We Become What We Normalize

I don't easily trust Christians, and especially white American Christians, on matters of social justice (or, frankly, much of anything)--but David Dark has won my trust and admiration. In We Become What We Normalize, Dark models the kind of honest self-reflection and empathetic action he calls his readers to. Self-reflection isn't easy, and it's often painful. But, as Dark gently but firmly shows, that kind of radical honesty--with ourselves, about ourselves, in relation to others--can be the only thing that keeps the temptation of succumbing to our "inner fascist" at bay, particularly for those who have the most privilege in our dysfunctional society, wracked as it is by authoritarian backlash from the Right. Fascism, as Dark puts it, "cuts the beautiful world down to the size of our own fear," and We Become What We Normalize is a manual of sorts for overcoming the "deferential fear" that can lead us down that dark road. The book is occasionally bitingly funny, as when Dark refers to his former hero Rush Limbaugh as "among the most powerful worship leaders in American history" and "for three decades the de facto head of the Republican Party." But above all, We Become What We Normalize is a call to truth-telling, or "the prophetic task" of shining light on unjust systems, by one of America's most thoughtful truth-tellers, who informs us that the prophetic is "a witness I miss if I’m only alert to incoming data that flatters me, data that won’t upset me or threaten my posture and privilege." We Become What We Normalize is a brave, relatable, and disarmingly intimate book, by turns confessional and convicting, anecdotal and aphoristic, and full of the wisdom drawn from an unconventional canon that Dark has constructed to inform his work--one that has room for figures as diverse as Patti Smith, Octavia Butler, William Blake, LeBron James, Fred Rogers, and Kurt Vonnegut, among others, some far less well known. As an admirer of truth-tellers who happens to hail from Vonnegut's home state of Indiana, l'd like to conclude my endorsement of Dark's book by praising him in Vonnegut's words: "Hooray for our team." 

Chrissy Stroop, senior correspondent for Religion Dispatches, contributor at Open Democracy, co-editor of Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving The Church, & public intellectual & advocate who would welcome your support via Patreon

Editor’s Note: We Become What We Normalize: What We Owe Each Other In World’s That Demand Our Silence is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indies Bookshop, and wherever exceptional books like We Become What We Normalize are sold.

This…my fellow creatures, is the first of a number of Substack posts in which I hold aloft my own work while also calling your attention to someone I admire who’s agreed to hold aloft my work with their words. Dr. Stroop has become a remote friend in recent years. Yes, it started on Twitter. But our relationship has become one in which we hold space for each other publicly and, it seems to me, lots of other people too. I concluded the new version of Life’s Too Short To Pretend You’re Not Religious with an admission of a bullying posture in the earlier edition and an account of how spiritual abuse and Christian supremacy are phenomena in which I’ve been immersed but which I’ve only recently begun to figure out how to talk about. Dr. Stroop has been one of my best teachers in this work, and I’m honored that she made the time to examine and praise my latest effort. Yes to our Vonnegut. Teamwork is the dream work.

There’s something sad and lovely and maybe tragipoetic in the timing of We Become What We Normalize. All my work is Nashville-centric, but this one’s probably the most obviously grounded in Nashville. I have so much to say about Nashville.

I’m still waiting for more words. That said, I do have a few.

That said, they’re borrowed. Sarah found some words and changed one in the image above. I love looking at it and reading them. Come on, beautiful state of Tennessee. Come on, Nashville. Come on, famberly.

I’ll have more later. If you’re itching to support us in some way, please consider pre-ordering the new book and sharing the image and telling people about it. This includes people you imagine might want to warn people off it or tear it down. You know that would be ratings-gold, right? Anyway, go with your intuition.