Reminded me of something that came across my RSS feeds the other day from a dev and podcaster who I like to follow:
I grew up as a “different” kid in a fundamentalist church. As a young child I had urges and thoughts that I constantly feared would send me to hell. When I wasn’t worried about my eternal soul, I was worried about my non-Christian friends and their eternal souls. By the time I was in Middle School I was drinking and trying to cope with what amounts to a constant fight or flight response, in addition to grief.
Being neurodivergent, queer, and highly sensitive was not a good combination for me in the church I grew up in. And I was taught to put all of my value, all credit for my successes, and all forms of attachment into God, not earthly things. So when I decided the church wasn’t good for me (or, in my mind, for anyone), I had the secondary trauma of leaving. Becoming emotionally estranged from my family, losing my Christian friends, and losing a god, the one thing that I had ever believed could save me.
There’s quite a bit more, but that’s the relevant bit.
Given the trauma one endures as a result? It absolutely is.
Indoctrination is why they believe as a kid. Brainwashing is why they still do. It’s pretty disturbing looking at it after deconverting.
Reminded me of something that came across my RSS feeds the other day from a dev and podcaster who I like to follow:
There’s quite a bit more, but that’s the relevant bit.
https://brettterpstra.com/2023/07/30/personal-update-cptsd-edition/
I wished that their story was an isolated incident, but my best friend went through some similar things. And I relate to some of that as well.