This has become one of my go-to albums, especially on Fridays. Nite Owls by JD McPherson. A rockin' and rollin' album of great vitality. No skips on this disc. I bought this on vinyl about a year ago. McPherson's masterpiece. I got tickets to his December concert in Dallas. Can't wait.
I was a sophomore in high school when the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses exploded in the media. I was a neophyte when it came to literature and I had never heard of Rushdie before.
We, young students, obviously were against Khomeini's fatwa. Anything the Ayatollah did was bad, evil, against freedom and so on. Putting a death sentence because of a book? Utterly ridiculous.
But we were also being hit with voices on the right criticizing Rushdie saying "he knew what he was doing." The younger Rushdie did have a certain sinister look about him in those days: drooping eyelids, dark angular eyebrows, a faintly devilish appearance. So we didn't like him either. Plus, he had the name Satan in his book's title.
I grew up in the evangelical world in the late 80's and early 90's and it's hard to describe the fear and paranoia evangelicals had about the outside secular world in those days. Christianity was constantly under assault. We had to always be vigilant against the crafty wiles of The Devil lest he lure us into temptation and away from the faith. The Evangelical-Industrial Complex worked overtime to keep us scared.
I remember seeing video productions in youth group meetings of teens making bad decisions and waking up at the gates of Hell. People played Zeppelin records backwards to listen for secret satanic messaging. My freshman year at a small Christian college I remember a guy knocking on our dorm room door saying they were going to burn a bunch of evil CDs and wondered if we had any discs to contribute and would we like to join in. My roommate and I politely declined.
Frank Peretti's books about demons and the Left Behind series about the End Times left generations of young Christians traumatized. Fortunately my family never went to that extreme. I never read Peretti and my Dad completely rejected the false theology of the Left Behind books. My family was conservative but we still celebrated Halloween and went trick or treating.
However, anything with the word Satan in it was be looked on with fear and suspicion. There was no way I would ever consider reading something called The Satanic Verses.
By the way, evangelicals still continue to use fear tactics to keep their herd in line. They demonize the LGBTQ community. They excoriate immigrants. Islam and Sharia Law cause them great consternation. They've gone full Christian Nationalist. For decades they warned about the anti-Christ and when a real anti-Christ took over their movement not only did they not reject him, they embraced him enthusiastically.
About twenty years ago I heard an NPR interview with Rushdie. I didn't find anything particularly satanic or sinister about him. He seemed kind, humble and brilliantly insightful. A few weeks after that I stumbled across his Midnight's Children at a used bookshop. I still hesitated to buy it remembering the great Fatwa controversy even though that was about a completely different book. But I bought it, began reading and was immediately captivated. It became clear to me that Salman Rushdie was a literary genius. I began to buy more and more of his books over the years and was always inspired by his poetic prowess. He was as gifted a writer I had ever come across. Yet still, I avoided reading the work that had made him infamous. I guess evangelical PTSD lingers deep in the recesses of one's mind.
But this Evangelical-Industrial Complex had lost all credibility with me. They ostracized Rob Bell over his book Love Wins. Yet when I read it I found nothing that CS Lewis hadn't already discussed decades earlier. They told me the importance of family values yet idolize a proud philanderer and got him elected to the presidency. They talk about protecting children yet revere a man who's best friend was one of the most horrific traffickers in modern history. So, they have no purchase with me.
A few years ago Rushdie was attacked by an extremist at an event celebrating the importance of free speech. Rushdie came close to death but eventually recovered. He wrote about his experience in a powerful memoir called Knife. Once again he found himself one of the leading lights speaking out for the freedom of speech and against religious extremism.
All this to say, a few months ago I saw The Satanic Verses at another used book shop. By this time I had read nine of his books. This time I bought the Verses. I'm only a few chapters in and once again I find his prose astounding. I will keep you up to date if Satan actually emerges from this work.
I received a new Moleskine in the mail yesterday. I’m not quite through with my current one but it’s always nice to have a new one ready in the queue.
