Mar 3, 2022·edited Mar 3, 2022Liked by Colin Aitken
tl;dr COLIN YOU'RE ALLOWED TO HAVE OPINIONS ON YOUR FAITH. KEEP WRITING ABOUT THEM.
You said in your post: Part of me wants to write a list of things I think should be major and advocate for that, but I think that would just be a new form of the same problem — after all, where did the white Evangelical church’s list of majors come from? They came from men like me making lists like this of their opinions and teaching that these were “objectively the most important parts of faith”.
I have a couple suggestions about that view. First of all, you're already advocating your majors whether you make a list of them or not! It's extremely useful for you to acknowledge your priorities so your readers understand your underlying reasoning.
Second, I bet if you start to look at why you personally have certain majors, you'll find that it's because you were listening to non-rich-white-straight-cis-men. I love when you "use your platform" to "signal-boost" those people and use their words to support your points.
So long as you're not sure what you want to advocate and why, you might want to try an interview format. Talk to someone whose views you care about or want to engage with, and then write about that directly. I always find that engaging with the community of experts on any important issue is challenging but also gives me confidence in my views. It helps me discover why I believe what I believe. I'm sure you've had the same experience many times!
Finally, I think you're allowed to have opinions and to say your opinions. Personally, I believe that it takes all sorts to make progress in the world, including ex-church white guys like you! The way you talk about challenging your own beliefs and fighting your own battles helps me remember that I'm not alone, and I want to keep reading about that. Your opinions based on those experiences will always come through anyway, so you might as well interrogate them and state them clearly.
tl;dr COLIN YOU'RE ALLOWED TO HAVE OPINIONS ON YOUR FAITH. KEEP WRITING ABOUT THEM.
You said in your post: Part of me wants to write a list of things I think should be major and advocate for that, but I think that would just be a new form of the same problem — after all, where did the white Evangelical church’s list of majors come from? They came from men like me making lists like this of their opinions and teaching that these were “objectively the most important parts of faith”.
I have a couple suggestions about that view. First of all, you're already advocating your majors whether you make a list of them or not! It's extremely useful for you to acknowledge your priorities so your readers understand your underlying reasoning.
Second, I bet if you start to look at why you personally have certain majors, you'll find that it's because you were listening to non-rich-white-straight-cis-men. I love when you "use your platform" to "signal-boost" those people and use their words to support your points.
So long as you're not sure what you want to advocate and why, you might want to try an interview format. Talk to someone whose views you care about or want to engage with, and then write about that directly. I always find that engaging with the community of experts on any important issue is challenging but also gives me confidence in my views. It helps me discover why I believe what I believe. I'm sure you've had the same experience many times!
Finally, I think you're allowed to have opinions and to say your opinions. Personally, I believe that it takes all sorts to make progress in the world, including ex-church white guys like you! The way you talk about challenging your own beliefs and fighting your own battles helps me remember that I'm not alone, and I want to keep reading about that. Your opinions based on those experiences will always come through anyway, so you might as well interrogate them and state them clearly.
You're doing great <3