Fundamentalism's Colonial Drag

Published on June 26, 2007

Former Revealer managing editor Kathryn Joyce makes her Newsweek.com debut with an account of "The Other Jamestown Party," an ultra-right Christian celebration of the colony's 400th anniversary:Fifteen miles from Williamsburg, Va., in Charles City County, on a country road dominated by plantations turned bed-and-breakfasts, 4,000 ultra-conservative, largely home-schooling Christians gathered to correct a month-old mistake: to do Jamestown right. The women wore hoop skirts, bustles, bonnets and mob hats. The men wore tricorn, feathered "Musketeer" or top hats; they carried swords. "Maidens," that is, girls, wore aprons, while "heroes"

Former Revealer managing editor Kathryn Joyce makes her Newsweek.com debut with an account of “The Other Jamestown Party,” an ultra-right Christian celebration of the colony’s 400th anniversary:

Fifteen miles from Williamsburg, Va., in Charles City County, on a country road dominated by plantations turned bed-and-breakfasts, 4,000 ultra-conservative, largely home-schooling Christians gathered to correct a month-old mistake: to do Jamestown right. The women wore hoop skirts, bustles, bonnets and mob hats. The men wore tricorn, feathered “Musketeer” or top hats; they carried swords. “Maidens,” that is, girls, wore aprons, while “heroes”—boys—donned armor or coonskin caps.

It should come as no surprise that I’m a fan of this story by my friend and sometimes collaborator. It’s funny, scary, fascinating, and weirdly empathetic — the perfect combination for journalism about the far right, especially the far right in colonial drag. But what should challenge the assumptions of both Christian conspiracy theorists — those who think “the culture” is out to get them — and lefty media nihilists — who think mainstream media is always a total wash — is the way Kathryn’s story is both fair and revealing.The event’s organizers get their say and then some — there can be no complaining that this is a hit piece. At the same time, “their say” gives readers all the information they need to understand the ideological position of a group that considers those who don’t share their faith “Infidels and Savages.” A lesser writer would have been content to mock or to shriek theocracy — but Kathryn tells the story calmly, neither relegating the event to the fringe nor declaring it a sign of the democratic end times. I have only one criticism — how could she have missed Chuck Norris?

Read the whole story.

Read event organizer Doug Phillips’ blog.

Visit Doug Phillips’ Vision Forum store to outfit your son as a Christian warrior.

My two cents on Vision Forum and the fundamentalist historical imagination.

–Jeff Sharlet

Category: Feature

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