The Nightmare Of Christianity

[Mriana]

The Nightmare of Christianity: How Religious Indoctrination Led to Murder

 

It would seem, on the first page alone, Alternet is making Ex-C's look bad, due to something this man Matthew Murray did. Of course, Alternet isn't making the Pentecostals look very good either. While they are telling the truth about many Pentecostals, what they are not saying is that not all Ex-C's are deranged. However, I can't say that what they are saying does not support my hypothesis concerning religious extremism at least contributes to mental illness.

 

On an online chat room for former Pentecostals, Murray heaped contempt on his mother, Loretta, a physical therapist who homeschooled him to ensure that his contact with the outside world was severely limited.

 

They quoted what he said from said site, which I am not sure is helpful or hurtful towards Murray and other ex-C's. However, they paint a pretty good picture of the Religious Right though, in which to show how it contributed to his mental problems. All of that is just the first page.

 

Second page they make a note that supports my hypothesis of religious extremism at least contributing to mental illness:

 

(Oral Roberts's other son, Ronnie, was a cocaine-addicted closet homosexual who committed suicide in 1982)

 

They still don't look very good with this:

 

Two years later, Murray raged at two YWAM administrators during a Pentecostal conference his mother had dragged him to attend. The shocked staffers promptly warned Loretta Murray that her son "wasn't walking with the Lord and could be planning violence." Within days, an ornery local pastor was allowed to burst into the young Murray's room, rifle through his belongings, and leave with a satchel full of secular DVDs and CDs--apparent evidence of his depravity. Murray's mother searched his room for satanic material every day afterward for three months, stripping him of his privacy and whatever was left of his love for her. After the trauma-inducing raids, in which Murray estimated his mother and her friends destroyed $900 worth of his property, he concluded, "Christianity is one big lie."

 

First they say he's "not walking with the Lord and could be planning violence" and they do something that can potentially p*** off anyone, though not necessarily to the point of violence though. Irate anger yes, but not violence.

 

For two years Murray attended ceremonies of Crowley's mock-religious order, Ordo Templi Orientis, following in the footsteps of famous Crowley followers such as Scientology cult founder L. Ron Hubbard and Jack Parsons, the eccentric rocket fuel inventor who prayed to the Greek god Pan after each successful launch. "This man is like the antidote to what I was raised in," Murray wrote of his new hero Crowley.

 

No, the antidote is someone like Marlene or Valerie- a psychologist, maybe even a psychiatrist. Yep, folks! We are talking wacky city here- Wackos raising wackos worse than they are and needing some SERIOUS psychological help.

 

Murray had been indoctrinated so thoroughly into charismatic Pentecostal culture, however, that even while he railed against his religious upbringing, he could not abandon his ingrained attraction to religiosity. So instead of fleeing hardcore Christian culture for secular humanism, a natural position for jaded skeptics like him, he traded his former faith for Crowley's occultism.

 

Out of the frying pan and into the pot.

 

Oh.... Marlene did hear about his case.... And sadly this case is starting to come back to me too via a YouTube video or something I saw. Shall I tiptoe a way now or continue?

 

I find it amazing that people think those who are in the health care field only do it for the money. He might have had a chance if he accepted the offer to help. However, I have this terrible feeling that his case might have been beyond treatment outside of a hospital.

 

Folks please, if you get this bad:

 

Murray's desire to realize his emotional and intellectual aspirations had become completely blocked. His self-esteem and sense of spontaneity evaporated into a heavy cloud of hopelessness. At the same time, his destructive impulses grew. The self-described "rejected sheltered Christian boy" openly contemplated suicide, cutting his arms with sharp objects when his anxiety seemed unbearable.

 

Check yourself into a freaking hospital. I'm not joking. I'm serious! At the very least talk to someone. Anyone, who is rational enough to help you. However, this goes right back to what I said about accepting offers to help- sooner is better. His story goes frighteningly downhill after that, into a literal nightmare.

 

Thus my rant has changed slightly into wishing people would get help sooner for the things that trouble them before they have thoughts of suicide and/or murder.

 

And people like this Sanchez man need to QUIT! They have no idea!

 

When Sanchez interviewed Marlene Winell, the psychiatrist who attempted to counsel Murray, her attempts to assess the impact that Murray's religious indoctrination had had in shaping his destructive behavior were brushed aside.

 

During the brief moments in which Sanchez allowed Winell to speak, she attempted to explain the obvious, that Murray's destructive actions were influenced at least in part by what she called "a crazy-making system that has all sorts of circular reasoning. It's got bottom line rules like, 'Don't think, don't respect your own feelings in any way.' Small children are told they're going to burn in Hell. And if it doesn't work for you...[you are told that] it's your fault."

 

Sanchez crinkled his brow in deep indignation. Finally, he cut in on his guest. "While I disagree with much of what you said as a Christian," he snapped at Winell, "I certainly respect your right to say it." Sanchez suddenly became exasperated. "You're not blaming the faith for this, are you?" he wanted to know. "I mean a man has free will!" Before Winell could respond, Sanchez terminated the interview.

 

People like Sanchez need to sit down, shut up, and above ALL listen! Maybe a good education might not hurt either. It is people like him who impede people from getting the help they need by defending such religious ideology. They might even want to take a good look in the mirror at themselves too while they are at it. They might need a little psychological help to, for all they know.

 

By failing to explore the roots of Murray's violence, the mainstream media allowed the far right to seize the narrative.

 

They blamed the victim, of course. Isn't that just like the Religious Reich. Guess they condemned those who tried to help too? Bottom line, the Religious Reich contributed to Murray's mental illness and did not help him in the slightest. At the same time, Murray refused help, which was his mistake, but at the same time, he might have been too far gone to think rationally. Who knows, but it is sad he did not accept the offer to help him.

 

And they say those with degrees in psychology are the worst patients. Sometimes I wonder. It could very well be a stereotype with no truth in it whatsoever. I just hope people here take any offers to help or seek help if they get anywhere near this bad emotionally.

[OpheliaGinger]

Is it odd that as I was reading this I kept hearing The Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson?

[Mriana]

Any song that has meaning to you is not unusual. I've not heard that song before and am not sure what he's saying. The song sounds a bit creepy. Lyrics anywhere?

 

Never mind. My son is pulling up the lyrics on his comp for me.

 

Well... I can't say Fundamngelicals are very nice people, but as human beings.... I don't hate them. By the same token some people do have an inner beauty that shines through their behaviour. Of course, people who are sick and hurting...