POLITICS/RELIGION/UNITED STATES

You Have the Right to Remain Atheist

Because a nation guided by a god of hate isn’t actually great.

A copy of the U.S. Constitution is viewed through a lens with the Bible in the background. Photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash

I’m writing this on a Sunday, generally considered the Lord’s Day to those who subscribe to the Christian faith. But since I left the church and discovered running, I joined a different kind of church: the church of the Sunday long run. Today’s run was only a 5k.

I use my Sunday runs to meditate. Long miles of rhythmically pounding the pavement gives me lots of time to think. It’s where I turn pain into poetry, anger into essays, and questions into conversations. It’s how I develop many of the thoughts I share with my readers.

Leaving the church was one of the best things I did for my mental health. People who have survived abuse in the church feel the walls of these institutions as suffocating, like a prison. It’s extremely uncomfortable for me to enter a church building now.

A Christian cross backlit by red, suggesting fire. To some, the cross may represent comfort. To others, hurt, confusion, and chaos.Photo by Christian Holzinger on Unsplash

Spiritual, physical, and sexual abuse are rampant in the church. I survived abuse in the church. It was a culture where patriarchy was in full force, purity culture taught us to be…