Thread by @bulbadirl

I attended a Christian university for 3 years. I didn't want to. My conservative family told me it was my only viable option since they wouldn't help financially at a public school. My Calculus prof led praise & worship at the start of almost every class. #ExposeChristianSchools

I had to sign a contract agreeing to not use tobacco products, not drink, not dance, not play M-rated games, not watch R-rated movies (except those on the approved list, which included The Passion of the Christ), not engage in homosexual behavior, and not have premarital sex.

I had to take Old and New Testament classes and attend chapel 3 times a week. If I missed chapel, I had to make it up through community service. I never took a science class b/c I was afraid of what they might try to teach. I was expected to attend church, but that wasn't tracked

Boy & girl dorms were separate. Anyone could be in a dorm lobby, but we could only go to a room in the opposite sex's dorm on Open House nights. We had to sign in at the front desk. The halls were patrolled by RAs. We had to keep our feet on the floor. We couldn't share a blanket

People talked about me behind my back, saying "there's an atheist girl who lives in my dorm." People asked me what I was doing there. They said I should get out. They indicated I was ruining their experience. My roommate tried to convert me. She turned me in for smoking cigs.

The only political group was College Republicans. I wanted to start College Dems, but I thought that might be too narrow, so I tried to start College Progressives. I found ~5 students who would join, and I only found 1 professor who would lead us. In the end, I scrapped the idea.

Dancing wasn't allowed because it could lead to wanting and/or having sex. Instead of a freshman dance in the fall, we had a banquet where we ate dinner and watched a clean comedy performance. They finally allowed dancing in 2011 when I had already been a student for a few years.

Once, my Calc prof told a joke about a bear who chases an atheist into a corner. The atheist asks God for help. God says he'll grant one wish. The atheist says he doesn't want to become religious, so he asks for the bear to become religious. The bear then thanks God for his meal.

I said this was offensive. My prof said it was just a joke, & when atheists joke in mean ways about Christians, they really mean it. "Therein lies the difference." But it felt terrible. He suspected I was atheist by then since I'd started excusing myself during in-class worship.

Freshmen (and I think sophomores, but I don't remember) were REQUIRED to live on campus. This policy allowed the school to police and monitor our behavior. We also had curfew. I think it was 12 AM on weeknights and 1 AM on weekends.

During a dorm inspection, my RA wasn't comfortable with this poster of Morissey and Johnny Marr. I had expected this, so I had put a sticky note up on the poster saying, "They're not gay. They're bandmates." In the end, I think I was allowed to keep it up, but still.

If we wanted to stay off campus overnight, we had to sign out at our dorm's front desk and provide the location of where we'd be staying. This was supposed to be for emergency contact purposes, but we were adults. (It's hard to become an actual adult when you're infantilized.)

My school honored Kirk Cameron as a "World Changer," a Christian role model to inspire all of us, in 2012. Kirk Cameron has famously spread young-Earth creationism nonsense, most notably the Crocoduck. My school has a literal statue in Mr. Cameron's honor. #ExposeChristianSchools

For those saying I should have gone elsewhere: no shit. I was 18. My religious family had manipulated & emotionally abused me my entire life. They made me think I had no other option. Unless you're also a victim of manipulation & emotional abuse, you don't know what that's like.

In the months leading to my freshman year at this school, I came out to my family as no longer Christian. They responded with abuse. They said I was going to hell. They did everything they could to block me from having my own thoughts and opinions. My dad formed an end-times cult

They blamed my best friends for my views on religion. They stopped allowing me to stay the night at friends' houses. They forced me to go to church. They hounded me. They would not have an open dialogue. All this time, I was planning on attending a public college.

I had attended New Student Orientation at the public college. I had signed up for classes. Then, 3 weeks before school was supposed to begin, I found out that my financial aid was not going to come through as planned. The only other school I had applied to was the Christian one.

I told my parents I wanted to move out & live with my best friends and attend community college. My dad said he'd cut me off his health insurance. He reminded me that I'm very clumsy, and I'd probably get seriously hurt, and then what would I do? This was manipulation, of course.

I decided to attend the Christian school. I would only have to pay for textbooks. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But some of my religious family lived within blocks of the school, and they too hounded me about my beliefs. No one wanted to allow me to develop my own opinions.

I entered an emotionally abusive romantic relationship and remained in that relationship for a year and a half. He was the only like-minded person I could find at the school. When we broke up, I developed alcoholic tendencies and started failing and dropping out of my classes.

Finally, I met my current partner, and he convinced me that I could break free from my family's wishes. He encouraged me to leave the school & live with him. Without him, I have no idea where I would be today. Eventually, I finished my undergrad at a public school & earned an MA.

I'm not trying to attack this school. I'm trying to expose my experience. Most of the folks who attend want to be there. But I'm not sure that a Christian school is the best place to obtain a liberal arts education b/c there's not much exposure to ideas you don't already agree w/

I'm not trying to attack Christianity. I'm not claiming to have suffered the most profound hardship. Not even close. And I don't want sympathy. When I found #ExposeChristianSchools last night, I remembered my own experience, 10 years in the making, & I wanted to share my story.