Fundamentalist Bookstores give me the willies

Yesterday after going to get my Free To Marry letter signed and to a lovely dinner at the Olive Garden, my best friend Michael and I decided to walk across the parking lot to Mardel Christian Bookstore.

I love the little bookstore in Dallas for Catholics, Sacred Heart bookstore. It's got lots of good Catholic goodies, lots of crucifixes and holy cards and books about the liturgy and saints and Christ and apologetics and all kinds of good stuff.

But when I walked into Mardel's I got the willies for some reason. It was very much like an old ... kind of like old K-Mart's in the 70's. The largest part of the store was dedicated to what I am guessing is homeshooling supplies. They had lots and lots of crosses and lots of little keychains and bumper stickers with fishes and catch phrases on them ("In case of Rapture this car will be unmanned!"). No pictures of Christ on the cross. No saints. No Mary. The only "Catholic" things I could find in the whole store were about 6 copies of two NAB bibles, and a couple of books about the evils of Roman Catholicism. And not one crucifix. I had no idea those were *that* Catholic. Even their pictures of Christ were creepy. He was like Buddy Jesus or something. No sorrowful passion, no ressurection. Just crosses and keychains with "Jesus Rules!" on them. And leather braces with a cross in metal studs in it.

I was so disappointed - I didn't find one thing that I found inspirational or faith-promoting. I don't know if it was because for so long I was an UberLiberal and disdained anything God-related or because I absoltely hate the Jesus Pep Rally mentality of many fundamentalist and protestant churches.

Seriously, everything felt so ... hollow. That's the only way I can describe it. I hated it. I didn't feel Christ anywhere in that store. They had this clock that was in a tire and said on it "Work'tire'lessly for Christ!" and some scripture reference. How is that supposed to help me feel closer to my Lord and Saviour, my redeemer, God on earth to suffer and die for my sins? It was just a huge culture shock. I expected a little bit of a culture shock, but I had no idea. It was like walking into a store filled with sports paraphenalia or something equally as shallow.

Also, when I walked into Sacred Heart bookstore for the first time, I was inspired with music, books, images and people that were very faith promoting. The statues and crucifixes are beautiful, and they have so many books that I'd love to snatch up.

So the moral of this story, boys and girls, is that if you're in the mood to check out a bookstore to find some good Catholic books, don't waste your time in Mardel Christian Bookstore.