After several years outside of their circles, I went to my parents' church over my vacation. Here's my rundown of the ~30min sermon:
--Pre-emptive strike at science and philosophy to discredit any opposition before it starts.
--Sexism (with vague swipe at feminism)
--Homophobia
--Transphobia
--An endorsement of capitalism
--Worm theology; it is actually part of their Statement of Faith -- a core, binding document -- that humans live under God's condemnation by default!
This stuff is shockingly mainstream in #Christian circles.
I felt compelled to take notes to remind myself of all these elements that I am actively rejecting from how I was indoctrinated for the first 30+ years of my life.
Propaganda works by dehumanising people. Many church folks are so propagandised that they cannot even feel it anymore.
They're conditioned to feel *really* lucky to be in their in-group. It works by accepting, and saying, any insult about any out-group, for any reasons.
@sumpnlikefaith Yes! Spot on. I often tell people who are coming out of that religious world and angry at themselves for taking so long to leave, “You don’t know you’re in a cult until you’re no longer in the cult.”
It’s very sad.
@iamwill1w9 Just think about how often church people are even invited to define "cult."
(And that's only one example of a myriad of exclusively outward-facing boogeyman-buzzwords the church uses without clear definition.)
If church folks are unable to readily define it, how could they even begin to process its reality in their midst?
@sumpnlikefaith One of my favorite religious authors, David Dark, says, “Generalization fuels tyranny. Specificity outs it.”
@iamwill1w9 I like David Dark! Is he somewhere other than Twitter these days?
@sumpnlikefaith Unfortunately, no. His online writing is pretty hyper local right now, too. He is literally one of the only things I miss about being on Twitter. 😢
Such an amazing, thoughtful man! I want him on here so bad. Maybe we need to work together on this! :)