Salon covers Seattle's Mars Hill church, a church where you can "watch Tarantino movies, drink beer, and live by strict biblical rule." The hipster church embraces pop culture, espouses an end to corporate rule, and simultaneously demands strict gender role separation and adherence to conservative biblical codes of conduct. It's attracting many adherents from the ranks of Seattle's disaffected hipsters who are seeking post-grunge meaning in life:
Mars Hill wrests future converts searching for identity and purpose from the dominion of available sex and drugs that still make post-grunge Seattle a countercultural destination. Driscoll promises his followers they don't have to reprogram their iTunes catalog along with their beliefs — culture from outside the Christian fold isn't just tolerated here, it's cherished. Hipster culture is what sweetens the proverbial Kool-Aid, which parishioners here seem to gulp by the gallon. This is a land where housewives cradle babies in tattooed arms, where young men balance responsibilities as breadwinners in their families and lead guitarists in their local rock bands, and where biblical orthodoxy rules as strictly as in Hasidism or Opus Dei…
In today's sermon on Genesis, chapter 37, Snoop Dogg, the man who penned the memorable lyric, "Now watch me slap ya ass with dicks, bitch," plays a supporting role. Driscoll conjures Joseph's famous coat by showing an image of Snoop in the coat he wore to play a pimp in "Starsky and Hutch." "The next time you read Genesis, think of Snoop," he chuckles.
Update: Calvin sez, "Man, it's crazy to see you blogging about Mars Hill. I went there when the church had only a couple of hundred members, back in '96, '97. I lived in a community house with other Christians, some of who went to that church, and they brought me along. I went for a few years, but ended up rejecting fundamentalist Christianity and leaving the church. Community houses for single young adults is one of the successful strategies of the Mars Hill movement, btw. It's also quite convenient for hooking them up into not-so-single baby producing couples, and I saw plenty of that. Lots of parties, wine and beer, live music, stimulating conversation; they were genuinely cool people, and cared deeply for each other.
"I really, really loved the community, but hated the doctrine. Biblical infallibility is an ugly thing, especially when combined with a literal interpretation. Yes, Mars Hill has a beautiful community to offer, but you must drink the koolade to be accepted. I'm glad I left, though I still miss it. There is too much going on in the world to be blind. I wrote more on my blog."
