I’m in therapy for childhood religious trauma and I have a visceral reaction to people like this. I’m fine with personal beliefs, believe whatever the fuck you want. However, my sense of self worth was systematically destroyed by evangelical Christianity and emotional abuse, so yeah, I still feel pretty triggered around vocal folks. I also live in the South. Send help.
My partner and I are consistently surprised when we realize that a friend, coworker, family member etc. actively dislikes their partner and/or doesn’t consider them a friend.
Bizzare and hostile is a fitting description, I couldn’t hack it in a relationship where I didn’t feel deep and genuine friendship for the other person. I feel like it’s foundational to establishing the type of trust that feels indispensable to me in a committed partnership.
I beg your pardon, but what is, ‘The Weekend’?
Pretty sure his friends call him Alexander of Macedonia.
Same with my mom and cancer. One Saturday she took a long nap and missed a pain medication dose, as my dad thought she’d be better off getting the rest. Never got back up unassisted and was gone within 10 days. She never would have opted for euthanasia anyway, super Catholic, but it was crazy how fast, and then how slowly, the whole thing unfolded.
I have multiple plans in place for myself if I end up facing down the same fate. Religion wasn’t catching for me so if I get a terminal diagnosis, I’m living it up and then Irish goodbying. Really sorry about your dad.
The true role of government (i.e. power) is to perpetuate itself. Regardless of what ideology it dresses itself with, that is its goal and function. Not to serve the people it governs, not to protect them, not to further their wellbeing, health, and happiness etc. This applies to all governments/governing systems, though there is a spectrum of heavy handedness upon which they exist.
I’m not saying that’s how it should be and I’m sure there’s an exception or two out there. There are systems that are more permissive/open and subjectively more optimal to live under (I wish I lived under a better one) but the same still applies. Benefits/rights for the public typically need to be forced from the system or the benefit/right itself must somehow ultimately serve and benefit the overall system more and/or aid in its perpetuation.
So, the answer is, you’re supposed to care about whatever your heart cares about because none of the people in power give a single shit about the children or any of the people they govern. The Iranian government does not care, the US government does not care, the Israeli government does not care, none of the European governments care etc. Giving a fuck about the faceless masses is not their function. Maintaining and increasing their power, control, and wealth is.
I’m legitimately glad that your personal experience of Christianity has been a net positive for you.
I was raised in a very standard First Assembly of God church until I was 12 and then my parents pivoted back to Catholicism. The experiences I had growing up in an evangelical paradigm were horrifying, especially in hindsight. I’m still unpacking the religious trauma in therapy today, nearly three decades after walking away.
So, based on my personal experience, the day to day Christians are precisely the greedy and violent ones that fucked me up, abused me relentlessly, and destroyed my sense of self-worth, not the blowhards on the news. Many of us are walking wounded from the divisive, hate-based, soul-crushing doctrines we were raised in under the guise of Christian love.