Drag Goes to Church: withering new article by Christian writer

[Parisite]

'The latest stride in drag’s inexorable, high-heeled advance has been, improbably, into Church... In late July 2023 the Christian world awoke to unexpected news. For the first time, a drag artist had topped the iTunes Christian Music charts.

'At the end of August 2023 the annual Greenbelt Festival will host a School of Drag for children.

'The popularity and omnipresence of drag in the media is a serious issue for our culture. It’s also a serious issue for the Church, which doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to respecting women’s voices, agency, dignity and full personhood down the centuries.'

https://www.flaneurnotes.com/post/on-drag-going-to-church

Interesting article.

One thing to note, for anyone that doesn’t know, messy church is aimed at children.

That’s a great article, thanks for sharing. I particularly appreciated the way the writer sets out a number of lenses through which the recent inclusion of drag in the church may be viewed.

My own lens is firmly that of a concern about women’s dignity and rights and many of the writer’s comments resonated with me.

Good article. There are parts of the church susceptible to sex stereotyping, parts of the church susceptible to authoritarianism, parts of the church susceptible to mindless 'inclusivity'. Rather like the rest of society, and church members particularly need to keep a grip on physical reality and rational-type thinking or they are wide open to the latest 'wind of doctrine'.

Surely worship is about focussing on God, and drag seems to be about focussing on and drawing other's attention to self. One's true self it may be, but really? The Holy Spirit in mascara and a wig?

They hymn Just As I Am springs to mind, in an ironic kind of way...

My understanding is Greenbelt has been very ‘liberal’ for a long time.

Very true.

The concern in the article is not so much that drag is evidence of 'liberalism' – but that it demeans women and has safeguarding implications. Greenbelt and other 'inclusive' Christian groups seem not to see how demeaning and red-flaggy drag can be.

I love Greenbelt, I went back last year after a few years of not going. I'm going again this year (well if I can work out how I'm going to get there)
But I'm so pissed off about the School of Drag thing. Why do DC need to learn about drag?

IIRC we sang "hes got the whole world in his hands" last year. They added "non-binary siblings" as a verse after the brother and sister ones.

🙄

I read this article earlier! Thought he set things out clearly. I always think that the church tends to be slow on cultural trends, which is why it's now getting into drag just as the rest of the country begins to see the red flags.

Non binary siblings is a bit of a squeeze for the rhythm of that song @FrankTheThunderbird ! Apart from being nonsense obvs. (Haven't been to Greenbelt since the early 80s - hope the loos are more hygienic these days)

I had a look at the article about St.Mark's Church in Southend.

It describes itself as "Traditional, Liberal and Inclusive." Well "inclusive" I get but "Traditional" and "Liberal" is nonsense - like saying you are "Tory and Labour" !

This is what's wrong with the C of E. It's trying to be "all things to all people" in a vain attempt to put bums on seats and failing miserably.

Very true.

I understand “traditional” and “liberal” together. It means traditional in liturgy (robes, choirs, Eucharistically centred) and liberal on social issues (concern for the poor, full participation of women in ministry, inclusive of LGBT people). There’s a lot of churches and cathedrals in this bracket. It’s in contrast to those churches which are traditional in liturgy and illiberal socially (mostly the traditionalist Catholic parishes who have traditional liturgy but don’t allow women’s ordination and tend to be less liberal on other social issues) and also those who are liberal on social issues but don’t have a traditional approach to liturgy (mostly the open evangelicals).

I can see how the description might seem odd to those with less knowledge of the weird intricacies of the Church of England and the parties within it, but I don’t think it’s actually contradictory.

This is what's wrong with the C of E. It's trying to be "all things to all people" in a vain attempt to put bums on seats and failing miserably.

When you try to be “all things to all people” the whole point of the church falls and it becomes little more than a social group with ceremonies. The churches that manage to put bums on seats are those that say “all are welcome but there are very specific things you must believe if you want to be saved - any who believe will be saved, and we desperately want you to be, but crucially if you don’t you won’t be.”

@IWillNoLie "When you try to be “all things to all people” the whole point of the church falls and it becomes little more than a social group with ceremonies"

This is good summation.

I can remember the introduction of women as priests who were supposed to be the salvation of the C of E. It was claimed they would make the church more 'family friendly', more welcoming, increase congregations etc.

All it did was cause the 'defection' of hundreds of male priests to Rome and congregations did not significantly increase.

Now it seems in a last ditch attempt to fill pews some parishes are reaching out to the LGBT community which is about 3% of the UK population under the guise of being 'inclusive.'

The state of the C of E is a massive issue, but let's keep the thread about the article, and the implications of drag for faith and the Church... ta!

OK. Point taken.

I don't think you'll get many contributors, as some people are afraid to express a view on this because of fear of being labelled 'homophobic bigots'.

Churches, unless they are closed denominations like brethren or Mennonites, do tend to end up reflecting society.
Drag is having an inexplicably popular moment, and it never ceases to amaze me who from my circle loves drag race, some people who tend years ago wouldn't even have watched Graham Norton.
So it doesn't really surprise me it's turning up in churches.

Absolutely right. But depressing that the choice is often between a church indistinguishable from the wider culture, or one that is rigid and dogmatic.

As the article says at the end, both extremes can be bad news for women.

This is about the article. If you are no longer able to say ‘this is harmful/will lead to damnation’, on what basis do you decide drag is unacceptable if you are accepting of everything? If you are trying to be inclusive of all things then why do you exclude this? If God is no longer judgemental then no behaviour can be condemned.

I vaguely remember learning about some of the earliest movements in the nascent Christian church. There was one group, though I forget their name, that followed this logic; if God forgives everything then once we believe we can do anything and it will be forgiven.

Yes, the question of how far a church adapts to its surrounding culture, and where it draws lines, is fascinating and important. I spend a lot of time on it myself!

My concern here was simply that the women priests issue could derail the discussion about drag and the church – and I'm keen to hear views on that, in the light of the article.

Greenbelt has always been counter-cultural to the standard evangelical way of doing things, progressively more and more left as time has gone on. I've not gone since it left Cheltenham. I know that they often have Rev Rachel Mann to speak though (transwoman, unfortunate surname 😂) so I knew they were going down a TWAW route. This however is beyond ridiculous and for that reason I would not return, I wouldn't want my ticket sale to endorse this. I hope they get a ton of backlash and reconsider.

https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/artists/carrie-and-david-grant/?back=1
And the infamous Grant family are going to be there too (they have three trans daughters) . They festival is totally captured. So sad. I used to really appreciate the openness of GB to ask questions and not tie life up in a neat little evangelical bow.

Ditto to all this. I hope the article helps sheds light on the Greenbelt drag event. As you say, beyond ridiculous.

I see the drag in church article has been reposted on a popular Christian site today, provoking strong reactions from different sides.

Interesting comment from the writer of the article on one Facebook thread:

'Since my article went live, I've received private messages from lots of women (mostly 'inclusive' Christians and atheists) saying they hate drag and find it aggressive and demeaning. But they feel they can't say so publicly, or even click 'like' when my article is reposted on social media, because they're afraid of losing their jobs for supporting the views I express in my piece.'