Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

fundamentalism

  • Belief isn’t the same thing as a belief. A belief is a concept. It also happens to be a concept that we may trust is true. Belief is an act. Perhaps it is that act of trusting in the truth of a concept we refer to as a belief. But it doesn’t have to be.…

  • We keep hearing about how divided we are. That we’re more polarized and uncivil than ever. That we hate each other more. But this isn’t the whole truth. Our division doesn’t come from a common rejection of the common ground. It stems from fundamentalism, which is a fundamentally divisive ideology. Because fundamentalism has to be…

  • Much of my experience of befriending fundamentalists in college could best be described as gaslighting. I had to prove my ritual purity by hating the right people to get on a team I never asked to join. Something about fundamentalism itself encourages this view of relationships. Gaslighting for Jesus – or How to Make Friends…

  • Last week, as the country was staring down the sequester deadline, the president made a reference to not being able to “Jedi Mind Meld” with his opponents. The interwebs went crazy, with people jumping over themselves to criticize the president for such an obvious slip up. This means a whole lot of people missed two…