#religious trauma cw

[ophanim-vesper]

A short-ish fancomic poem thing about my hc for Zelda

(best read from left to right)

[robotgirlfoxears]

hot take: maybe making kids afraid of going to hell is bad for their mental health and development

[chelledoggo]

i feel like there aren't nearly enough resources for people who leave a high-controlling religious environment and still want to seek God/spirituality in their own way without the toxicity of their previous religion.

most of the stuff out there is "your new life without God," "leaving God behind," etc...

people act like the natural next step from leaving a controlling religion is staunch atheism.

that might be the most common outcome, considering the trauma associated with God that such an upbringing can result in. and if that's the path you choose, that's perfectly valid. you process your trauma however you need to, as long as you're not hurting anyone.

but it's not the only possible outcome, and it doesn't work for everyone.

some people still feel the need to seek spirituality and feel as though they're not alone on a cosmic scale. (i'm one of those people.)

i feel like people fail to acknowledge this sometimes.

[lucyfrostblade]

an aspect of the bobby dawn and sandra lynn grooming situation i haven't seen discussed is that, at least how it's presented in Freshman Year (I'm rewatching it rn so it's fresh in my mind), the church of Helio/Sol isn't very welcoming to non-humans. Kristen lived in a human neighborhood in a very not human town, and her parents don't seem to have met a lot of elves, let alone the other species of spyre. highcourt from what i can tell is a largely human theocratic nation.

sure helio and sol work with galicaea but that partnership isn't felt in how their worshippers act. it's very seperate spheres of influence, the high elves for galicaea and humans for helio/sol.

sandra lynn was a recent high school dropout, taken in by an older and more experienced adventuring party that was led by a man very devoted a religion that is human centric. it adds another lay of vulnerability to sandra lynn, another point for bobby dawn to pick at until she was under his thumb and another way for him to cast her aside. she's an elf to be saved by sol until she's the elven temptress to cast excommunicated when they are caught.

[charlattehotte]

catholicism is wild like it can be so traumatic to be raised in that church but. its fine. like its not actually cult or anything so its fine. i barely remember being taught the bible but it still dug under my skin and dictates most of my life over a decade later but like. whatever. its fine

[grislyintentions]

[There is something ironic about how adamantly resistant I was against being made to embrace religion as a kid, only to turn around and study buddhist teachings for Yaoshi and an OC who pretty much runs a cult. Like…damn ig religion found me anyways 💀]

[ojibwa]

[transmate]

thoughts on a devout worshipper who, despite their faith, still believe themselves to be a depraved sinner, their troubled thoughts leading them to cling onto you to cleanse them

still chasing after me, are you…?

so, it’s true. you truly believe i’m your only chance at reaching divinity?

ha, as faithful as you may lead others to believe you are… i know every single vice that still taints your heart.

look at you. look at you, on your knees before me like a lamb begging to be placed on the altar…

you may rejoice yet, my sweet lamb… god won’t answer you, but you have me in his stead. show me the extent of your sins, and open up that pretty mouth for me. let every swipe of your tongue, every whimper and shallow breath be a prayer. allow my holy body to purify you as you swallow your sacrament whole.

[harzeke]

disventure camp canon divergent AU stuff based on a drawing i did recently

i am debating writing a fanfiction about Connor and fiore bonding in the motel of losers during all stars. connor tries to empathize with her (unlike the rest of the cast) because he’s the only one who really recognizes her as a child who has problems as opposed to an equal footed competitor and fiore feels patronized but also lowkey enjoys having someone try to fill a caring parental role in her life in a way that doesn’t feel conditional (like it might have with alec)

Fiore at first berates him and throws things at him and insults him and tries to get under his skin but Connor knows she is lashing out so she can be alone again. She’s struggling with the fact she will probably have to go back to Catholic boarding school after the show is over and she has no real family to go home to. The only person she had any modicum of emotional attachment to tried very hard to burn that bridge in the S1 finale.

And then she gets a letter that her mother has died.

She is constantly having mental breakdowns alone in her room and her catholic upbringing starts bleeding through like crazy. She doesn’t know how to cope with losing her closest relative even though her mom despised and neglected her. Connor empathizes with her as someone who’s mother has already passed (from old age) so he really doubles down on trying to be there for her even if she continues to insist that her mother means nothing to her at all.

Fiore ends up becoming used to and even enjoying connors company even if she still calls him an old bleeding heart loser and pokes fun at his (very obvious) crush on alec. She has a guilty pleasure for fiction novels so he buys her some. She starts waiting for him to sit with her at breakfast before she eats. At one point she comes to his door in the middle of the night just so she can say thank you without anyone hearing (and then she runs away, extremely embarrassed). She’s starting to act like a kid again :’)

(Spoilers Connor ends up adopting her. He helps alec and fiore slowly rekindle their bond and Alec starts yearning for him painfully without his knowledge because connor is a stupid old man. Fiore uses her evil child powers for good and plays matchmaker to get them together because she wants to repay Connor for the kindness he’s showed her even if she’s still lowkey mad at Alec. Happy ever after ok)

[tommyssupercoolblog]

Person With Religious Trauma X Person Who Has No Idea What The Hell They're Talking About

(this is me and Seán BTW)

--------

Person A: "Aren't you ever scared that when you think something bad God's just gonna like...kill your loved ones?"

Person B: "am I WHAT????"

--------

Person A: "Sorry I keep apologizing"

Person B: "you're fine!"

Person A: "yeah, thanks, sorry."

Person B: "??"

Person A: "shitsorry- augh- it's just like, I just feel, bad all the time you know? Since I was taught I'm like, bad inherently and have to work to redeem myself. All of us being made in sin and all that. It's like, your default state, being bad?? So I just always FEEL bad."

Person B: "Babe....what the FUCK."

-------

Person A: "do you ever worry you're like, wrong about your beliefs?? Gonna go to hell or something??"

Person B: "nope!"

Person A: "shit, FOR REAL????"

[carnivorousyandeere]

A cold, bright, sterile, uniform, unfeeling version of Heaven. The piercing light and constant fluorescent hum of halos grating against your all-too human nerves like sandpaper to your skin, like nails on a chalkboard to your ears. You had not been made holy, not been purified like other humans before being brought up on high. Your angelic captors seemed… not delighted, for singing and dancing were reserved only for the highest occasions, and such strong emotion was absent from the suprahuman beings. Satisfied, maybe. Maybe they were satisfied at watching you struggle in all your imperfection. A lowly being of flesh and blood trying and failing to excise your sins— no, pieces of yourself— to emulate the perfection they so naturally exuded. Self-flagellation, asceticism, starvation of the highest order. You felt your own existence as a stain upon the whitewashed walls of Heaven. They spoke of all-consuming love (as much as telepathic images burned into the back of your mind can be considered “speech”). Surely, you felt consumed by their “love.”

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

Finally someone with good takes about hermes 😭 he makes me want to eat drywall

GOD SAME. GOD SAME. GOD SAME. IT'S A WAR ZONE OUT THERE I AM GRIPPING YOUR ARMS. i am chewing table legs about him i am kissing his face i am having a long firm talk with him over tea i am fistfighting him i am feeding him apples. i am showing him that one post where op listed every single bird in the entire world. i am showing him pictures of potoos

he is a soaking wet Long Autism Creature and he is so painfully relatable in SO many ways jesus fucking christ where do i even begin. for one thing every time someone's like 'he was just pre-judging people and shoving away their attempts to connect with him, it's his fault he was depressed and had no support system to deal with it!!!' i'm just like man i'm so glad for you that you've never been traumatized by questioning an evangelical community you're in. i really am. shut the fuck up

(which is something i have just. so many feelings about. it honestly means a lot to me to see that dynamic represented with such devastating accuracy by something that isn't an obvious fantasy expy of christianity. this is a pattern of abuse that happens under the right circumstances because people are people, it's not unique to a certain set of social trappings or even a specific overall belief system, and it makes me feel seen in a way that most narratives about this kind of thing just don't.)

ANYWAY THANK YOU AND I AM SO GLAD YOU ENJOY MY META ABOUT HIM BECAUSE BOY DO I HAVE MORE. People Who Understand That 'Hermes is a School Shooter' is an Absolutely God Fucking Awful Take of the World Unite

[aro-culture-is]

TW: Religious trauma

Aro (raised in purist culture) culture is forever feeling dirty or sinful for preferring sex without romance and believing fwb is the ideal relationship

.

[criitterbug]

NEW STORY IDEA. i don't have an actual name for the story yet there's religious themes and digital horror :o)

[yardsards]

i think one of the most evil aspects of fundamentalist evangelical christianity is how it (and the general culture of those who follow it) encourages parents to treat children

first off, it treats having children as something EVERYONE should do, regardless of if they actually want and are capable of raising said children. in more extreme cases you get shit like the quiverfull movement, wherein couples are encouraged to have as many children as physically possible

and then, those children are referred to like they're their parents possessions, like they are just objects their parents were "gifted" with by god. they're not treated like their own human beings.

AND a core tenet of their religion is that humans are born inherently sinful. they think newborns, who can't even fully control their bodily functions yet, are automatically full of sin. an infant's crying for its basic needs to be met is seen as a sign of their inherent selfishness

a parents' main goal is supposed to be to "purify" that child's soul by any means necessary, the child's actual wellbeing is secondary to "saving their soul"

and, of course, free thought is discouraged in favour of obedience. they believe in a hierarchy: child < wife < husband < god. if you are to disobey the one above you, then you are considered to be disobeying god himself- even if the thing your parent or husband is commanding you not to do is not a sin in of itself. "honor thy father and thy mother"

and again, parents are taught that the best trait for a child to have is *obedience*. obedient to their parents and obedient to the church and scripture

parents are taught to force that obedience by corporal punishment. physical abuse (and yes. "spanking" is abuse. if you disagree then, well, i'm sorry that someone convinced you that raising a hand against someone so much smaller and weaker than you is anything short of abusive) is ENCOURAGED

in fact, if you DON'T hit your kids, you are seen as A BAD PARENT, who is failing to properly "train" their child, and who is dooming their child to a life of wickedness, sin, and suffering ("he who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." or, put more simply, "spare the rod spoil the child")

parents are told to ignore their own despair and revulsion towards the idea of harming their child, and to hit them anyway. hit the kid and ignore the voice in your head that says hitting kids is wrong. remind yourself that this is for the child's own good. remind yourself that this is god's will.

you're also supposed to remind the child that you are hurting them for their own good, because god commands it. teach them that people hurting them is a good thing.

and many suggest that after you beat them, give your child comfort (comfort from the distress caused by being beaten by you, who is supposed to protect them from harm) and to give them affection (to drive home the point that hurting them is how you show love). which, if you know about the cycle of abusive relationships (tension, violent incident, reconciliation, calm) then you can see how this is pretty much a mirror image of that

it's fucking evil

look up the book "to train up a child" if you want to see this taken to the extreme. even many fundamentalists thing the methodology is too extreme, but they generally agree with the ideology/principles behind it

[coriander-candlesticks]

Not my grandpa pulling the "your Heavenly Parents love you" card right after we talked about...so many things not related to theology.

To be fair, he'd been talking about the struggles a couple relatives had had with their faith before then, but. Not appreciated. I wasn't expecting it (though I should have) so I wasn't prepared to give a "well I'm going my own, private path" response (I am NOT ready to tell family members about exploring polytheism and I don't have a way to leave if it goes poorly until my flight Sunday morning.

I was able to stop the conversation eventually but. Oh boy.