I didn't learn about the Holocaust until my early teens. I grew up in Indiana attending a Methodist church. Because my school, my church, and my parents didn't share this soul-shattering reality with me, I lost faith and confidence with all of these, but in particular, I lost faith in the church. In one instant, I went from being a committed church-goer who believed wholeheartedly in God to a skeptic with no firm ground under me. It was an emotional experience more than an intellectual one. I was taught that God was good and that religious people were good. If that was true, how did God, Christians, and the church let the Holocaust happen?
Your thoughts about how learning that college was not full of people who wanted to attack you for your Christianity led to your understanding that you'd been lied to was what reminded me of this moment in my life.
The last sentence especially struck a chord with me. Supposedly Christ's love is unconditional, but Christians' love is strictly conditional. At least the American Bible Belt's interpretation of it
I forgot Grave Robber existed. You should really do some more research on the Jesus Freaks movement. I think the dude who led that ended up being a big time abuser of children. Careful though you might end up going down the rabbit hole and find out how much of Christian media and organizations are all an extension of the eugenics movement.
Interesting. I recently picked up a book from HPB called “hippies of the religious right” but I haven’t read it yet. I wonder if that has some of the stuff you’re talking about in it.
"Evangelical martyrdom fetish" - oof, spot on. My old church trained us to be straight up confrontational when it came to sharing our beliefs, but then of course we were the victims when people pushed back. It's such a bummer to think about.
I didn't learn about the Holocaust until my early teens. I grew up in Indiana attending a Methodist church. Because my school, my church, and my parents didn't share this soul-shattering reality with me, I lost faith and confidence with all of these, but in particular, I lost faith in the church. In one instant, I went from being a committed church-goer who believed wholeheartedly in God to a skeptic with no firm ground under me. It was an emotional experience more than an intellectual one. I was taught that God was good and that religious people were good. If that was true, how did God, Christians, and the church let the Holocaust happen?
Thanks for sharing! I agree that deconstructing can be both an emotional and/or intellectual experience. It was a little bit of both for me.
Your thoughts about how learning that college was not full of people who wanted to attack you for your Christianity led to your understanding that you'd been lied to was what reminded me of this moment in my life.
The last sentence especially struck a chord with me. Supposedly Christ's love is unconditional, but Christians' love is strictly conditional. At least the American Bible Belt's interpretation of it
I forgot Grave Robber existed. You should really do some more research on the Jesus Freaks movement. I think the dude who led that ended up being a big time abuser of children. Careful though you might end up going down the rabbit hole and find out how much of Christian media and organizations are all an extension of the eugenics movement.
Interesting. I recently picked up a book from HPB called “hippies of the religious right” but I haven’t read it yet. I wonder if that has some of the stuff you’re talking about in it.
"Evangelical martyrdom fetish" - oof, spot on. My old church trained us to be straight up confrontational when it came to sharing our beliefs, but then of course we were the victims when people pushed back. It's such a bummer to think about.
Yep, that tracks with my experience as well