Appreciate your post…for whatever reason losing my religion and then my country rocked my world in a ptsd way. Still unpacking old beliefs and hurt after 7 years. Like you I made room for uncertainty which has been freeing and scary. Hard moving forward…I admire Jesus and his teachings but I don’t trust religious Christianity. How did you process your deconstruction?
I relate to a lot of what you've said here. It's really destabilizing to question so much of what you've believed for so long.
As to how I've processed, that's a big question! I think this whole Substack has kind of been me doing that. But, to give a quick answer, I think there's been a few layers, including grieving for the security I lost, feeling the anger at the people/institutions who've let me down (and at myself for tolerating bad treatment), and learning to sit with the discomfort of uncertainty. For me, processing a lot of the emotional side of deconstruction came before I was able to move through the intellectual/belief questions. Hope that's helpful to you!
The war against empathy speaks to this directly! They want to shut us off to our inner humanity! It’s despicable. They want us to quiet the still small voice. I relate to so much of what you wrote - and also could not stomach the wire. This makes me want to go watch the good place again though!
TBH I was SHOCKED the first time I heard a right-winger say "empathy is a sin." It feels like such a wild swing that it can only mean they're desperate and don't have good arguments against inclusion
Should I finally finish watching The Wire? If you can't stomach it -its a pretty amazing show. I might also recommend the Deuce from same creator -about sex work and pornography /mob etc in NYC 1970s-1980s has a lot of feminist messages (w/in all the grit and oppression).
" I’ve kept the words and lived example of Jesus. And I’ve added in more room for mystery and uncertainty. I no longer think you need to be a Christian to be a good person. I think caring for others counts much more than any statement of faith.""I have a lot more space to listen to people, and that turns out to be a pretty crucial step in loving them. Loving people is my code, which is expressed in treating them with dignity and working for others to enjoy the same privileges I have: housing, good health, peace, and stability." - That sounds more like real Christ Consciousness than fundamentalism (which doesn't take translations, hidden texts cut out by Bishops, hidden hx, or translations into account, covers up pedo behavior, and eliminates mystery/mysticism/philosophy anything that could be interesting about it). "Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who’d prefer we didn’t have our own boundaries and sense of morality. They’d rather use us than collaborate with us in our full humanity." - US does this to citizens-that's what Biden admin did, even many dem/dnc people along w/GOP, now Trump more aggressively and the hack corporate media since 10/7/23 They have done this by trying to smear/run interference for Israel war crimes and genocide- they gaslight/criminalize empathy and resistance against murdering, burning, blowing up, starving, dehydrating, denying/obliterating medical care, disfiguring women, children and men in Gaza along w/IDF raping/torturing Palestinian prisoners and West Bank crimes against Palestinians too- using us w/our tax dollars to pay for crimes against humanity. (sorry tons of thoughts here and more;-)
Appreciate your post…for whatever reason losing my religion and then my country rocked my world in a ptsd way. Still unpacking old beliefs and hurt after 7 years. Like you I made room for uncertainty which has been freeing and scary. Hard moving forward…I admire Jesus and his teachings but I don’t trust religious Christianity. How did you process your deconstruction?
I relate to a lot of what you've said here. It's really destabilizing to question so much of what you've believed for so long.
As to how I've processed, that's a big question! I think this whole Substack has kind of been me doing that. But, to give a quick answer, I think there's been a few layers, including grieving for the security I lost, feeling the anger at the people/institutions who've let me down (and at myself for tolerating bad treatment), and learning to sit with the discomfort of uncertainty. For me, processing a lot of the emotional side of deconstruction came before I was able to move through the intellectual/belief questions. Hope that's helpful to you!
The war against empathy speaks to this directly! They want to shut us off to our inner humanity! It’s despicable. They want us to quiet the still small voice. I relate to so much of what you wrote - and also could not stomach the wire. This makes me want to go watch the good place again though!
TBH I was SHOCKED the first time I heard a right-winger say "empathy is a sin." It feels like such a wild swing that it can only mean they're desperate and don't have good arguments against inclusion
Should I finally finish watching The Wire? If you can't stomach it -its a pretty amazing show. I might also recommend the Deuce from same creator -about sex work and pornography /mob etc in NYC 1970s-1980s has a lot of feminist messages (w/in all the grit and oppression).
" I’ve kept the words and lived example of Jesus. And I’ve added in more room for mystery and uncertainty. I no longer think you need to be a Christian to be a good person. I think caring for others counts much more than any statement of faith.""I have a lot more space to listen to people, and that turns out to be a pretty crucial step in loving them. Loving people is my code, which is expressed in treating them with dignity and working for others to enjoy the same privileges I have: housing, good health, peace, and stability." - That sounds more like real Christ Consciousness than fundamentalism (which doesn't take translations, hidden texts cut out by Bishops, hidden hx, or translations into account, covers up pedo behavior, and eliminates mystery/mysticism/philosophy anything that could be interesting about it). "Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who’d prefer we didn’t have our own boundaries and sense of morality. They’d rather use us than collaborate with us in our full humanity." - US does this to citizens-that's what Biden admin did, even many dem/dnc people along w/GOP, now Trump more aggressively and the hack corporate media since 10/7/23 They have done this by trying to smear/run interference for Israel war crimes and genocide- they gaslight/criminalize empathy and resistance against murdering, burning, blowing up, starving, dehydrating, denying/obliterating medical care, disfiguring women, children and men in Gaza along w/IDF raping/torturing Palestinian prisoners and West Bank crimes against Palestinians too- using us w/our tax dollars to pay for crimes against humanity. (sorry tons of thoughts here and more;-)
thanks for the recommendations and your thoughts!