"When Religion Hurts You: Healing from religious trauma and the impact of High-Control Religion," by Laura E. Anderson,

[Timeflyer]

When Religion Hurts You, by Laura E. Anderson, PhD, Brazos Press, 2023.

For those hurt by their exposure to a religion, and for those who want to understand the thinking of people who want turn the United States into a Christian theocracy.

“(RNS) — Raised in an evangelical church she now describes as a “dumpster fire” of fundamentalist beliefs, Laura Anderson’s terror of hell kept her up at night as a 4-year-old. Her insomnia was less about hell itself and more about the fear of being separated from her family if Jesus came back. So she’d lie awake, picturing an image of Jesus dying on the cross, hoping it would guarantee salvation.
Decades later, long after her sleeping patterns had regulated, she suddenly suffered from severe insomnia again — this time after she’d come to reject the idea of hell.

“Because of the way I had embodied those messages about the consequences of going to hell, my body started to panic again, because I didn’t have this assurance of salvation,” Anderson explained to Religion News Service…

Anderson gives language for and insights about this under-researched form of trauma and invites readers to take part in the ongoing process of healing.” (from Religion News Service)

[thucythucy]

1. I had a similar experuience as a child.

My parents insisted I go to Sunday School and church, but never went themselves.

It was a conservative denomination that preached a lot of hellfire and brimstone.

I'd lay awake Sunday nights worried that my parents were going to Hell.

Not anything anyone should wish on a small child.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. I recommend The Atheist Experience

https://www.axp.show/

People call in and try to convince the hosts that God is real, the Bible is non-fiction, their particular version of religion is the only true one.

Absolutely fascinating.

Basically, the hosts will ask the caller to explain what they believe, and then point out the many fallacies involved. It's also interesting how many people are incapable of answering a simple question, even ones that clearly only require a "yes" or "no" answer.

Check it out.

[Zoomie1986]

3. My favorite moment from the show

The entire episode is a Christian talking about how immoral he is, LOL.

[Zoomie1986]

4. Oh--and my first step-dad

Was one of the people who helped come up with the idea for The Atheist Experience show, way back in the old cable-access era when Madelyn Murray O'Hair used to host it. He was living in Austin at the time, and had all kinds of fun with the local atheist activists.