As an #exvangelical, it is a huge deal that not a single person has wished me happy Easter today (or tried to initiate the "He is risen / He is risen indeed" thing). Feeling really fucking happy and proud of my life choices. My nervous system is so much calmer today than it was 20 years ago.

Please don't ruin this by wishing me a happy Easter lol 😆

Christianity primed white people to feel guilty when certain Pavlovian bells ring.

Accused? Wrongdoing even subtly implied? Guilt! Shame!

Then, if it's a respected authority doing the implying (be it parent or priest), we're primed to submit.

If we don't respect the authority of the "accuser," well, were primed to see them as the enemy in the all-or-nothing good vs evil war. "My authorities haven't called that a sin so who is this person anyway??" And we lash out. At women, POC, queers, disabled, and often, even ourselves.

What, you're white but never were Christian? Sorry, but you were programmed this way, too. (If you feel mad at me, that's the programming.)

Christianity's way out from guilt and shame is impossible. It doesn't work. It's designed to make you feel forever ashamed and in debt to Jesus — or rather, the religious authorities who represent him. That's how they get you.

We aren't allowed to emotionally mature to know how to handle our own feelings when we've done wrong. We're forever dependent children on the religion. We go to confession, do the penitence, feel a few days of relief, then go back to feeling guilty. No matter how well-meaning any particular clergy, this is by design.

Now suddenly here's these people I don't respect out of unexamined implicit bias dumping more crap on me.

Aren't I bad enough? Haven't I submitted enough? What am I supposed to do about it?

I'm hamstringed. My white brain has been lobotomized wrt how to handle this. But also, I've been told by trusted authorities that I'm not a racist, so I'm not!!! Out comes the Karen.

Colonialism=Christianity=Corporatism

It's all the same system.

Freeing ourselves from this system means freeing those whose oppression we enable.

Because it's all the same thing.

#AbuseCulture #ReligiousTrauma #exmo #exmormon #exvie #exvangelical #antiracism #antifa

A vent about my former faith.

I want to vent a bit about Christianity, a tree I nursed in my spirit for over 3 decades.

I was an evangelical. I grew up in the church. The church was my family. I was a genuine believer, not just surface level. Granted, I was socially awkward, shy, etc., some of those were components of an Autism I never identified.

I liked church. I helped out at a few of them. I read the whole bible. I was obedient. I embodied the spirit of the Bible and not just the requirements, I lived my life righteous and tried to love others. I believed in Jesus and was "saved". I stayed away from things that were deemed harmful.

1/n

#evangelical #exvangelical #religion #christianity #humanism #deconstruction #exreligious

In Mormon news, BYU tried to make an indigenous student cut his braids. So fuck them.

Thankfully, they responded to pushback and now will not make him do that, but I'm sure they will continue to get away with all of their other attempts to control the hairstyles and harmless behaviors of literally everyone else.

(Which is why this issue is a "white" cause as much as it is anyone else's. My Celtic and Germanic ancestors wore long hair in all sorts of styles, and so did yours. Whiteness restricts all of our freedoms.)

#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #exvie #exvangelical #antiracism #deconstruction #BYU #LDS #Mormon