Why Did I Stay/Why Did I Join?
Authoritarian Types of Religion That Can Harm
Welcome to the first article (after my Welcome and introduction) in the course Reclaim Your Life: Rebuild Your Identity.
If you prefer to listen to me talk in the video then please feel free to follow along.
Otherwise, I have condensed and transcribed the points discussed in this video for those who prefer to read.
So, understanding the reasons for involvement (joining or remaining) in an authoritarian type of religion can help you know yourself better.
Knowing yourself can help you in future decision making.
The reasons for why we do things or become involved in something are usually complex and multi-faceted.
It is easy to judge ourselves when we look back, but it helps to realise that usually, we were doing the best we could with the information we had available at the time.
There usually are a number of reasons why someone becomes involved in an authoritarian or fundamentalist religion; OR why they stay.
We will take a look in more depth at each of these reasons in articles following this one.
- You were born into the faith and grew up in it.
- Everyone you knew in your community was involved in the faith.
- Safety: Promises of being saved from death.
- Security: Protection from Satan in this life if faithful. Also, the promise of protection from God’s holy spirit over all other outside threats.
- Guidance: Don’t need to rely on making decisions for self, but external forms of guidance are offered — church, bible, elders. All decisions regarding ethics and morals are already decided.
- Acceptance: Total acceptance by God or Jesus if you follow the rules of the church. The need for belonging is a fundamental human need.
- Family: The church or faith community becomes like family (or even closer than family). Deep bonds can be formed. The need for family is powerful.
- Born-again: You belong to a community of “others” who have been born-again. This gives a feeling of specialness, exclusiveness and again — a sense of belonging to an in-group.
- Meaning: We have answers for all the “big” questions of existence, and of what the future holds. For some of us, it can become a form of escapism from all the troubles of the world as we immerse ourselves into the business of church life, bible study and witnessing.
- Specialness: If you are taught that only God’s people will be saved at Armaggedon and you are one of the chosen, this can give you a sense of acceptance, safety and feeling of importance. In a way, it can lead to accepting of self (if God already accepts you as you are). If you have experienced mystical experiences (through prayer, meditation, chants or ritual, laying on of hands, or healing) these experiences can feel like proof that the religion must be approved of by God.
- Social Conscience: It can be a way of being of service to others. Giving (altruism) satisfies our social conscience.
- Fear: Fear of eternal damnation if we disobey or leave.
- Fear of dying at Armaggedon (second coming of Christ).
- Isolation: We may have been brought up isolated from people who think differently, or that is geographically isolated.
- Shame: We may feel we are “sinners” or if we leave, it is because we have not been able to be “good enough”. If we have experienced sexual abuse within the church or faith, we may feel partly to blame or are scared of God and feel somehow complicit and that we have to be “extra good” to be approved of by God. This can make it hard to leave.
- Christ died for you: If you have been taught that Christ died “for you” and took on all your sins you may feel an obligation to remain in the faith.
- Bearing Witness: You may have been taught that the salvation of others is up to you (your children, other community members, family and friends) and that it is your responsibility to preach and save others.
- Sinner: If you have been taught you are born in sin, and conceived in sin, and that you NEED God and the church and are worthless and like a worm, without God. This can lead to denigration of the self, rejection of the self, of the body and of your own heart and instincts for favour of “divine knowledge” or knowledge as interpreted by the church/faith.
- Distrust of “the world”: You may have been taught to distrust everything outside of your faith as “worldly” or “from Satan”. You may have been taught that all other knowledge is worthless, and a waste of time.
- Power of Authority of the church: There is usually a hierarchy of leadership and control, and strict obedience is usually taught. To go against this can be difficult.
- Thought control: We may have been schooled by the church or faith and had limited access to knowledge from other sources. We may not have had access to radio, television or the internet or books written by people, not of the same faith.
- Distortions/Mind Control: Language can be unique to the faith and words can have different meaning that in general use. There can be thought stopping, lack of critical thinking, knowledge can be seen as divine or revealed rather than learned, and there can be closed systems of logic, based on circular reasoning and a religion’s own interpretation of truth.
If you would like to read the welcome and introduction to this course, please read the following.
If you would like to read the second article, on Why Did I Leave? Why Did I Stay? — please click below.
