Not Your Helpmeet is a mostly monthly newsletter where I wrestle with how to live in the “real world” after growing up in a high-control religion (Christian Fundamentalism).
Wait, what is a “helpmeet”?
My Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church told me that, as a woman, my purpose in life was to one day be a “helpmeet” for my future husband. This portmanteau word is a misreading of the King James Version translation of Genesis 2:18 where God says, “I will make him an help meet for him.” Today, we call this person a trad wife.
Do you only write about fundamentalism?
No. And yes. Like you, the experiences of my life have shaped me. So, in a sense, everything I write is always about fundamentalism in one way or another, but I’m not primarily interested in defining the ins and outs of that world. A lot of wonderful writers and thinkers are already doing that work.
My work, ultimately, is for people like me. These are people who have left their fundamentalist worlds and feel unmoored from the “real world.” They wonder if they’ll ever feel comfortable in shorts or if they’ll ever stop feeling guilty for swearing or if they’ll ever get that damn Patch the Pirate song out of their head. I can’t promise you will, but I promise that I’m right there in the trenches with you.
For those of you who didn’t grow up in these oddly-specific contexts, I hope to share what Life After FundamentalismTM is like and how messy, confusing, and jubilant it can be. It’s not a straight line and my experiences are mine alone, but I’m committed to the life-long journey.
