Faith As Fandom

Note: This post contains my personal non-traditional views about religion and faith. 

I would like to say THANK YOU 

@tim_hutchings, @catchclaw, and @FanStudies For the idea for this weeks blog.

This weeks blog came out of a question posted on twitter. I have used the term fandom to describe faith communities but as I worked on this post I realized just how many comparisons I could draw between the two. 

Below are my experiences, these in no way minimize other persons experiences, other faith communities or other faith traditions.  

A little backstory:

• I was involved with fandom long before I was involved with religion which may be part of the reason I see religion through a fandom lens. 

• I have been encouraged and supported by my various pastors when I combine other fandoms with my church fandom. As my pastor emailed me recently: "Know that you, the fandom, and all characters in need of encouragement, will continue to be in my prayers." All my Pastors have been very accepting when I have submitted prayer requests for fictional characters or fictional plot lines etc. And many others have referenced fandoms in their sermons.

Characters:

My faith fandom is filled with characters. I ponder their motivations and what they might tell us about ourselves.

There is something about my congregation which can be hard to articulate. It would be "Serenity" in firefly, "Baby" in SPN, or the TARDIS in Doctor Who. I have taken these feelings a step further and have personified my church. 

She and I have gone on many adventures together. She reminds me to dance and sing and be myself, when I forget. I have also included her in many adventures with characters from other fandoms in grand crossover daydreams and fanfiction.

While I don't think many others have personified their congregation/church building to the degree I have, others do regularly reference the characters within our text (The bible). And like any mediums which have gone on for many seasons (Books of the Bible) and had uncountable reboots (Translations) there is often debate about the characters, the plot and plot holes, which seasons are better then others, etc.

I have also thought about the people of the bible as characters. For example I have often said "I don't know what to do with Jesus as a Character". Or when I have tried to describe God herself and my relationship to her I find I see her as the Idris to my Doctor:

Idris: Then you stole me. And I stole you.
The Doctor: [pauses] I borrowed you.
Idris: Borrowing implies the eventual intention to return the thing that it was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?

And

Idris: I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough.

I have been invited by my faith fandom to see the universe and go on a wild and fun adventure and I feel I am doing just that.

Side Note: 

An interesting fan based expression of faith is "Bible Fanfiction" and "Bible Slash Fanfiction". Some are very interesting explorations of relationships such as the one between David and Johnathan or between Jesus and Judas. Though it is important to read all story warnings since some make "Song of Solomon" look G rated in comparison.

Cosplay:

Faith Communities and Faith Traditions each have their own forms of Cosplay or ways that others can easily recognize which faith fandom a person might be a part of.

The vestments worn by Clergy: In the Christian faith community most clergy wear stoles or collars of some type.

Historical Outfits: Pastors would dress up as John Wesley for Methodist Heritage Week at my undergrad.

Other outfit based symbols:

• For Christianity in general a cross, for my particular congregation something incorporating a rainbow to represent we are reconciling. 
• Examples from other faith traditions: The Jewish Yamaka or The Isamic Hijab

One personal experience: 

I was once stopped by a stranger and asked if they knew me. It turned out it was a former pastor of my congregation who had noticed the church shirt I was wearing. Later I learned he had contacted my pastor at the time and said "Great job evangelizing". Once we matched up the two parts of the story me and my pastor discussed how this did not seem like evangelizing to us. I can see that some of my confusion maybe was because I was seeing my faith community as a fandom. Wearing a my church's "Love All People" shirt is like wearing a Doctor Who or Supernatural Shirt. A way to celebrate my love of something but not a way to evangelize. A way of saying these are things I love, if you do too great, if not no big deal. 

Community

People are drawn to a faith community or a fandom for a variety of reasons: Some love the Characters, Some Love the Plot, Some are trivia masters, Some come simply to hang out with friends, Some love studying other fans, Some have been watching the "show" since they were young, Some are new to the "show"....

I have found that I come to my own faith community in many different, and ever shifting roles. Everything from being a fan to being cast and crew. In addition I have been asked to write both Tie-In pieces (poems and prayers for use during worship) and analysis (such as my Portico Collective pieces).

Like any fandom most faith communities provide a connection between fans. They also provide a way to support the issues and causes close to the hearts of others in the fandom. As a church we march in the pride parade, march for affordable housing, discuss mental health and mental illness, raise money to provide clean drinking water etc. We stand by other fans in our fandom who are suffering.

Issues of Inclusion

Like most fandoms my wider faith fandom (The United Methodist Church) has struggled and is still struggling with representation and creating safe spaces. While acknowledging the problematic aspects of our faith fandom we continue to explore how to create safe spaces.

My congregation Holy Covenant UMC, like many other congregations, has the equivalent of a convention's anti discrimination / anti harassment policy.

Holy Covenant is a Reconciling Congregation –whatever your race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, economic situation, background or belief, age or ability, whether single or partnered, you are God’s beloved and are welcome here.

And has been part of hashtag campaigns calling for greater representation such as the current #ItsTime.

Like the best fandoms my congregation has worked hard creating safe spaces for all people.

• Providing support and space for the "Safe Breakfast Program for Kids" in solidarity with the Black Panther Party (60's)
• Demanding a woman pastor in the 70's and refusing to pay when the Bishops sent a man. 
• Performing civil unions in the 90's
• Continuing to provide a place for individuals to discuss and act on the issues that affect them: LGBTQIA, mental health, education policy, the budget crisis, affordable housing, hunger, etc

Like any other fandom, it is amazing to see what fans can do when they set their minds to something. We can identify the problematic parts of our fandoms and still use our fandoms to create a community of support to inspire others.

Brief Conclusion:

I personally have found connections between how I respond to my church and how I respond to other fandoms. I hope these ideas inspire others to continue to study these connections. I would love to read what you discover.