Great article, Nina.

The set of beliefs held by those writer festival goers seems very narrowly focused. To fit in you basically have to be left-wing, athiest, pro gay marriage and spend a lot of time calling out climate deniers.

They can't see the point of following a set of beliefs such as those espoused by faith communities, yet their doctrines are just as restrictive, if not more so.

Harmer and the wider Twitterati display this sort of narrow mindedness on social media every day. Let's not forget, though, that the Twitter party guest list is fairly exclusive - used by only 10% of the Australian population and heavily left-leaning

What a ridiculous article - why can't someone be a churchgoer and attend a writers' festival, and find a sense of community in both? Setting up a false dichotomy like this just reflects poorly on the author.

'False dichotomy' -- that's the phrase I was looking for. Writers' festivals are mass events held occasionally in order to attract a large and diverse crowd of gullible people (well, who ELSE would pay to hear a writer talk?). Church services are small events held regularly to attract small and recurring groups of gullible people. What is the point of comparing the two, other than to provide a false positivity for the church experience? If you can show that church attendance has benefits over attending, say, a weekly bridge club, pool tournament or creative writing group, then you might have a case. But this is apples and oranges.

This really says it all about our modern city society, when people have nothing better to do with their time, than sit in a hall having someone talk at them from a raised stage.

I guess we should feel sorry for them, that their lives in our cities has become so meaningless, & boring.

PRAY TO THE VIRGIN!

Community of itself does not necessarily provide anything valuable. It depends on what the community does that makes it worthwhile. A bunch of heroin addicts living in a run-down squat is a community.

A writer’s festival attracts people for all manner of reasons. Just because Harmer thinks some go for ‘spiritual’ benefit does not mean that the festival is only of benefit to them. People go to hear new ideas or to enjoy sharing insight into the writing process. They go to hear stories and biographies and to listen to debates about topical subjects. They go to be entertained and stimulated.

Churches on the other hand attract people for one reason alone and that is because those people are insecure and cannot find effective ways of dealing with their insecurities. It does not mean that church helps them – it just numbs them. People feel lots of fear and anger and deal with it in different ways. Some join a community in a squat and inject themselves with heroin others drink or gamble or get involved in crime. None of these things work.

The author is trying to convince herself that church does work. If it did work then she would be totally unfazed by anything Wendy Harmer has to say on the subject.