From RH Reality Check: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/01/25/america-doesnt-want-gops-god-in-office-1
by mycultlife, My Cult Life
January 26, 2012
I'm part of a growing movement of men and women who've left Christian fundamentalism. Yes, it's possible to leave Crazy Town and we are absolutely enjoying all that life has to offer outside of a movement that controlled our lives, but most importantly controlled our minds.
Lately I've been writing about the abuse that I experienced in my fundamentalist group, which is a group my therapist labeled a"cult"(The politically correct and academic term is 'new religious group' although I feel that term doesmoreto protect the abusive and destructive groups from the government than it does to protect victims. More on that later.). Along with leaving a cult, or destructive group, comes many challenges: immersion into "normal" society, behaviors and media;ostracism from old friends and the loneliness that comes from that process; and a struggle to maintain faith in God that often comes from duty, obligation and fear. For those who depart from their faith in God, like me and many of us (perhaps because our spiritual abusers convinced us that theywereGod; perhaps because we've seen the inside of a dark temple), the road to labeling yourself atheist or agnostic is riddled with fear of judgement, secrecy and finally gaining your own footing with your new set of beliefs.
To me, it's less important whether I'm labeled an atheist or agnostic or spiritual because none of those labels accurately describe me. What is important to me is that I'm not labeled a Christian, and there's a clear distinction between my ethics and beliefs and those of modern day fundamentalism. Because I don't endorse gay bashing, homophobia, removing women's rights/voices or controlling women's bodies, I've become sort of staunchly liberal. I'm that annoying political friend on Facebook who's always sharing her liberal news articles with you. The one I'd be tempted to delete, if she were Conservative. There you have it--I'm a hypocrite but a happy one.
All joking aside, upon recent examination of the rhetoric and ideologies of the GOP candidates, I realized that they have been spouting some of the same ideology as my old abusive spiritual leaders. The other day, as I was watching Newt Gingrich accept his win in South Carolina he began bashing a judge for making a secular decision, calling him an "anti-religious bigot." Many of the candidates beliefs stem from a faith in God that's more similar to fundamentalism than to anything else. For example, Rick Santorum, who's been known to say some off-the-wall things lately,recently said:
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment