sibling where there is a recognized power differential (noting that this is not always age-based)
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3) State Level: Either living within a theocracy or within a state where religious-based laws continue to be enforced by the state under a secular cloak. And/or where other institutions of the state, such as police, social workers, etc., enforce their spiritual biases against the vulnerable.
Click below to listen to the spoken word pieces associated with this project: