What is it with all these dudes who think that a worldview that requires the submission and suppression of women (and, in this case, any dissent) in order to lift up men is “edgy,” “cool,” “punk” or in any way transgressive?
Sounds like the regular state of play for about the last 5 million years.
Oh, but this one’s got tattoos! And plays loud music! Must be edgy!
See also Jill from a couple of years back.
I live in Seattle, and this church so disturbs me. There is a lot of good discussion at Jill’s — it is really true, it’s very cultish. And a lot like a cult of personality from what I’ve read. And the buildings are all painted black — when we first moved here, we thought at first the Mars Hill (WTF is that name about?) in Ballard was a club, which I’m sure is exactly the intention. There are some interesting reviews at Seattle Yelp of people who’ve actually been there.
Anyway, my initial reaction to this latest article is that that guy is exactly like every “religious” leader who ever was the center of a sex scandal. Or worse, someone who decides that by his magical powers all the women in the cult MUST sleep with him…
I live in Seattle, too, and the expanding Mars Hill empire is really creepy. It’s also odd, since Seattle is one of the more “unchurched” cities in the country. My ex-girlfriend used to live with a woman who belonged to the Mars Hill congregation; I never had any negative interactions with her, but when she spoke of her church, it sounded like old conservative evangelicalism wine in new bottles to me.
Mars Hill got some coverage in one of the local indie papers - I think it was the Seattle Weekly, but could have been The Stranger - a couple of years back, and the story was even more unnerving than this one.
I thought I recognized that guy! I read about half a paragraph of the article before flipping onwards.