mars hill in salon
Although I’ve been to a few shows at the Paradox and wondered just what the “Mars Hill” signage on the club was all about, those questions pretty much dissolved once the music started. Alas, I never actually took the time to look into it. Like no other resource before it, the internet rewards the lazy. Today, Salon leads with a lengthy profile of the Seattle church, founded by Mark Driscoll:
“We are in a city with less children per capita than any city but San Francisco,” [Driscoll] declares, “and we consider it our personal mission to turn that around.”
The way Driscoll sees it, the more babies his conservative Christian congregation can produce in this child-poor city, the more they can redirect local politics, public education, and culture in one of the liberal capitals of the world. To complete his trifecta of indoctrinating, voting, and breeding, Driscoll has developed a community that dwarfs any living experiment of the ’60s. To say that Mars Hill is just a church is to say that Woodstock was just a concert. [salon]
While I’m not sure that the reporting is “fair and balanced”, it did make an interesting and jarring read. I suppose that I assumed the church was some sort of liberal granola experiment. It turns out that I was very, very wrong. Instead, the article uses Mars Hill to illustrate the face of a new evangelical movement (more podcasting, tattoos, skateboarding, and electric guitars) with particular emphasis on the role of women (more housemaking, more babies) in the church.
Man that place creeps me out.
yeah. you don’t happen to know how/if the Paradox is related to it all, do you? I wonder if Mars Hill just rents out the space to pay the bills or if they’re more connected.
It sure is creepy. The Stranger did a whole big article on that church, I guess about a year ago? It can still be found in their archives on their website.
The stranger and salon articles are weird. We are not told how to vote, there are a lot of hardcore democrats in the church. We believe in educated women that are not drains on their husbands resources or baby machines but rather helpers. We believe in teaching men to love their wives by not being freeloaders, taking resposibility for their actions, and to get beyond the adult adolescence that so many men embrace. Even though we are not egalitarian it does not mean that we are misogynist. We believe men and women should stand side by side, with different but essential roles. We get attacked from both the left and the right. Jesus said that the world would hate those that follow him. So the heat is reassureing.
Re: the paradox - It is a ministry of MHC. We believe that having such a venue fosters artistic creativity in the city. Art is an important part of interacting with God. Many people who do not go to the church are involved with running the shows there and we like it that way. We offer the space as an all ages venue and ask nothing in return. Somtimes you don’t need a mouth to preach.
Yeah. I’ve had a couple of run-ins with the Mars Hill people. I found the articles pretty representative of my experiences.
We believe men and women should stand side by side, with different but essential roles.
Oh, I think we’re all aware of how “seperate but equal” works, Aaron. I’m also aware that you can always tell a cult member (but you can’t tell him much), so I’ll leave it at that.
The people that run The Paradox’s programming (myself and one other person) are not members of the church - we rent the room for nights we do shows in the building.
While the church views it as a service to the community, we are not religiously affiliated with them.
As far as the Paradox being not affiliated, well,
“I believe in this and its been tested by research/That he who fucks nuns, will later join the church”