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People Offering Help to Deal With Loss of Faith

Started by Recusant, September 02, 2023, 03:46:08 AM

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Recusant

I was impressed by this, and consider it an admirable project.

"'I don't believe this anymore': What it's like to escape an abusive, right-wing religion" | Raw Story

Quote"Reclaimers," people who are actively working to rebuild their lives after a period of religious immersion, may struggle with harmful ideas and emotions from the beliefs they once held or the behavior of fellow believers. Alternately, they may find that leaving is lonely and disorienting. Marlene Winell, a human development consultant who assists people leaving their religion, coined the term Religious Trauma Syndrome to describe a pattern she saw in some clients, in particular those leaving closed, authoritarian, fear-based communities. But even doubters who don't experience this level of distress may find themselves feeling confused, afraid, self-doubting or overwhelmed.

Since 2009, a small nonprofit called Recovering From Religion, has worked to serve this population by establishing peer support groups, organizing "Recovering Your Sexuality" classes, and providing a matchmaking service for clients seeking therapists who are committed to a secular approach. In March, Recovering From Religion launched a hotline, 1-84-I-DoubtIt, staffed by a cadre of volunteers trained in listening and crisis triage techniques. From years of daily emails and calls to their office, the staff knew there was an unmet need. Even so, they were caught off guard by the response—over 1,000 calls in the first six weeks.

[Continues . . .]
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Tank

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Icarus

I was unaware that there can be mental,emotional, difficulties when one escapes the shackles of organized religion. I live too sheltered a life I suppose. In my limited experience with people who have abandoned religion, they appeared to be ecstatically relieved of a painful burden.
 


Tank

Quote from: Icarus on September 03, 2023, 12:25:05 AMI was unaware that there can be mental,emotional, difficulties when one escapes the shackles of organized religion. I live too sheltered a life I suppose. In my limited experience with people who have abandoned religion, they appeared to be ecstatically relieved of a painful burden.

One of the most often stated example of PRSD (Post Religious Stress Disorder(you read it here first)) is a persistent fear of Hell.


EDIT: Bugger it's already a term :(
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Icarus

After one abandons religion, the risk of being assigned to Hell goes away. The necessity for praising or talking to God also goes away. The ones who are stricken with fear of Hell have only partially kicked the Jesus habit. :sweeping:

OK, we have a new entry into our list of useful abbreviations ;PRSD 

Dark Lightning

After my exposure to other religions, hell became just another part of the fiction landscape.

PantsNotTrousers

Quote from: Icarus on September 03, 2023, 12:25:05 AMI was unaware that there can be mental,emotional, difficulties when one escapes the shackles of organized religion. I live too sheltered a life I suppose. In my limited experience with people who have abandoned religion, they appeared to be ecstatically relieved of a painful burden.
 



For me, I'm currently dealing with the fear of death (before I had a tidy story to explain what happens when I die, I get to go to heaven, yay!). Also, lack of a purpose (maybe that's okay, maybe I need to figure out a new purpose, but before God gave me a purpose).

And loneliness.i miss God. I guess the good news is he never left right? The mechanism inside my brain that made him exist is still there, I can use that to feel big transcendent feelings, and come up with wise solutions to problems, and be there for myself... at least in theory.


Initially upon leaving, my issue was "do I have value?" And "who am I?"

The value thing was hard, I had been taught that I mattered because God made me and loved me, and now.... I'm just here not because of Providence just here... Do humans have value?

Eventually, I just said, "humans have value, we give value to God because he matters to us and we matter, not the other way around." God doesn't have "godly" attributes that we can emulate, rather he has the human attributes that we like best. Like mercy, and kindness etc.

I don't have a reason why humans matter, it's just a first principle for me.

The who am I was easier. Turns out I'm largely the same in terms of personality and character with or without God.

Anyways, hope this explains what it is like for some of us to leave the Christian faith.


Tank

Quote from: PantsNotTrousers on September 12, 2023, 06:00:20 AM
Quote from: Icarus on September 03, 2023, 12:25:05 AMI was unaware that there can be mental,emotional, difficulties when one escapes the shackles of organized religion. I live too sheltered a life I suppose. In my limited experience with people who have abandoned religion, they appeared to be ecstatically relieved of a painful burden.


For me, I'm currently dealing with the fear of death ...


This is very common in ex-theists. I have heard this many times. I personally have no issue with being dead after all I won't know. However my father took 5 years to die of cancer and later secondaries. This started when I was 12 and ended 2 weeks of my 17th birthday. For his last year he was bed ridden and I had been collecting medical heroine for him as a pain killer. So I worry the transition to being dead not the actuality of being dead.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.