Coming to Terms with Christian Trauma
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This Sunday, November 11, we’re going to revisit the theme of Religious Trauma that we’ve explored before. Last year, we provided a 3-part teaching series looking at the topic. You can listen to these teachings on our podcast or find them here:
You can also find this valuable resource that Tom used in Part 1: Adverse Religious Experiences Questionnaire.
Here’s a short note from Tom about the upcoming teaching:
I have (at least) three devoted Jesus-follower friends who get anxious near Bibles, and so can’t read them. A pastor friend gets swoozy (sweaty and woozy) when he hears contemporary Christian worship music, so they sing lots of hymns in his church. I for years hid my science from my faith-community leaders and now feel activated with anger when I remember that environment. The Christian church has traumatized so so many people in our contemporary culture, producing anxiety and fear in many of us who nonetheless attend, and avoidance in many others who stay far from our gatherings. In this Sunday’s message, we’ll explore trauma in the church. We’ll enter a bible story where Jesus champions the cause of a female victim of religious trauma as a guide for illuminating our own stories. We’ll explore how church produces trauma through overt acts of harm, through shame and exclusion, and through intellectual and moral manipulation. And we’ll finish by talking about how to tell if we're affected, and some possibilities for the beginnings of freedom. All in 25 minutes :-) See you Sunday! Tom