When Religion Leads to Trauma

I am an ordained minister, clinical traumatologist, and board certified chaplain, or spiritual care provider. When someone is traumatized, the part of the brain responsible for spirituality goes off-line. At that point, the person is less and least responsive to spiritual interventions, including the spiritual disciplines. When a person is spiritually inert or deactivated, religious practices are fare less meaningful. All spiritual care providers across the spectrum of spiritual care are called to assess spiritual problem/distress, and then engage the person through individual and group interventions to discharge the deleterious energy so spiritual functioning can come back online. Churches and other faith-based institutions traumatize adherents because the people within, especially the leaders, are dealing with their own undiagnosed and unresolved trauma, addictions, and intimacy issues. All traumatized people can find the help they need in order to return to optimal functioning to live better lives, and to stop harming others. Green Cross Academy of Traumatology (www.greencross.org) is here to help anyone across the spectrum to understand all forms of trauma and insults to human dignity, and what can be done to heal, restore, support, and recover.

Religious Trauma is real and hurting more people then we imagine. Helping to understand and heal from this challenge is the aim of the Conference On Religious Trauma being held in April 2020 in Vancouver. www.CORT2020.com

1 Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." So many people depend on THEIR feelings and experiences to determine what is Right and what is Truth. Instead, it would be best to go directly to the Source of Truth to discern It.

Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) are carefully taught by the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (Watchtower) that it is their God-given responsibility to expose religious error, falsehood, and hypocrisy wherever it is found; in fact, one's eternal salvation is said to depend on one fulfilling such responsibility, based on Watchtower interpretation of Ezekiel 3:17-21. However, any exemplary JW who points out unscriptural Watchtower teachings and practices is subject to ostracism, disfellowshipping and shunning by one's family and friends who choose loyalty to an organization over loyalty to God and to Bible truth. Such shunning is based on a gross misapplication of 1 Corinthians 5:11 and 2 John 9-11.

I love that there are religious organizations like First Corinthian Baptist and counseling centers like Hope Center that provide this service. Many people will find their recovery from religious trauma within religion, but the reality is that the root of what causes religious trauma is present in all of Christianity. Some groups just choose to minimize it or overlook it. Central to Christianity, however, is the teaching that you are not okay, are destined for hell, and need a relationship with Jesus to save you. This, by itself, is a harmful teaching, which is why 2 1/2 years ago I started Life After God to help people who are leaving their abuse religious context. Many will not be able to find healing in the same teaching that caused the abuse.

The Unity Christian church is a haven for people who have suffered from religious abuse. This church teaches that God is the creative life force that undergirds all life and expresses through and as each one of us. We are spiritual beings having a human experience; unique, loved, and channels of Divine love into the world (if we allow it). The Bible, when understood as an attempt of ancient people to explain this deeper truth and not as the literal word of a distant and punishing God, becomes a supportive and life-affirming source of spiritual wisdom.

The Roman Catholic Church, in which I was raised, teaches that a punishing god (an invisible spirit) sees all people at every moment and even reads their minds. At about age seven, Catholic children are made to enter a dark box and confess to a shadowed man their “sins”, which could be any number of the “mortal” and “venial” varieties. The emotional manipulation of children in this manner is harmful and disgraceful, and can last a lifetime. I finally had the courage at age 34 to leave the Catholic Church. The relief I felt on that day was extraordinary.

As this article focuses on churches, and therefore, Christianity, let's remember that Jesus wasn't a Christian. He was a human being who achieved spiritual liberation and enlightenment through an inner practice that freed him from worldly constraints. He didn't worship in a grand church. We all have the same spiritual capacity needed to live compassionately with each other.

There are anti-vaccination people, obsessive exercisers, compulsive plastic surgery seekers, excessive vitamin consumers, hoarders, video game addicts, evangelists, Scientologists, whirling dervishes, Catholics and many more of us who believe that if a little of something is good, lots more is great. The brain wants what the brain wants because it churns out hormones that make us feel good and reinforce the desire for more stimuli.

To paraphrase a Rev. James Martin.....If religions discriminate and ban those who are Gay from receiving the sacraments because they are not in sync with what the Bible/Church teaches then they must do the same with those who are divorced and remarried, have children out of wedlock, those who live together before marriage as well as those using birth control. For those are all against church teaching as well. Moreover, they must ban anyone who does not care for the poor, or the environment, and anyone who supports torture, for those are church teachings too. Most importanly, they must ban people who are not loving, not forgiving and not merciful, for these represent the teachings of Jesus, the most fundamental of all church teachings.

The Bible specifically states we are all sinners. In fact, Jesus suffered on the cross due to mankind's sin. For someone to say we are not sinners is certainly not Biblical. Of course, if you don't believe in the Bible you can do and can be anything you want. My guess is God would not leave us without Him advising us as to how we should conduct our lives. Therefore, the Bible. The Bible has many messages within it. I would suggest reading it and you might find we are forgiven for our sins if we love Jesus. This goes well beyond what this story gets involved in.

For people interested in such damage from religion, I recommend reading "Putting God Second: How to Save Religion From Itself" by Donniel Hartman. Hartman, an orthodox rabbi, argues that along with their benefits, all monotheistic religions have an underlying "autoimmune disease" that needs to be recognized and cured. Taking Judaism as his example, he makes the case that religions lead us astray if leaders and people do not put the welfare of people above what seems to be coming from God. Really thought-provoking and easy to read.

Evangelicals and Fundamentalists usually insist that personal redemption and the individual's relationship to God and Jesus is the only way to salvation. The burden and fault of sin rests on the person who must reform and be reborn. The stress and trauma is intrinsic to the dictates of the teachings.

Religious ideas, like all ideas, should stand up to scrutiny, questioning, and morality. And Jesus was extremely clear about what was and was not moral: Cruelty to others is immoral regardless of the context, love and kindness to others is moral regardless of the context. When I see people professing themselves to be Christians and sinless so they can give themselves the right to cast the first stone, I am quite certain they've missed the point. Of course, cruelty in the name of religion isn't limited to Christianity by any means, but Christianity is the religion that's popular enough and gained enough political force that some Christians believe they ought to be allowed to be cruel when it pleases them.

"When religion leads to trauma?" Please tell me when religion has ever NOT lead to trauma. It's far past time we thinking humans in the first world shake off the silly oppression of mythical times, following the shaman to pray to his mystical fairy forces, which only empower lunatics to demand to make life and death decisions for others. No good has ever come of religion.

We are spiritual Beings, gifted with this human experience of constant miracles. Our challenge, our opportunity, is to relish our human existence (including the painful parts) while constantly striving to return to and Be within our spiritual Source. It's so stunningly rigorous to remain Awake to this miracle - and to do so every single moment. Religion can be a guide to The Path as long as we remember that it is, in fact, just a guide, not the destination. Kudos to the ministries in this article who seem to embrace their mission to provide that loving guidance. "God is too big for just one religion." - Michael Franti

Weaponized scripture is destroying a lot more than psyche...it’s destroying our country.

Years ago, when I was a practicing psychotherapist, I specialized in working with former fundamentalists. What differentiates fundamentalism from spirituality is that the former is a closed system that uses psychological splitting to elevate the saved from the unsaved. It advocates evacuating the "bad" and projecting it out onto others, so that the "good" can be kept within the system and defined by it. Also, within fundamentalism there's really no room for doubt. Doubt is turned in on the believer -- he/she is typically viewed as being weak in the faith. One can never legitimately leave fundamentalism; you can't mature and move on with the church's blessing. Instead, you're seen as "fallen" or lost, even if your own personal experience is quite the opposite.

It's disconcerting that this article spends most of its length presenting religion as the primary solution for the problem of religion.

Material can be seen philosophically as the satisfaction of an existential need. Beliefs satisfy an existential need, therefore they are material. Mysteries are at the heart of any belief system (religious or political). Science is in the business of making measurements of anything that can be measured, but mysteries are not measureable, and can thus seem immeasureable to the believers. The apparently limitless power of the mysteries is the material satisfaction given to the believers needs. Substituting material satisfactions for existential needs is being in the state of sin.

“Jesus just gave two commandments to the faithful,” he observed, “to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself." Hmmm. Maybe people treat their neighbors so badly because of how they feel about themselves.

Religion is what guides most Christians, not the teachings of Jesus. I even have read and heard people quote Paul in the Bible but state that his words were the words of Jesus. The Master Mind Jesus actually rejected religion and the pain and suffering inflicted by religion in this article is part of the reason. Love one another … that is the Love and Law of G-d simply stated. And we don't do that and so we see the effects of this violation of a universal law just about everywhere.

Some? I would argue most. I stopped going to church because I got tired of being a hypocrite. And that is from a straight white man. Who looks the idealized part of a member of the faith. Sex outside of wedlock can indeed both be safe and fun. Drinking alcohol or coffee are not crimes against an almighty being and do not make you less worthy of love. LGTB people are not hurting anyone, including themselves. You do not need to give 10% of you income to a billion dollar corporation in order to be worthy of God's greatest blessings. Seriously folks. While religion does do some good, it is also primarily about control and submitting yourself to human authority who claims to have a specially ability to communicate with the almighty. If God exists I am pretty sure God cares about little else other than how you treat people, including yourself. But don't take my word for it, after all I am just a man and any power I do or do not have to talk to God you surely possess as well.

I only have to open a bible and start reading to feel traumatized.

Let's not forget about the harm done by churches that perpetrate the obligation to beat children into submission.

The Hebrew Bible’s choice between life and death is understood in the Christian Bible as the choice between life and eternal life.

I was raised as a Roman Catholic. When I was 6, at my first communion, a nun slapped me as I entered the chidren's pew because my veil, a pearl tiara, didn't completely cover the top of my head. My mother chewed her out, but that was the beginning of the end for me. When I was nine, my teacher explained that the Native American tribes (we called them Indians) that we were studying were all pagans, sinful and burning in hell. That did it. I told my mother that I was an atheist. The values taught by Jesus -- love your neighbor, don't be greedy, respect yourself -- are also embedded in other religions. Those are the core beliefs than create a satisfying, productive life. The rest is about power and privilege. Click on "Ignore."

Speaking as a nonbinary atheist: Yes, but ... a great many natural human desires are, in fact, evil. This, you cannot help. You can choose and control only your actions. Not your emotions. The Abrahamic religions are thus built on an impossibility: God orders, love Me or else. Jesus upped the ante, not only demanding that you love your neighbour and your enemy, but adding that lust in your heart, even if you don't act on it, equals adulterous action. A formula for pervasive, irremediable self-hatred and guilt. Though I don't subscribe to Catholic teaching that homosexual acts are per se wrong, I do think the Church makes a good distinction between inclination and action. Similarly, you may not be able to stop hating someone -- some people are not worthy of love, in fact should be hated -- but you can decide not to punch that person in the face, however badly you think he needs a good wallop. Religion serves many purposes. One is to provide comfort and support, but another is to provide a moral and ethical creed. A religion is not required to bend its teachings to your comfort; in fact, any of the going creeds, taken seriously, will make an imperfect and reflective person very uncomfortable.

It's surprising that an organization dependent for existence on a foundation of centuries-old myths encourages its members to get psychological help. A psychologically healthy person successfully identifies and adjusts to reality. Mainstream religions obscure reality and discourage objective investigation of truth. Just skip the religious nonsense and establish supportive communities of people who bond cooperatively to assist each other in maintaining healthy social interactions.

Every day, the US comes up with a new syndrome. Does anyone doubt that we are a nation of victims?

Great work Pastor Mike! I guess I am quite fortunate, as early on in my Christian walk, I was taught what the difference was between "religion" and a "relationship." The former being comprised of archaic tradition that was subject to the inherent bias of flawed church leaders, and the latter being an indwelling of the holy spirit who guides, teaches, and yes admonishes as only God knows how. This is what is so amazing about God's word in the hands of a believer. The holy spirit knows when to encourage and when to admonish and challenge. Research documents that children of parents who are harsh and unloving develop a sense of God who is equally punitive and judgmental. Likewise parents who are overly permissive teaches children that God is valueless and accepts all behavior. I was always taught that God does not hate the sinner, but the sin. We need more leaders like Pastor Mike who love and accept sinners. This is who Jesus is.

A commendable article shedding light on a seldom explored aspect of negative religious experiences. It seems that within each major religion there exists various levels of commitment, a hierarchy of devotion that leads the most devoted to impose harsh judgments on those with a more casual attitude, leading to discrimination within the same religion, along with threats, however subtle, of discipline and punishment. In areas of intense belief, such as in religion and in politics, those who are the most zealous often harbor intolerance for those less committed.

Being part of the committee of a Youth Group at a church, I have learned that we must show love to one another regardless of their sexual orientation. I believe it is none of our business as a religion to judge in any manner, the most important thing is to show compassion and love and pray with them and not make them feel ostracized in any way. Everyone wants to be part of a community, to be shown support especially when dealing with issues regarding sexual orientation. Let us love others just as God loved others regardless of who they were.

When a high leader of the church you were born to calls you "the Antichrist" to your face at age 19, you never get over it. Today I'm 71, and I still bear the pain of what church did to me in my late teenage years. And why? Because I was born with an inquisitive mind: nothing more.