End gun culture/r
@pe
culture/forced birth/👮 brutality/Christian hegemony/child marriage/poverty. When leaders ignore these, it is state-sanctioned abuse.
In all my decades in churches, I never heard a sermon about god's condemnation of sexual assault. I never heard a sermon teaching men about consent. I never heard a sermon educating parents on how to identify predation.
Clergy ignore the violence that women & children face.
People frequently ask me what instigated my departure from religious faith. Here it is in a nutshell:🧵
My mom died a painful death and my pastor at the time took advantage of my vulnerability to prey on me. Luckily I saw thru the manipulation and got myself to safety.
1/7
When I left Christianity, I lost all my family/friends. I deconstructed painfully in isolation for 5 years & was diagnosed w/ anxiety in the process. I'm on Twitter to talk to others b/c I'm lonely.
Other atheists have blocked me w/o cause. I don't belong anywhere.
A former friend in KS told me that her husband patrolled their church parking lot on Sunday mornings to prevent the homeless from entering the building.
Think about that.
So I speak out publicly now to connect with others of similar experiences, to be a source of help to those with doubts, and to expose evil deeds done in the name of Christianity.
7/7
Pro-life is a living wage.
Pro-life is vaccination.
Pro-life is quality education.
Pro-life is no death penalty.
Pro-life is equality.
Pro-life is free medical care.
Pro-life is anti military industrial complex.
Pro-life is environmental protections.
What else?
I did not know when I left church that I was on the path to atheism. But my curious brain went into overdrive addressing all the harmful falsehoods and purging them one by one.
I'm angry about my childhood indoctrination and I hate to see it happen to others.
6/7
Abortion is a manufactured sin to align an evangelical voting bloc. This framing began in the late 1970s.
Abortion is a major political tool, not biblical doctrine, with an aim of Christian fundamentalist control of the U.S.
Power over women is a bonus.
Forced birth. Anti-trans legislation. Book bannings. Police brutality. Attempted coups.
Do GOP voters know they're walking in the footsteps of n*zi Germany?
I read The Demon-Haunted by Carl Sagan and psychology which opened my eyes to how people are so easily deluded by pseudoscience. How our very memories are imperfect.
I had no choice but to conclude there was no earthly evidence of any gods and I had been tricked.
5/7
10 commandments. Jesus threatened his own people with hell if they didn't forgive others. I found all of this immoral.
Simultaneously I was reading about history and genocide, in which I recognized patterns where the powerful used religion to control conquered peoples.
4/7
If you're a progressive Christian & you spend your time on X patrolling atheists to preserve the reputation of your religion rather than spending that time fighting Christian nationalism, you are in the wrong fight.
Atheists are not a threat to democracy. Evangelicals are.
I decided to never go to church again. However, I still believed in Jesus and spent hours per day in bible study, taking notes, writing essays, topical research and even spreadsheets.
I began to notice inconsistencies, making it obvious to me
2/7
that the bible had been tampered with. Paul's teachings in particular contradict and add to Jesus' teachings, notably the path to salvation. Paul preached grace and faith while Jesus preached repentance.
Slavery was upheld, "Do not rape" didn't appear in the
3/7
54% of adults in the U.S. have a literacy below the 6th grade level.
Doesn't it seem like we need to address this before we can expect a greater exodus from political ideologies and fundamentalist churches that prey on the weak minded?
People need to read more.
Evolution is a scientific theory backed by a lot of evidence.
Creationism is a belief in intelligent design with no evidence.
Why is this so hard for creationists to grasp?
I'm an exChristian who was indoctrinated from childhood. As an adult I was DEVOUT. It took me 5 yrs to deprogram.
People who go thru that have suffered, many losing friends, family, spouses.
Xians & even some atheists don't get it. It's not as simple as a light switch.
When I was a kid, my Southern Baptist dad said women should never be pastors. I found this comment to be humiliating and illogical.
To this day, Southern Baptists still forbid women clergy. My dad as a member still supports this stance.
When will patriarchy end?
I spent 40+ years in Christianity. It took me 5 years to deconstruct. If you think I'm inferior or less intelligent because of this, then I'm not the account for you to follow.
Christians repeatedly insult me, saying that I "don't understand" when I've sat in their pews, studied their text & lived their lifestyle for decades.
It's not that I don't understand their POV.
The issue is I no longer agree.
Creationists would rather study their god's book than to study their god's planet & universe. The earth itself speaks to us, revealing its ancient beginnings. But a finite # of words in a book is preferred to limitless scientific discoveries yet to be made.
Why?
Authentic exChristian here. I used to believe in god, was baptized, prayed daily, studied my bible, went to church, did ministry work. But the bible did not pass my critique.⬇️
Funny that some Christians think that exChristians don't exist but yet gods do. 🤔
If the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation as claimed by Christian n*tionalists (it wasn't), then heinous acts of enslavement, land theft and colonization (all U.S. policies) were carried out by...Christians.
Is this the legacy they want?
The eclipse was successfully identified in advance due to science. Christianity has failed to successfully identify where their Jesus is but also when he is returning.
Science > gods
Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers says forcing non-Christians to live under a Christian nationalist government is an example of "grace": "Whenever Christians are voted into office, it’s not just good for Christians, it’s good for the wicked as well.”
Why don't most congregants abandon their church after the lead pastor is arrested for sexual abuse? Doesn't it call into question the integrity of the teaching?
There simply is no evidence of a place called 'hell'.
Unburden yourself from this fear tactic that has been used to keep people compliant, keep you sitting in the pews and retain the money flow.
Clergy who preach this are deceptive and manipulative.
My Southern Baptist church preached on the dangers of the unpardonable sin (blasphemy of the Holy Spirit). As a teen, I had trouble sleeping at night as I thought I had committed it.
I will never forgive the SBC for terrorizing me with that lie.
It's traumatic to children when you teach them that "we're living in the end times." 😵💫
No child, at the beginning of their life, should be told the lie that their entire world will be ending soon.
"God thinks..."
"God knows..."
"God would never..."
"God will..."
Anyone who utters these words is a manipulator, whether they realize it or not, as they think they speak on behalf of a silent, invisible deity.
No god, holy book or holy spirit was strong enough to prevent Christians from oppressing, enslaving, raping, starving, hanging, burning or warring against other human beings and stealing their land over the centuries.
The Amish cut off their children's education after 8th grade, isolate them from the rest of society and enforce patriarchy.
Why is this not questioned more in the U.S.?
@RyanWaltersSupt
@FFRF
Public schools cannot promote or endorse any particular religious belief. You, Ryan, are seeking to illegally demolish the separation of church and state.
As an exChristian who spent years deconstructing fundamentalist doctrine programmed into me since a small child, I can unequivocally say that I now have BS detection super powers.
I adopted my daughter from a foreign country at 22 mos. During the process, our pediatrician labeled her high risk. We proceeded anyway.
Now 16, my daughter's Q1 report card is straight As. She's a poet, plays guitar, produces lyric videos & has her first boyfriend.
I'm proud.
Christ taught to love your neighbor as yourself. He also taught not to judge. I don't follow him but I agree with these tenets.
Conversion therapy is not loving. Anti-trans legislation is not loving. Banning books is not loving.
What do you call people who ignore their teacher?
The bible is not god. Clerics are not god. A crucifix is not god. Hymns are not god. Church buildings are not god. Religious practices are not god.
Take away all of the man-made relics and what do you have left?
Atheists: Do we need to picket evangelical churches to bring more attention to their misogyny, clergy sex abuse, ignorance of science and stripping us of our rights?
My fundy patriarchal dad was authoritarian & would not tolerate it when I disagreed w/ him. Yelling and chastisement was normal. No apologies were offered to me; nothing was ever resolved.
He made me feel like I was nothing. I walk away from anyone who treats me similar.
In Saudi Arabia, women can get an abortion if their life is at risk, a fetal abnormality or to protect physical/mental health of the woman. Some states in the U.S. (such as Oklahoma & Missouri) have less exceptions than these.
This is how far we've regressed.
My Christian deconversion complete, I have cast myself out of heaven to the earth, my present and forever home both in life and in death. It is a relief to keep company with real people instead of imaginary forces.
I am the only god over me; I am my own treasured possession.
In the U.S., your teeth and your eyes are not a part of your body. You thought they were? LOL! They are separate entities according to our "healthcare" system.
Atheist: I don't believe in any gods or the stories in the bible.
Christian: The god of the bible is gonna punish you.
When will Christians realize that their manipulation tactics only work on other Christians?
Authoritarian control is more difficult to dismantle once it has taken over a democracy. You may not see freedom again in your lifetime. Once you see the threat on the horizon you must educate/organize/fight against it else you lose.
Why do people have difficulty recognizing it?
I've had quite enough of white, bigoted, Christian men in suits that other people platform, praise and support religiously or politically.
Do they really think they are appointed by a deity to rule harshly over their fellow humans?
Prayer in public schools doesn't prevent or reduce school shootings. What public prayer does is subjugate & mentally influence the minds of impressionable children who deserve to have autonomy over their religious conclusions.
Prayer is schools is not democratic or pluralistic.
This is a lie being spread about me. I am pro-Palestine, not pro-Hamas. I am anti-violence against both Palestinians and Israelis. And I support a cease fire. Feel free to unfollow me if my views offend you.
The year is 2028. Christofascist rulers have declared it illegal to be gay. Harboring a gay couple is punishable by a 10-year prison sentence.
This prompts a mass exodus of gay couples out of the country. Do you participate in the underground railroad or play it safe?
You are under no obligation to honor your parents if they were abusive to you.
I don't care what the bible says. Any contact with abusive parents can be re-traumatizing for victims.
ExChristians have read and studied the bible. We know what goes on inside the churches. We accumulated knowledge outside of Christianity. We have values that do not come from a god.
There is no one better equipped to critique harmful Christian ideology than us.
My daughter's Christian friend told her that you're only supposed to date if the intent is marriage (they're both 16). I assume this concept came from her parents.
Besides the Duggar family, have you heard of high control parents like this?
To be clear: The nonreligious do not desire to be targets of conquest by Christians. We are not defective simply because we don't share the same beliefs.
What we want is to be respected and accepted just the way we are.
This is how a pluralistic society operates.
I get more beat up from other atheists on this app than Christians. If you don't like me or my opinions, that's fine. But you don't have to be nasty about it.
Just scroll on by or unfollow me. I'm not very thick skinned and I'm about done here.
One day you will die which will be the end of your existence just like the other species of animals.
Your loved ones will never see you again. All they will have is memories of you so spend as much time as possible w/ them in this life.
There is no evidence of an afterlife.
Christianity is not the arbiter of morality in modern society. Morality is a function of laws & social norms which represent majority consensus in a democracy.
Attempted minority rule by fundamentalist Christians is the opposite of democracy. It's authoritarian.
Because I shared my deconstruction story, I might infect others. I'm the one who was verbally abused and lied to in childhood, but somehow I'm the one inflicting "damage".
Your churches ARE the threat, not the ones who escaped! Classic case of DARVO here.
Not to alarm anyone but there are actually PhDs who are young earth creationists and unaware that Germans in the 1930s and 1940s, including Nazis, were 99% Christian.
Atheism: disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods
It's neither science nor religion. Most atheists are former Christians and/or have studied the bible. We talk to Christians all the time.
Your claims about us are without merit and insulting.
Atheism isn’t “science”
it’s a religion.
Atheists are so irrationally “anti- religion” they’ve gone full circle and refuse to listen to other points of view
It just happens to also be deeply degenerate and satanic
The bible is largely a book of horrors to me because it was used by pastors, churches & family to terrorize me into obedience.
This is my lived experience & I have no obligation to conceal my disdain for that book.
People who uphold the book to me gaslight me.
Conservative Christianity/Catholicism condemns abortion but also shames unwed mothers. This is effectively a social prohibition against unapproved sex, the sin that is not forgiven.
The religious belief system creates such rigidity that human compassion for women is erased.
The bible was cobbled together by men, mistranslated, contains plagiarizations, contradictions & myth. There is not one but hundreds of translations all of which tweak the meaning.
This "holy" text is defiled, its virginity seized along w/ the corrupt religion built around it.
I don't know what normal is anymore.
Is homelessness normal?
Is hunger normal?
Is lack of bodily autonomy normal?
Is it normal to wipe peoples off the face of the earth?
Is clergy predation normal?
Is racism normal?
I thought these were abnormal at one time. Now I'm not sure.