Readers might remember my war of words a few months ago with a British (Northern Ireland) Fundamentalist by the name of Susan-Anne White. (Please see Susan-Anne White Thinks I’m a Despicable, Obnoxious, Militant, Hateful Atheist.) White, a textbook example of what happens when Fundamentalism seeps into the deep recesses of your brain, is so Fundamentalist that even fellow extremists think she is too extreme.
Yesterday, White picked up her mighty digital pen and wrote a blog post about political correctness and the use of certain words. In her post, White presents a list of words that should never, ever, not one time, be used by Christians. Here is the list:
Below this list are the words Christians (and those non-Christians who can still think for themselves) should use and which were, in a time long gone, in everyone’s vocabulary at some time or other.
DO NOT USE
Ms
Spokesperson, Chairperson etc
Partner (except when combined with the words “business” or “marriage” as in business partner or marriage partner)
Pro-choice
Sex worker
Racist
Sexist
Ageist
Islamophobia
Homophobia
Transphobia (and NEVER EVER refer to a man pretending to be a woman as “she” and vice versa)
Climate change denier……….and so on ad nauseum
After listing words she believes should never be uttered by Christians, White then gives what she calls her “sane” list of words — words that should be used regularly by followers of Jesus:
Now for the SANE list of words
Miss or Mrs
Spokesman or Chairman etc
Boyfriend or girlfriend or live-in boyfriend or girlfriend
Pro-abortion (pro-choice is a euphemism for abortion)
Prostitute or whoremonger
Racist should only be employed in cases of actual racism such as Nazi hatred of the Jews and the KKK hatred of black people
I am at a loss as to how to adequately express my disdain for her post, so I thought I would write Susan-Anne White a short note. Readers should find my note to be an admixture of humor, snark, and sadness. White will likely see my note in a different light.
Dear Ms. White,
I see that you are a spokesperson for a particularly pernicious and intellect-killing form of Christian Fundamentalism. At first, I thought that you were just a single crazy lady, a woman who has spent too much time talking to her cats. Imagine my surprise when I learned that you have a partner by the name of Francis. While I have never seen a photograph of Francis, knowing of your acerbic homophobia and hatred of same-sex marriage, I think it is safe for me to assume that Francis is a he, not a she [since writing this, I learned female Frank’s are called Frances].
As I read your list of PC words, I came to the conclusion that you hate the use of these words because, for the most part, they accurately describe you as a person. You ARE a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, climate change denier who hates sex. Evidently, you aren’t getting laid, and if you can’t get any ice cream at the Dairy Queen, you don’t want anyone to have any.
Like you, Ms. White, I call things like I see them. It is disheartening to see you, or anyone for that matter, so filled with hate and bigotry that you are unable to enjoy your brief existence on planet Earth. While you rage against atheists, liberals, sodomites, and all those who dare run afoul of your undies-bunching Fundamentalism, the clock continues to tick — an ever-present reminder that your life is swiftly passing by. Ask yourself, Ms. White, who have you won over to your side? Who has been persuaded by your hate and verbal violence? Point me to those who support your bigotry. Surely, if God is on your side, your fellow British/Irish-people will acknowledge this and thank you for speaking the truth. Why the silence?
Perhaps the real issue Ms. White is not truth, but instead a deep-seated need to be right. Now in the sunset years of life, you want validation. You have invested your entire life in a false narrative, and refusing to see this, you continue to seek affirmation of your beliefs. Finding no church worthy of your attendance — in the manner of the nineteenth century Calvinistic Bible teacher AW Pink — you seclude yourself, not only from the world, but also from those who gladly carry the name Christian. And here you are, all alone, with only dutiful Francis standing by your side. Can you not see the bankruptcy of your beliefs? Or are you so blind that all you see is Susan-Anne White and her intransigent beliefs?
You make it easy for writers such as myself to mock you and ridicule your beliefs. While such sardonicism is warranted, I feel sorry for you. You have spent your entire life raging against things that do not matter. Offended by words such as those found in your list, you have reduced your life to an increasingly narrow and extreme set of beliefs. Unable to enjoy the privileges and blessings of life, you trudge on, believing that God will, after death, reward you for standing against political correctness. Can you not see that you have lost all sense of the teachings of Jesus and the Christian gospel?
I know that it is impossible for me to reason with you. Like a stubborn mule, your face is set against anything or anyone who dares to challenge your truncated Fundamentalist beliefs. All I can do is point out the absurdities of your message, showing what Fundamentalism does to someone who deeply drinks from its poisoned, foul well.
The Right Reverend Bruce Gerencser
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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As those who know me know all too well, I’m inordinately fond of snark.
If I use the term ‘Ms’ I use it because I don’t know the marital status of the woman I’m addressing. What exactly is wrong with that?
I don’t like the way the anti-abortion lobby purloin the term ‘pro-life’ when their agenda is anything but.
In short, Mrs White deplores anything that stands, however remotely, in the way of how she chooses to perceive the world. Fortunately, even in Ireland, which is embarrassingly anachronistic when it comes to religion and its associated lack of reason, she is almost devoid of support.
I live in Northern Ireland Sir, not the Republic of Ireland and I do have support. The designation “Ms” is much loved by feminists therefore I reject it. A woman is either “Miss” or “Mrs” end of story.
I’m surprised you would leave things so incomplete – since you feel it important that a woman designate by her title, her marital status, don’t you feel compelled to create such a designation for men? If not, why not?
Maybe at the end of your story. Certainly not at the end of the story of the woman who will be, despite your sour-lemon-pussed disapproval, referred to as Ms. Not anything you can do to thwart that anywhere other than ‘possibly’ your own little area. Sticks in your craw that you can’t, doesn’t it? ;-D
You seem to be old enough to know you don’t always get your own way no matter how massive your tantrum (and ego, lol) is, cupcake.
Mrs. White, I go by Mrs. Wiren in a formal way, although most of the time it isn’t really an issue. And to be honest, I’ve been called Ms. Wiren and it is perfectly acceptable to me. I also live in a small, more conservative town. Still, I find “Ms.” quite useful when I am sending a message to a woman and I don’t know her marriage status, and it is a formal message.
I do know that here in the US, it seems to be pretty standard for women in high powered careers to use the “Ms.” designation, and to also use their maiden names. But why should this be so galling to you? When I read all the things that upset you, I figure you must go around in a state of perpetual anger and/or disgust at your fellow humans.
“I figure you must go around in a state of perpetual anger and/or disgust at your fellow humans.”
People who do that, Becky, produce so many negative endorphins that they are generally in poor health and often experience cancer.
I chose what I call myself, not you. I choose Ms. End of story.
Just to clarify – Mrs. White is from northern Ireland, not Ireland. In terms of law and government, it is part of the UK, not Ireland. My guess is that she’s not ethnically Irish either, having grown up in an overwhelmingly Protestant suburb of Belfast. She lives in County Tyrone, which is in the historic province of Ulster. In other words, she is culturally no stranger to extremist protestant exclusivity, bigotry, and political violence. Even so, her neighbors clearly think she’s off her rocker and don’t vote for her – which is saying a lot. It’s quite an accomplishment to stand out as an extremist in northern Ireland.
Thanks for catching my error. I corrected the post.
Yes Madam I am from Northern Ireland and am British. You know nothing about my background and are completely wrong in some of the things you have presented here as facts. How do you know where I grew up? It was certainly not in a “Protestant suburb of Belfast” because I was born a Roman Catholic. You state that “she is culturally no stranger to extremist Protestant exclusivity, bigotry and political violence.” This is utter nonsense. How could a Roman Catholic in Northern Ireland (which is what I was in my youth) be “culturally no stranger to extremist Protestant exclusivity…….?” Your comment about political violence is slanderous in the extreme. I condemn all violence and advocate the death penalty for murder (including terrorist murders) such as the IRA murders of 12 people at the LaMon House Hotel in 1978 and the Shankill butcher murders carried out by Loyalist terrorists (the UVF.) Both terror groups, Republican (IRA) and the Loyalist (UVF) and their various splinter groups are mirror images of each other. You had better correct your misrepresentation of me Madam.
I see it took you all of three comments to say you are being slandered and misrepresented. This is a new record, Susan-Anne. Congrats!
Someone googles her own name a lot, I see.
I’ve got a number for her: “1984”.
It’s far more controlling to reduce language options than it is to add words. Orwell knew his stuff with totalitarian systems, which many fundamentalist churches seem to resemble.
Scott
I agree with you completely and have been arguing the very point, that right wing Christianity is Orwellian in nature, for some time now.
Wow. Talk about Political Correctness run amok. Though I doubt Mrs. White recognizes her behavior as such…
I don’t understand your comment. You seem to be saying that I am politically correct. I despise PC and resist it. I consider myself Biblically correct not politically correct.
Where in the Bible does it say a woman must designate her marital status in her title?
But what you’ve written, this list of Words That Must Not Be Used Because They Are Offensive… that’s what Political Correctness is. The only difference between you and the PC you claim to despise is that your list of which words are unacceptable is different. The behavior is exactly the same.
She’s obviously from some other planet if she thinks that the marital status of any woman she meets or the gender of the partner of anyone she meets is any of her business. Singling out “pro-choice” for “correction” but not correcting “pro-life” at the same time is unforgivably inconsistent especially given that we know that people have died at the hands of so-called pro-lifers. And as for the various -phobias, well… she suffers from all of them, doesn’t she?
I was intrigued to note that she had apparently edited one of the comments to her post to “correct errors” and “delete that which was offensive.” It’s her blog and she can do what she likes with it but editing others’ words to make them appear to say something they didn’t seems particularly slimy.
We reserve the right to delete whole comments or parts of comments if they are offensive. The comment you are referring to used the designation “Ms” so it was corrected to reflect my status “Mrs.” We do not edit comments to make the commenter say something he or she did not say.
“…not correcting “pro-life” at the same time is unforgivably inconsistent….”
Ask the average ‘pro-lifer,’ August, how they feel about the death penalty if you really want to know just how pro life they are —
Mr.Gerencser, may we make a suggestion? Don’t read our blog if our posts annoy you so much. Why did you return to our blog (assuming you had been ignoring it for some time.) We were certainly and deliberately ignoring yours but now you have posted about me again in your predictable offensive and deliberately provocative manner, I am duty bound to respond. I note that you have corrected your description of me as “Irish” because I am British. You state that I am considered an “extremist” by my fellow “extremists,” and you further say that no-one stands with me except my husband Francis. By the way, I reject the label “extremist.” You do not live in Northern Ireland so how do you know what the people of Northern Ireland think about me? I received 166 votes in last year’s election so more than my husband stands with me. By the way, you knew all along that I was married yet you state that you were surprised to learn that I had a husband. Your article is childish and immature and another thing, you have no right to add the word “sic” after some of the words in my post. If you are going to post one of my posts on your blog, do not add to it or take away from it or give it your own slant.
Ms. White,
I meant for my post to aggravate you. By provoking you to respond, you reveal your true nature and character. I think it is important for people to see the real Susan-Anne White.
My editor added the sic to the quotes from your post. This is standard practice, alerting readers to the fact that the grammar errors are in the original. If you happen to correct your post, please let me know and I will update the quoted text.
Your blog doesn’t aggravate me. I have spent the past 7 years writing about Evangelical/Fundamentalist religion and politics. It is what I do. If you don’t want me to critique your posts I suggest you not post them. Since you represent a particularly pernicious, vile form of Christian Fundamentalism, I consider it my duty and obligation to expose your beliefs and subject them to public scrutiny. You should be happy that I have done so. I am sure your readership numbers increase every time I mention one of your posts.
Yes, I know you have a husband (and a daughter). You need to learn to appreciate snark, Susan-Anne.
Please tell all your supporters to stop by and show their support. I will approve their comments if they do.
Bruce
You heard her Bruce. Better not mess with the Holy words of God herself. This is so crazy. Thanks for the entertainment.
Susan-Anne, you are *not* “duty bound to respond” to Bruce’s post. You are responding to it because you are irked by it and to pretend that there is any other reason for doing so is simply disingenuous on your part.
In the post that Bruce referred to, did you edit the first comment that was made to that post? Your own comment to that seemed to indicate that you had made some “corrections” and that you had deleted some material you found offensive before you allowed the comment to post. If that’s true, then your request of Bruce that he not add to or take away from anything in your post is a marvelous bit of hypocrisy, given that you won’t extend the same courtesy to others.
Dear Ms. White,
As the self-appointed Spokesperon, Chairperson, etc. of this comment thread, my partner and I welcome you. It’s good to see that you’re pro-choice in your decision to visit an atheist blog, especially since there might be some sex workers reading and/or commenting on Bruce’s blog.
You’ll find few racist, sexist, ageist folks here, and no Islamophobia, homophobia, or transphobia. We seem to see that sort of thing mentioned more often on fundamentalist christian blogs and comment areas. Those types of blogs also seem to be written by climate change deniers.
So, I guess what you’re really saying is that christians should not employ any of these words to describe things they don’t like. They must be forbidden to be uttered, or even written, even if a christian would simply like to tell someone else they don’t like the aforementioned words. So, you’ve just broken your own rule of PC language usage. Conundrum abounds.
Got it. The logic is, ah . . . dizzying, to say the least.
It’s almost as if she thinks if these words aren’t said, then bigotry and prejudice can vanish, at least from her POV. Never mind the victims of said bigotry etc.
I’d like to tell her to take the stick out of her ass, but she appears to enjoy thinking she’s better than everyone else. If Jesus showed up and asked her to come with him to spend time with the poor, afflicted, rejects, LGBT youth who are kicked out of their homes, trans people who are also rejected, etc, she would reject Christ.
There is no room for love or compassion in the religion she espouses.
Hi Susan,
If compassion, healing mercy and loving kindness were your guide, why would you be sweating about such trivia as the correct use of words, and telling Christians what they should or should not say? Racism, sexism and homophobia abound in many communities in the world.
Is it not about time that Evangelical Christians stood for social justice and opposed such discrimination, instead of aiding and abetting them? You claim to be a follower of Jesus. What did Jesus say about letting your light shine before human beings? Was it that they may see your right wing politics? Was it that they may see your extreme Fundamentalism? No. Are not “good deeds” more important these type of things?
If Christians focused on compassion, kindness and tolerance towards others, and treated others with dignity and respect instead of inflaming others with their outrageous and outdated views (which foster intolerance), some people might have more respect for Evangelicals. But many such folk don’t seem to be capable of showing tolerance.
Shalom,
John Arthur
The Christianity (and it is the genuine article IMHO) put forth by Susan-Anne White is not designed to achieve what Mr. Arthur suggests in his comment. It is designed to harm human beings, to reduce them to obedient slaves of woo-woo belief, to teach them to hate their neighbors while calling it love, to hold up as an example of great love, a father who heard voices telling him to gut his son on a rock and went ahead and obeyed, almost completing the heinous act before listening to the voices tell him to kill something else.
Plead with the Susan-Annes all you like to try and request them to be decent to others, to be nice to the rest of us, but it is a waste of time. She wants to fix us to be like her… imagine the length and breadth of such delusionary thinking! She probably prays for evil to befall Satan’s hoardes (that’s all the rest of us) and that we blister and boil until we break down and succumb to perfect (sic) love. She really should attend Doug Wilson’s church but you know she would find some reason to fault them too, not enough love (sic) or something….
I don’t read your blog Susan-Anne White. It would have to interest me in some way…. I did try it out but it is dull and reminds me of rather stupid Sunday School teachers I had to endure as a child being dragged up in the way I should go….
Hi Susan,
Instead of focusing on Fundamentalism, why don’t you consider practising meditation and contemplation? Sitting in the silence and focusing your mind on loving kindness can do wonders for you. By reflecting on kindness towards yourself and thinking the same about others can be very ennobling and uplifting. It can produce positive emotions and is likely to help you become warm hearted, open hearted and more tolerant of your own failings and the failings of others.Why not give it a try?
Buddha said that “The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.” if you put loving kindness in your heart by focusing your thoughts and emotions on compassion and healing mercy, you may find that your emphasis on rigid rules and regulations from an ancient book is very likely to gradually disappear and you will likely become more humane. Remaining in Fundamentalism will only ruin your life.
Shalom,
John Arthur
I came for the article, but I stayed for the comments. This Ms. White person is … well, something else.
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Do you think she will notice this post? If so, it’s going be quite entertaining. Going to pop a truckload of popcorn right now. 😉
Hi there Mrs. Susan,
According to a recent The Guardian headline from January 4: “Past convictions for homosexual activity to be wiped from records, Patel to announce”
Also: Any conviction that was imposed on someone purely due to consensual homosexual activity under now-abolished laws will be included in a scheme aimed at “righting the wrongs of the past”, the UK home secretary is set to announce. Priti Patel said more people would have convictions for same-sex sexual activity wiped from their records, as she sought to expand the government’s disregards and pardons scheme from a narrow set of laws.
I guessing this really pisses you off. And I guessing you’ve asked God to smite the UK as punishment for this. Amiright?
xox
I love the ‘people who preach violence should be shot like dogs’ sentiment Ms White expresses. Perhaps too she could add ‘ad nauseum’ to her list of forbidden phrases; it’s ‘ad nauseam’, as Bruce correctly demonstrates.
Mr Neil, what are you talking about? Where (and when) did I say or imply the sentiment or quote you are attributing to me?
Funny, I bristle being called Mrs., and I refuse to be called Mrs. Husband’s First and Surname. I have my own name and I am not his property (and may all the pantheon of deities help him if I were).
Fundies can use whatever words they wish, no matter how vile. Decent people will call them.out on it. However, they cross the line when telling us that we should use their vile words too. No, Ms. Susan-Anne White, I am not a sexist, bigoted, xenophobic racist.
(It irks me a bit that my mother’s name was Susan Anne too, though she went by Anne in the family and Susan everywhere else).
e.g. SA wants no word that describes her stupidity, hatred and ignorance to be used ever again.
Absolutely wonderfully written letter. I hadn’t seen that one before if it’s a re-post/update.
Her behavior reminds me of a song from my IFB days sung by the Kingsmen called Nobody Saved But Me.
Mr Gerencser, I would have thought that American fundamentalism/evangelicalism would provide you with plenty of “grist for the mill” for your poison pen, but obviously not, as you keep re-posting old posts, sometimes with your own misleading slant on the title of one of my posts from my own blog such as the title you have given an old post of mine (above) from 6th March, 2016. My blog post was entitled “PC Words Christians should not employ” but your title gives the impression that I’m advocating the use of some PC words. Do you deliberately set out to mislead or was this a mistake? You have harassed, mocked and slandered me for years and you do so because I live in the UK and you think you cannot be touched by the British libel/slander courts. Don’t be so sure!
Ms White, I live in the UK, though not NI, and I can assure you that your extreme views would not find favour in our civil courts, even were you able (expensively) to circumvent jurisdictional problems. In short, you’d at very least be regarded by any judge as hoist by your own petard, though much more likely Bruce’s comments would be seen as justified.
Ms. White, all you’ve done is gainsaid some common “PC” words to create a parallel list that mirrors your own view of what is “correct.”
As someone who has been married and divorced, and who kept my birth name throughout, I’ve never cared for either “Miss” or “Mrs.” Both sound creepy to me, and if you were to address me as “Mrs. {name of ex-spouse” I would correct you immediately. If you will not address me as “Ms.” (or better still, with no title at all in front of my name), don’t expect me to call you “Mrs.”
And why the objection to words like “racist,” “sexist,” “homophobic”? The experiences and perceptions of marginalized individuals, and their allies, are what matter here. If I feel someone being sexist, I will tell them so and there isn’t a damn thing they can do about it. The same for racism – you don’t get to determine what is or is not “true” racism.
Finally, if you don’t want to be criticized for your advocacy of certain words over others, perhaps you should consider redacting blatantly libellous phrases like “…and those non-Christians who can still think for themselves…) from your blog.
Honey, several people have pointed out the error of your statements in this comment. I concur with what they said.
Respect is earned. You have earned none, as far as I am concerned. I have written two posts about you. These posts were meant to illustrate how religious fundamentalism destroys Christians, turning them into vile, hateful people. You deliberately want to harm people, and for that reason, Ms. White, I loathe and despise you. Even as a Christian I would have thought the same about you. Simply put, you are not a good person. If the Bible is the standard for being a Christian, you most certainly are not a follower of Jesus.
Mrs White does not disappoint! She could’ve ignored this blog post, but no, has to jump in and show us how she is, once again, an angry judgmental person. She’s in the UK and yet, she still cares about what you post, Bruce? As if anything you say will make us think worse of her than what comes out of her own mouth? Oh well, tant pis. (No, really, Mrs White, why should you care even a tiny bit? If Bruce was even capable of lying, it would still have virtually zero effect on your life.)