I am in the process of trying to condense and edit information for what I would like to make a final blog post on the subject of the FIC. Please be patient. I should have it online by Wednesday.
I've been overwhelmed with private correspondence on this topic, all of which has been favorable and some which has required thoughtful personal responses to people who are currently suffering or have suffered spiritual abuse in Family Integrated Churches (FIC).The topic is a heavy one for me, and I have spent time that I intended to spend writing for this blog in email correspondence with others, recommending resources and encouraging these individuals. Many of them are very broken and in need of counsel. I've taken that time to respond to them. I may also recap the posts with a summary of all of the ideological ties and common relationships of which I am aware among the SBC, CBMW and SBTS and their affiliations with the so-called "Biblical patriarchy" movement, patriocentricity and the FIC. As previously stated, this I offer in response to the statements of individuals at SBTS who claim my thesis has no basis in fact and that I am thus guilty of the fallacy of "guilt by association" by falsely insinuating that SBTS has connections to what has been called "fringe." What I did not appreicate at the time that I delivered the controvertial apologetics lecture was just how many true ties the SBC shared with patriocentricity, formally, informally and idealistically.
Many are already addressed in these recent blog posts, but there are many more significant ones to add to them. I have not yet decided if I want to do that or not, as I believe that my thesis has plenty of factual merit as it stands. Some ties are weaker than others, but I may consider a recap of them. Yet I understand the cognitive dissonance (the "does not compute" factor) that comes along with learning these things. When you believe a group or a person to be 100% trustworthy and above reproach, it is a very natural response to doubt information that is not consistient with your own beliefs. Newly released books such as "True Enough" and "The Age of American Unreason" discuss this phenomenon in some detail, with "True Enough" noting that Conservative Fundamentalist Christians demonstrate a higher degree and ability for cognitive dissonance than other political groups.
I find that very interesting, as we are people called to walk by faith and not sight (but we are also called to be wise as serpents while innocent as doves). Perhaps I can pull some related quotes on that topic from these books in future blog posts. Please check back over the course of the next week for more on the FIC.
