Theological Child Abuse

Via Bob Felton at Civil Commotion (http://www.civilcommotion.com/) I came across a bog discussing the Matthew Murray case from a perspective of the apparently lunatic religious world in which Murray was raised and with which he apparently tried to conform for a time before spinning out of control. Sadly, I doubt the main stream media will not - given its fear of criticizing anything religious, especially fundamentalist Christian beliefs - look into what appears to have set the stage for Murray's shooting spree which killed innocents as opposed to people like James Dobson, for example, who actively markets this poison on a daily basis, perhaps setting the stage for future Matthew Murrays. The MSN will just go with the explanation that Murray was mentally ill.

Sadly, while courts and civil authorities will step in when a child is physically beaten and often will order medical treatment contrary to parental religious beliefs - e.g., blood transfusions - nothing comparable takes place when children are mentally and psychologically abused by indoctrination efforts by their religious fanatic parents. Set out below are are some highlights from this blog posting (http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=806). I also recommend that you review this post I did in 2006 when I first was thinking of starting this blog (http://michael-in-norfolk.blogspot.com/2006/09/i-came-across-this-column-on-blog.html). Here are highlights from skepchick's piece:

Jewish author Shalom Auslander describes his experiences being brought in an orthodox Jewish community as “theological child abuse” in his new memoir, Foreskin’s Lament. This book is a must read for anyone wanting to gain more understanding of what it’s like to be raised in a fundamentalist environment. Auslander’s anger is tempered only by a sharp sense of humor, and his stories clearly show the lingering scars of his childhood torments. Fortunately Auslander was able to escape, became a writer, and found a way to productively channel his anger.

Not everyone who suffers from childhood spiritual abuse is so lucky. After I wrote about Matthew Murray the other day, there were a flurry of comments that showed that I wasn’t clear in what I’d written, saying that there are deeper problems in stories like this than simply claiming that the perpetrator of violence is insane. As it turns out, Murry was also a victim of theological or spiritual abuse.

I know many people will discredit his words because of his actions. But I believe him. I lived through very similar experiences and I know for a fact that stories like this are true. I’ve seen parents and pastors act like this, and I know the rest of what goes along with it. Religious indoctrination, when it fails to create pliant and obedient sheep, causes extreme emotional distress and constant mental torment. That’s bad enough for adults, but for children and teenagers, the terrors are beyond anything that can be created by ghost stories or horror movies. I’m 46, quit going to church over 15 years ago, and I still have nightmares. And I am not alone. I am in an ex-fundamentalist support group where I hear stories of adults, and even senior citizens, being haunted by their childhood religious indoctrination over and over and over again.

What’s sad is that his mother will be told that she has done nothing wrong, that she raised her son according to the Bible, and the churches and Christian organizations involved will not even be introspective enough to consider their role in causing Murray’s pain and anguish, and the blame will be put squarely on Satan’s shoulders. Such a convenient scapegoat.