I don’t sleep through the night anymore. I suffer from near daily panic attacks and almost constant anxiety. The source of my joy, my security and my identity has vanished, leaving me with an angry grief that almost no one in my immediate circle understands. I have relationships that were once life-giving but have turned toxic. I feel manipulated, deceived and abused. And why?
The church that raised me is gaslighting me.
I am a 39-year-old, white, straight, suburban mom. And I am a Christian ― at least I think I still am. I grew up in a privileged bubble, in deep red Republican country, where identifying as a Christian didn’t set me apart from the majority of my peers. Being a Christian certainly wasn’t any risk to my life or reputation. I spent my childhood in Sunday school, church camp and youth group, learning Bible stories about heroes who battled a giant with a slingshot, survived a lions’ den due to unshakable faith, and […]
If all the Christians had a scholarly look at their religion, they would all be democrats. No one who actually knew Christ actually wrote anything. From what we do read about Jesus, he would appear to be a progressive socialist. He would not even want to be a democrat, because the democratic rulers are not progressively supportive of ALL the people, and still seem to need to support war, which Jesus would never support.
Rev Dean has said it very well.