godlessgrrl Posted December 17, 2005 Share Posted December 17, 2005 I hear ya, Gwen. I've been dealing with it off and on since jr. high. And I can tell you from hard, bitter experience that depression + fundyism = But of course, it was depression that lead me to xtianity to start with. If I had just found a good counselor I might not even be on this site. Yeah, good points both. I sometimes wonder if being depressed played a role in getting into xianity for me too. Although really I think it had more to do with the fact that I'd been shamed for being raped, and I was looking for a way to become "pure" again and get my family to like me. Didn't work. That was depressing. Frankly I'm surprised we don't hear more about people offing themselves because their religion was so damn hard on them. I firmly believe that letting a fundy anywhere near a depressed person is just asking for somebody's brains to end up splattered on the wall. Bad, bad, bad combo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-COG Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 I have a relative that has depression, it wasn't discovered until she and her husband had the kids taken away because of neglect. (They are Baptist fundies, by the way.) The grandparents now have the kids; they are also fundies--poor kids. I've suspected other family members of possibly having depression, all of them fundies or morbidly introspective. Does fundamentalism cause depression, or does depression lead one to fundamentalism? Or, to use the title of the thread (at the risk of being politically incorrect) does fundamentalism cause weakness, or are "weaklings" drawn to fundamentalism? I think some of both. If depression ("weakness") leads one to fundamentalism, why? What is the attraction of a negative, brow-beating belief system to someone already down in the dumps? Wouldn't you want something uplifting, positive, hopeful? Oh, yeah, Jesus was supposed to give you hope...right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taphophilia Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 I have a relative that has depression, it wasn't discovered until she and her husband had the kids taken away because of neglect. (They are Baptist fundies, by the way.) The grandparents now have the kids; they are also fundies--poor kids. I've suspected other family members of possibly having depression, all of them fundies or morbidly introspective. Does fundamentalism cause depression, or does depression lead one to fundamentalism? Or, to use the title of the thread (at the risk of being politically incorrect) does fundamentalism cause weakness, or are "weaklings" drawn to fundamentalism? I think some of both. If depression ("weakness") leads one to fundamentalism, why? What is the attraction of a negative, brow-beating belief system to someone already down in the dumps? Wouldn't you want something uplifting, positive, hopeful? Oh, yeah, Jesus was supposed to give you hope...right. I would think that depressives are drawn to fundyism. The people are searching for something meaningful. The people I was able to convert when I was fundy were emotionally insecure and looking for something meaningful in their lives. They didn't have self esteem to begin with and the "You're a worthless piece of shit and Jesus will make you better" was a huge draw. What I thought was interesting was taking my children to church. I had to take my kids to church when I moved near my parents. It was my mom's dream that we were one big happy for clapping Jesus family. I went out of respect for my mother until my kids begged me not to make them go anymore. My kids knew the basics of Christianity but had never heard all the other stuff. My kids had gone to a Unitarian Universalist church where most of the Congregation were Athiest or Agnostic. It was also a welcoming church, where they had many gay and transexual members. So, my kids understand that gay, transgendered, or straight is just the way people are. They would come home from the fundy church and complain about the crap they were being told and how ignorant and stupid it all was. "How in the world did you ever believe all this crap?" They would ask me. My daughter, who tends to be outspoken, was even kicked out of Sunday School class for being disruptive. She argued with the Sunday School teacher and asked her questions she couldn't answer. At the UU church, they were encouraged to ask questions and give their opinoin. In other words, they expected the kids to think and form their own opinoins. This doesn't go over well in a fundy church. Taph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigToe Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 I guess I'm opposite of the normal trend. When I started dealing with depression, I couldn't have given a crap about God or anything related to church. I stopped going. Too much singing and hokiness for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianka Posted December 21, 2005 Share Posted December 21, 2005 When I was a phony Christian, there was a lot going on in my life that, looking back, really added to my need for God. I decided to stop doing drugs, you know, to dry out. Since then, my friends that I began doing all that shit with pretty much ignored me, and there is a profound depression that creeps up on a person who stops doing drugs. Not immediately, but after a few months of sobriety, a lot of people descend into depression - it's a biological transition. Well right when I was in the midst of all of the shit, I started wondering about the ex-b/f's new-found faith. It was more about acceptence for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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