Would you rather go to a Christian emoviolence show or BushOK's church?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Church, provided I get to stay seated during communion.

Although I suspect the staying seated for communion part is for different reasons. For me, Catholics are not supposed to receive communion in Protestant churches (though I'm not at all sure why The Mikado said this). In a BushOK-style church I'd undoubtedly have to sit through a ton of things I'd have theological disagreements with. They probably will tell me I'm going to hell. Despite all this I'd probably learn something about how Evangelicals think and I have a grand total of one Evangelical friend in real life so it'd be quite a learning experience. Still, I'd feel extremely awkward and out of place. I'm used to being around a left-wing quasi-atheist crowd I disagree with but not a right-wing Evangelical crowd I disagree with.

As for the emoviolence show, I’d also stick out like a sore thumb. I don’t like large rowdy crowds or loud noises and am less interested in music than just about anyone I know. The idea of body surfing or being pushed around in a crowd bothers me since I’d rather not get hurt if I can avoid it. I would feel really uncomfortable there and be glad when it’s over.

Either way, both are totally foreign to me.

I'm Episcopalian and fairly far to the left politically, but these are pretty much my feelings exactly (I too am much more used to a left-wing crowd that I disagree with on religion than a Christian crowd that I would disagree with on politics and probably a lot of the religion too, so that would at least be a learning experience, if not a very pleasant one).

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Well I'm from a Lutheran background, but I've actually gone to some evangelical-ish churches before, but nothing like the Southern Baptists, I have this view of a guy in a suit preaching fire and brimstone stuff to other people mostly dressed up which is quite different from some guy in a shirt and jeans preaching a far more benevolent message to a crowd of of mostly under 35 not at all dressed up sitting on couches or chairs. I actually went to a Vineyard church when I was subleasing and had just moved to Minneapolis and basically did a quick church for the closest liberal-ish and hip church near me the day before Easter. Their site was full of references to them serving fair trade coffee, a social justice commitment, and the sermons listed all had feel-good topics like "The Rest God Offers Us", and "Accepting Others As Christ Accepted You", but the Vineyard movement as I later learned is a charismatic evangelical denomination known for a notorious event called the "Toronto Blessing" (Google or YouTube it). If I had known that beforehand, I doubt I would've went. I don't regret it though, nice place and none of the stereotypical behavior one would expect with a group like that, the most being people waving their arms in the air and swaying.

But yeah, I just can't imagine how badly I'd fit and how distraught I'd be at a church where most people actually dress up.

The situation at my church is usually a guy or one of two girls in brocaded robes preaching an incredibly benevolent, sometimes kind of anodyne but sometimes really powerful and moving, message to a bunch of people whose dress style generally averages out somewhere around 'smart casual' (button-down shirts with the occasional tie to be seen mostly on the older men, slacks other than jeans, generally around knee-length dresses or skirts for those who wear them, sometimes shorter). You probably wouldn't fit in very well there--it skews to the older side, though since I live in a college town there's a fair contingent of late teens/early twenties and some families with children, and the liturgy tends to be pretty formal--but I like it a lot and my main concern with Evangelical/Pentecostal churches is actually more with how scuzzy and architecturally soul-crushing most of the ones in my area are. They are more like stadiums than like churches. It's depressing to me.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Oh and Nathan you live in Amherst but aren't familiar with emoviolence? Amherst is home to the biggest emoviolence band in the world right now!

I'm conceptually familiar with what emoviolence is, partly because of, as you say, the presence of Orchid (although Orchid's heyday was before my time, while I was still living in Putney, Vermont), but it's about as far from what generally interests me as you can get musically. As with many such towns in New England there is a somewhat genteel, personally (NOT politically!) conservative Amherst alongside the Amherst that's a crucible of social agitation, and those are more the circles that I move in.

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That has a certain appeal, partly because it reminds me of the http://i51.tinypic.com/2njypuh.jpg Roman Catacombs and all, but it has a more...worldly? feel to it than what I look for in a church. I like the whole danse-macabre, valar-morghulis, candles-and-shadows, organ-and-choir aesthetic, which is also why I tend to go to evening services.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Oh and Nathan you live in Amherst but aren't familiar with emoviolence? Amherst is home to the biggest emoviolence band in the world right now!

I'm conceptually familiar with what emoviolence is, partly because of, as you say, the presence of Orchid (although Orchid's heyday was before my time, while I was still living in Putney, Vermont), but it's about as far from what generally interests me as you can get musically. As with many such towns in New England there is a somewhat genteel, personally (NOT politically!) conservative Amherst alongside the Amherst that's a crucible of social agitation, and those are more the circles that I move in.

I'm talking about Ampere, who are still together (with a member of Orchid) and quite active. I got their latest record in the mail this week on limited edition colored vinyl along with the limited edition First 5 Years LP for pre-orders only. Actually was wondering if they were known in Amherst outside the scene...

They might be known in Amherst outside the scene but they're certainly not universally known, since I've never heard any of my friends talking about them. My friends tend to be more Tom Nielsen/Kate Wolf/Leonard Cohen/Vienna Teng people anyway, though.