Trickle Down Theory Of Religion

[Guest Rabidtreeweasel]

I met my ex-husband at a very turbulent time in my life. I had recently left my evangelical-christian background of 22 years to try to define my beliefs. I'd heard that many people spend their college years doing just that, and so I devoted myself to serious study of world religion.

 

My christian background had weakened my bullshit seeking abilities. It left me willing to accept bizarre ideas as long as they did\'t interfere with the religion of my youth. So when the Mormon's knocked on my door, I was ready to believe them.

 

Christians become angry when I tell them that Mormonism isn't very different from their beliefs, but it's true. Mormon's just go one prophet further, and past that point it's not a huge leap if your critical thinking skills have already been damaged.

 

A year and a half after I joined the church I met my husband. He was a good Mormon and a recent convert. He'd been recently ordained into the priesthood, and as far as our beliefs went we seemed to have everything in common. Four months later we were married in a civil ceremony in our church.

 

To sum up the marriage, he was extremely abusive, both sexually and mentally. On the spiritual side, he actually helped me, albeit inadvertently. He refused to go to church, and he would not allow me to go alone because it made him "look bad."

 

Over the next two years of constant sleep deprivation and abhorrent living conditions, I gave a lot of thought to how I'd gotten into this predicament. Prayer. I'd prayed when I was child to be saved from my sins, and I felt saved. I was taught that feeling was the Holy Spirit. Then, I prayed about joining the Mormon church; same feeling. I prayed about marrying my husband and, you guessed it, I "received conformation".

 

The truth hit me on my home from work one day, and once I began connecting the dots I couldn't stop. I divorced my husband, and immediately began attending the church of my youth. I was wary of course, because I had no reason to trust God. I attended their Divorce Care class, and that was the last straw for me.

 

During my marriage I'd engaged in an on-line affair. We never met in person, but we'd send each-other loving notes, and I thought about stories I'd like to share with her, and ideas I wanted her feedback on. I was told that, because of my technical infidelity, I had no right to divorce my husband.

 

Apparently, this 'god' of theirs wanted me to return to my abusive husband and 'submit' myself. I could not align myself with a god who felt that way about women's rights, and at that point I became an agnostic.

 

A few months later, after reading Sam Harris, Dawkins, and Hitchens, I came to the realization that I was, in fact, an atheist. This frightened me at first. What was left in my life if God was out of the picture? Well, I've found a lot of meaning in living a life free of the shackles of religion.

 

I've now become a member of the ACA (a nominal membership), I've made lots of wonderful friends, I've gone back to school. I'm not afraid of studying science now, or world history, because it doesn't interfere with my foolish beliefs.

 

It's not easy. In fact, it's damn hard, but it's worth it. Some days, I miss the crutch of religion, but I work through the problem, and I become stronger. Something that was robbed from me by religion for far too long.

[babysealclubber]

Quite a story.

 

I know a man who converted from christianity to mormonism, I suppose it really is just a small step, but it has always struck me as odd. It would seem like the typical christian defense mechanisms would kick in when presented with a new religious idea, but I guess that's not always true.

 

I hope that you continue to find strength in your un-belief, it was very frightening for me at first too.

 

Welcome!

[pitchu]

Welcome to the forums, Rabidtreeweasel.

 

There are other ex-Mormons here, and I'm sure you'll bump into them.

 

I'm so glad you found your way out of your situation with nothing but your good mind to guide you!

[Guest Rabidtreeweasel]

It would seem like the typical christian defense mechanisms would kick in when presented with a new religious idea, but I guess that's not always true.

 

I've given this a lot of thought, and I've realized that when I converted to mormonism, what I was really doing was becoming an agnostic. Experiencing both the mormons and the fundie christians opened my eyes to the commonalities among the world religions. From there it was really only a quick hop to atheism.

[Guest QuidEstCaritas?]

It would seem like the typical christian defense mechanisms would kick in when presented with a new religious idea, but I guess that's not always true.

 

I've given this a lot of thought, and I've realized that when I converted to mormonism, what I was really doing was becoming an agnostic. Experiencing both the mormons and the fundie christians opened my eyes to the commonalities among the world religions. From there it was really only a quick hop to atheism.

 

 

Mormons and fundy christians are much the same. I agree with that assessment.

[Trike]

Welcome! You have an intense story and I am very glad to hear that you have left those abusive situations behind. I too was frightened when I first realized that I was an atheist (before that I had been trying my darndest to be a liberal Christian and failing miserably b/c I didn't buy any of it) because I had been trained since birth to see atheists as inherently evil and foolish. But once I owned to fact of what I believed, or rather didn't believe, I found a lot of meaning and pleasure in my life, like you did, even though it was quite hard at times.

[Guest Rabidtreeweasel]

I was surfing online, and found a promotional video clip for my old church.

 

 

In the clip, the man speaking refers to high school students participating in the ministry, but it started for me in middle school.

 

Here's the basic over view that they don't really give you in the video. At the beginning of the summer, you are shipped off to a retreat in the woods with the other teenagers. There, they divide you into groups, and you spend two to three weeks learning how to indoctrinate other people. There are training exercises, in which you have to memorize a proselytizing script, and are graded by your group leader. You are programmed to answer common questions with specific verses or phrases. When you are done with your training, you are sent to Waco for further training, or "test runs." You spend a little over a week there, doing additional training, and practicing this training in playgrounds and apartment complexes. As a child, you go door to door, inviting people to your Bible club. To illustrate the dangers, the second year we were there, a group of our attendees stole our equipment while we were giving the presentation.

 

Also, the first year that we went to Waco, we were put through an experiment. We were divided into two groups, "Rich" and "Poor." In these groups, we were given specific foods, aloud to wear certain clothing, given cards for shower allotment, and had our sleep restricted. The Poor people ate beans and rice and had their belongings taken from them for the majority of our stay. Meanwhile, we were still expected to perform our ministry.

 

After we were done in Waco, we came back to Austin to teach the official Bible clubs. This lasts for a week, with a huge festival at the end of the week. The purpose of the Bible clubs is clear. It is intended to indoctrinate the children attending, and to convince them to "give their lives over to Christ" or to recover from "backsliding." All of the intense training we went through was meant to firmly indoctrinate us first, so that we could be more convincing.

 

After all of this, we had an additional mission trip to Juarez, Mexico. We slept in sleeping bags on the floor of a church. We had one shower for over 80 women, so we had a three minute time limit for the bathroom. Many of us wound up washing our hair or shaving with the hose in the courtyard. The courtyard, by the way, is where all of the males slept. Outside. The teenage kids. In the mornings, the women would teach the Bible clubs at local churches, while the boys would play soccer with local kids. In the evenings, we went to the parks, where we would wander around witnessing and passing out tracts. One year that we went, instead of passing out tracts and teaching Bible Clubs, we were put to work rebuilding the local churches. We used power tools, laid in cement and tiles, re-tiled roofs, spackled. You name it, we did it, without any training or supervision. A bunch of kids got sick that summer.

 

At the end of the summer there was a retreat to Panama Beach Florida. Everyone was invited, but if you had participated in the Great Adventure, you got to go for free. Of course, this was after you'd shelled out hundreds of dollars for the initial training. The retreat in Florida was, of course, focused on bringing people to Jesus. It was your standard youth retreat. Then, after the retreat was over, it was back to school.

 

The purpose of HCBC's summer program is to indoctrinate new people, and to keep the already brain washed individuals away from outside influence, and to repair any damage to their mental barriers which may have occurred during the school year.

 

So all of those happy, cheering kids in the video, must be so fucked in the head at this point that they can't see straight. All of the "fun" they are having is designed to keep them complacent. What they don't show in the video is the haranguing they're receiving from the ministers, the lack of sleep, the inadequate food, or the dangerous conditions they live in once they're out of town.

 

This is their ministry to the world. To bring more people into their church, to get more money from those people, to send them out to get more people to make more money, to build more church plants, to house more people, to send more people out, to bring more people in, to make more money. This reminds me of something L. Ron Hubbard once said. I'm paraphrasing. "Make money. Make more money. Get more people to make more money."

 

What a crock.

[noob]

Rabidtreeweasel - welcome! Just reading about what was involved in the ministry made me feel sick. I’m not going to watch the video. I am so happy that you managed to get away from that situation. And even though you say you occasionally miss the crutch, I’m happy that you can say:

 

Well, I've found a lot of meaning in living a life free of the shackles of religion.

 

Good luck to you. I hope you continue to enjoy your freedom!!!