Religious Cringe
About
This is the official Lemmy for the r/ReligiousCringe***** subreddit. This is a community about poking fun at the religious fundamentalist's who take their religion a little bit too far. Here you will find religious content that is so outrageous and so cringeworthy that even someone who is mildly religious will cringe.
Rules
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All posts must contain religious cringe. All posts must be made from a religious person or must be showcasing some kind of religious bigotry. The only exception to this is rule 2
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Material about religious bigots made by non-bigots is only allowed from Friday-Sunday EST. In an effort to keep this community on the topic of religious cringe and bigotry we have decide to limit stuff like atheist memes to only the weekends.
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No direct links to religious cringe. To prevent religious bigots from getting our clicks and views directs links to religious cringe are not allowed. If you must a post a screenshot of the site or use archive.ph. If it is a YouTube video please use a YouTube frontend like Piped or Invidious
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No Proselytizing. Proselytizing is defined as trying to convert someone to a particular religion or certain world view. Doing so will get you banned.
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Spammers and Trolls will be instantly banned. No exceptions.
Resources
International Suicide Hotlines
Non Religious Organizations
Freedom From Religion Foundation
Ex-theist Communities
Other Similar Communities
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If you asked me growing up, I would have said that I'm a Christian. I was surrounded by Christians, my family were Christians, and I went to church almost every Sunday until I was 18.
But I never truly believed. I always felt something was wrong with it all, that it just made no sense. I looked around at my peers and thought "why don't I feel god in me like everyone else?". I wanted to believe so desperately that it made me feel like there was something very, very wrong with me.
I thought "well maybe it's because I go to a non-denominational church" so I asked if we could go a southern baptist church instead. Nothing. Then I thought "maybe I need to be more involved in the church", so I went to Bible studies every week and volunteered for mission trips and vacation Bible school. Nothing. Then I thought "maybe it's because I was never baptized", so I got baptized. Nothing.
After years of this, I was anxious, depressed, and suicidal. It wasn't until I moved out and went to a school across the country that I could finally admit to myself that I just didn't believe and I likely never would.
After many years of self-reflection and deconstruction I am finally happy and in a place where I feel like I am living my authentic life. I've never been happier.
Forcing kids into religion is fucked and does damage to them that lasts for years, if not a lifetime.
I somewhat disagree with your last statement. I think the process you went through can be a beneficial framework for challenging your core beliefs for the rest of your life. Few people ever do that, because it's difficult, uncomfortable, and scary, but we'd be better off as a society if everyone did. I went through the same journey, not necessarily arriving at the same conclusion, but close, and I learned a lot about myself, the world, religion, and humanity in the process. I feel like it was a healthy experience. Plus, I appreciated the guidelines and ethics instructions I received through the church, even though I often fought against them. I do think that it made me a more empathetic and less judgemental person throughout my life.
You are talking to a person to whom religion caused damage and denying the validity of their experience. That is pretty rude.
It's okay, I didn't mind. That was his experience and that's totally fine. I didn't take it as invalidating what I went through.
But I do appreciate you looking out for a stranger!