Image: Pixabay Content note: homophobia, religious and spiritual abuse By Elora Dodd Growing up in a staunchly conservative Christian home, my parents would demand the remote the instant a gay person came on television. If I lagged a second too long, my parents would unleash an angry lecture about how dangerous it was to “normalizeContinueContinue reading “I Survived but Many Don’t: Homophobia Kills”
Tag Archives: fundamentalist
From Trauma to Triumph: Coming out and being expelled from Bob Jones University
Photo: Image by Michaela from Pixabay By Andrew Pledger Have you ever felt like you don’t belong in your own family? Like you are different from everyone else and no one understands you? That’s how I felt for most of my life. I always felt like an outsider, a misfit, a stranger in my ownContinueContinue reading “From Trauma to Triumph: Coming out and being expelled from Bob Jones University”
Discovering My Gender and Sexual Identity in a Cult Through Books
Photo: Image by Markus Winkler from Pixabay By Alex Kenderdine The Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) cult that I grew up in had insanely strict rules and regulations for what we were allowed to read. Most books I read were classics because they deemed those safe. However, it was through the classics that I discovered partsContinueContinue reading “Discovering My Gender and Sexual Identity in a Cult Through Books”
The IFB Movement and LGBTQIA Rights: A Clash with Christian Love
Photo: Image by Marybeth from Pixabay By Jonathan Grisham The Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) movement, with its deep roots and complex history, often stirs up debates on intolerance, hatred, and abusive practices. Notably, the IFB’s contentious relationship with the LGBTQI community is a prime example of its extremist ideologies. The History of the IFB andContinueContinue reading “The IFB Movement and LGBTQIA Rights: A Clash with Christian Love”
This Is Me: Disability and Spiritual Abuse
Image by Lily from Pixabay By Rebekah Palmer This essay was first accepted to be included in a story collection supporting National Organization of Rare Disorders, Inc. (NORD), a project titled Kaleidoscope Rare Disease Stories Told by the people who live them, edited by Kerry Wong. This collection will be released in 2024. NORD wasContinueContinue reading “This Is Me: Disability and Spiritual Abuse”
Whispers of Resistance: Nothing taught me to be different the way fundamentalism did
Photo: Image by Hello Cdd20 from Pixabay By Evan Jones My entire life I’ve been told to submit. My earliest memory of singing is me belting out the OBEDIENCE song in Sunday School. As a youth and young adult, I took high school and college courses on submission and a woman’s purpose. I’ve heard demandsContinueContinue reading “Whispers of Resistance: Nothing taught me to be different the way fundamentalism did”
How Religious Abuse Harmed My Mental Health and How I Healed
Photo: Image by Pexels from Pixabay By Lydia Joy Launderville “I have mental illness” is a phrase that was very, very hard for me to say out loud to another living soul. Even acknowledging and accepting it was so hard. There were a few reasons for this. The first being that I was very traumatizedContinueContinue reading “How Religious Abuse Harmed My Mental Health and How I Healed”
The Vashti Initiative 