Thread by @JoLuehmann

On Christianity and trauma
A thread:

My favorite, most simplified definition of trauma is loss of safety*. Trauma can be acute, chronic, complex or generational (google epigenetics)**.

(1)

We will all experience trauma in our lifetime, trauma is unavoidable, a part of being alive and being human. The goal is to have the best possible tools at our disposal to address trauma and heal. The goal is to ensure all humans have the best tools too.
(2)

The goal is not to avoid trauma (which can be traumatic in itself as your reality is denied or you are blamed for the trauma) but to recognize it, name it, and heal from it. To then let it teach us about ourselves and the stories we’ve been told about who we are,
(3)

and subsequently the stories we’ve been telling ourselves about who we are and who others are.

Purity culture is complex trauma, penal substitutionary atonement is complex trauma, relying on spiritual bypassing to deal with pain and grief is complex trauma,

(4)

teaching ppl they are sinners and but filthy rags is trauma, rapture theories are complex trauma, LGBTQ+ bigotry is complex trauma, white supremacy is complex trauma, patriarchy is complex trauma, capitalism is complex trauma, acceptance that hinges on agreement is trauma.

(5)

Any unaddressed trauma leads to coping mechanisms, people who don’t address their trauma learn to do things to survive with the trauma always lurking underneath the surface, playing games with their subconscious mind, their nervous system and with their bodies as a whole.

(6)

Coping mechanisms aren’t bad in themselves, they are ways in which ppl are attempting to survive, to deal with their trauma. Healthy spaces helps people move from coping to healing, from being completely reliant on coping, to needing it less and less due to healing.

(7)

Some of those coping mechanisms are substance abuse, physical activity, humor, perfectionism, withdrawing (solitude), addictions, church attendance, prayer and Bible reading.

(8)

Now listen, I am not saying every person that gets drunk or is funny, is coping w/trauma, just like I am not saying every person who goes to church and prays is coping. I am just saying those could be coping mechanisms, not things you simply enjoy, or that serve you.
(9)

W/church related things you would never know you are coping, you are celebrated for doing those things***, you think you are good, And those who start healing and call out the trauma of toxic christianity are demonized, which causes trauma and keeps ppl coming back to cope.
(10)

Toxic Christianity keeps us dependent on the coping mechanisms that they offer, they teach us to trade the coping mechanisms they don’t approve of, for the ones they do. It depends on us not healing from our trauma but needing the coping mechanisms it provides.
(11)

Anybody that demands you cope instead of inviting you to heal (even if it means leaving them), is not only abusive in nature, but also reinforcing your trauma. Toxic Christianity keeps us unhealthy to ensure our dependence on it.
(12)

*Mastin Kipp
**Resources on trauma in the link on bio.
*** That is true for all high level coping, like perfectionism, workoholism, or working out obsessively. It’s all coping that’s celebrated, but it isn’t healthy.