Thread by @JocastaWoo

🧵1/This thread is for anyone born/raised, indoctrinated into extreme Christianity.
Lying in bed last night, I checked in with myself and realized that I've been living in an intense, overwhelming desire to flee, to get the fuck out and away, not to a specific place, just away.

2/ The last 6+ years have been intermittently like this for me - feeling rage and helplessness, reliving terror, knowing the inexorable conclusion, and trying to sound the alarm as I watched the Christian nationalists foothold in our government and our country steadily increase.

3/ Growing up in the same ultra fundamentalism that has brought us to this moment in history, I experienced everything that comes with literal biblical interpretation - the extreme misogyny, homophobia, racism, the utter disregard for anyone the church felt was less than.

4/ I sat in forced church services simultaneously listening to the evils of abortion, "women's lib" and the welfare state. I experienced every abuse you imagine would happen in an environment where abuse is institutionalized and children absolutely have no rights of their own.

5/After escaping at 18, it has taken me much of my adult life to begin to feel safe in the world, to feel that I have agency and a future.
Over the last 6 years, I have watched our government become more and more theocratic, as Christian nationalists win more and more elections.

6/ I have seen them gain power and announce their intentions. It has felt like a slow motion train wreck that I'm watching from inside the train cars, because I've intimately known their ultimate goals all of my life.
They want this country. And they'll take it however they can.

7/I've often been dismissed over the last 6 years as I've told people what I see coming, that maybe I'm overreacting and it's not that bad, that maybe it was just my upbringing making me feel afraid.
But here we are, in the place I have been afraid to return for over 30 years.

8/ Fundamentalists control the Supreme Court. They control our government, even though they are in the minority. They are passing laws that take away our rights and our safety. They are CELEBRATING. They have armed themselves and used violence and murder to get what they want.

9/ So I guess it's no wonder that I feel like running away. I know I'm not the only one.
I don't intend to give up without a fight, but honestly, I feel like I've been fighting fundamentalism in one way or another for my entire life and I am fucking tired.

10/People say that these things go in cycles. They say the democrats are working to solve it. They often don't begin to take it seriously until it affects them directly.
The only thing I can really say to all of that is that the time is now.

11/ It's not a cycle. The democrats in power have taken the high road while the fundamentalists have played dirty again and again. No one is going to save us from this future. We must figure out a way to save ourselves, I have lots of experience with that, but not this time.

12/So, for those of you who, like me, are feeling trapped, and who have been hurt by those who are currently celebrating their wins and who are mobilizing for more, I see you.
Take care of yourself however you can because this is going to be a long fight, but you're a survivor.

End/You don't have to engage with them if it's not healthy for you. That's not your job.
Your job is to keep yourself safe, to talk about your past if you can so that others understand and most of all, to survive.
#cultsurvivor
#abuse #takebackyourlife
#traumarecovery