I think it says something about my religious trauma that not only did I already know all the terms here, I can probably write a version of this article without any further research
@QasimRashid Even as an #exvangelical with 40+ years of experience with Christianity, I just don't get this Christian obsession with the 10 Commandments. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to display the words of the radical 1st-century rabbi from Nazareth?
The "Beatitudes" might be a good start. They seem to ignore those.
It's all just polishing a pristine marble tomb while trying desperately to ignore the stench of rot coming from it. Hmm, where have I heard that before....
When you take the lyrics "would he devote that Sacred Head for such a worm as I?" into your very core as a 5-year-old, it takes A LOT to get shut of that unsightly baggage as an adult.
Even "Amazing Grace": "...how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me...."
Really? I was a child. A baby.
A wretch?
Reprobate & miscreant are some of the synonyms. I was to learn those as well.
In another tone deaf love, the “He Gets Us” Campaign, partially sponsored by the relic-stealing president of Hobby Lobby, triggered former religious club members across the nation.
This was one of the very first things I learned in an evangelical mega-church: toxic positivity. Essentially, if I give into or express "negative emotions" I'm either inviting demons or keeping myself or the ones around me from being blessed.
Reclaiming my emotions was also a big thing I had to do to get out of that head-space and recover from denying reality when "Godly promises" never occurred.
I feel this SO much & have been trying to express that to my friends that didn't grow up exposed to #Evangelicals
Proud #Exvangelical here, too. I despise any denying of reality for this reason.
To them (not you) I say:
Want to block all research on gun violence? Fuck you
Want to lie about climate science for decades? Fuck you
Want to treat drug addiction as a criminal matter? Fuck you
Want to claim that what bathroom someone uses has any effect on your life? Fuck you
Want to pretend that there's a border crisis? Fuck you
I was just telling who also comes from an evangelical Christian background, but from Mexico, that I feel my exvangelical Christian childhood actually prepared me uniquely for this moment in America: even tho I have only been here for 5 years, I understand some of its darkest, most absurd impulses. I don't like it, but I am never surprised.
It's like you've always had a weird uncle, but then you move closer to his dad, and you're like oh that's why they're like that (and evil)
The thread has existed since the founding, for sure. The USA's original sin is racism & slavery.
I think I may be splitting hairs unnecessary, but our modern evangelicals are only devolved from the Southern evangelicals of the 1860's. There was a huge number of abolitionist evangelicals in the north.
This can come off as defending evangelicals, but it's not. I'm a very proud #Exvangelical & I think it's important to remind/prove to #evangelicals there's another way (not #Christofascism) that is still in keeping with the book they supposedly cherish.
That's definitely worth pointing out, and their motives are suspect as a result. I was never Calvinist, even growing up Evangelical. It Calvism/Pentecostal evangelicalism actually caused me many years of mental anguish.
I'm also a pragmatist and consider a tree by it's fruit. They benefited society & these fuckers are trying to burn it down.
“Very few people in mainstream professional society or major institutions are capable of standing up to the elite media, which is why I call this a nuclear weapon.”
Made it an entire week with the inlaws.. Then last night all the cousins were together to open presents and the FIL decided to have a Jesus quiz to see what order the kids got to open presents. 9yr old was not amused. Me and the wife were fuming. 🤬🤯😡
This morning as we were leaving I mentioned the snow we'd hit 12 hours into the drive, FIL's reply "makes ya wonder how they know all that" 😶🤷♂️
One advantage to growing up in the #ChurchOfChrist is that #Christmas has always been a secular holiday (except when it gave the #COC a chance to bitch about the #WarOnChristmas ofc).
So I don't have #ReligiousTrauma around the winter holidays, thank the gods.
A journalist who was a christian and initially enthusiastic about doing a documentary about how kids were supposedly helped by christian boot camp and boarding school type programs, ended up renouncing christianity and showing the world the truth after being horrified by what she saw, filming at a christian boarding school conveniently located in the 3rd world away from US eyes and rules, where US kids were shipped against their will to be beaten, starved, and psychologically abused by christian "counselors" (less qualified than a dog to give therapy).