Religious
Trauma Syndrome: A New Crisis of Faith
Literature
Review
The way that cults and fundamentalist religions interact
with politics, abuse children, marginalize minority groups, attract
narcissistic leaders, and spawn disorganized attachments in their members
requires intervention from the government. It is a difficult topic in our
nation because we do want to have all of our citizens practicing religion in
the way that they see fit. In the case of Catholic church sex abuse, the answer
is simple, imprison the guilty priests after a trial has proven their guilt.
What isn’t clear is when parents spank their kids, brainwash them using fear of
hell and threats of getting shunned, or churches demanding that their members
be allowed to discriminate against homosexuals because gays are bad, we
passively give our approval. Because we tacitly deal with these issues, these
fundamentalists are getting into positions of political power and protecting
their own beliefs instead of representing all Americans. This was brought into
sharp relief when Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana and reframed and ratified
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in a way that made it ok to discriminate
against the LGBTQIA+ community. (Godde, 2016) Mike Pence is now our vice
president. Ever since he was elected, the LGBTQIA+ community has been watching
on alert.
Mike Pence is what we call a narcissistic leader. There
isn’t a necessarily a diagnosis of narcissism there, but what it means to be a
narcissistic leader is that the leader functions in much the same way a
narcissist does. In one article, the author focuses on one type of leader, one
that achieves “symbolic status.” This is a psychological phenomenon where
followers come to see the leaders as parent-like. This tendency becomes even
more evident in charismatic leaders. (Sankowsky, 1995) Places where leaders
achieve symbolic status include work situations and churches. Abuse of power
can pervasively and profoundly negatively impact the followers’ psychological
wellbeing. (Sankowsky, 1995) Stein goes on to say that the damage takes the
form of disorganized attachment. (2017) The boss or pastor hands out directives,
expects them to be obeyed without question, hands out rewards and punishments,
and handles excommunications or firings, respectively. These are the very
conditions that create this parent attachment. In some cases, this power goes
awry, and the leaders start flat out abusing and making excuses. (Sankowsky,
1995) A normal leader sets reasonable expectations and tasks and goes over
outcomes in a way that best correlates with the quality of the outcomes.
Everything is handled in a fair way and the leader and follower or employee
walk away happy with how things turned out. The narcissistic leader sets
unrealistic goals, quickly praises their team for being miracle workers and just
amazing; and then punishes harshly when they could not make the unattainable a
reality. (Sankowsky, 1995) The damage this causes leads to confusion,
depression, anxiety, and if carried on long enough unchecked, PTSD. These types
of leaders keep followers questioning and on their toes. Praise is doled out
just enough to keep them coming back again and again for more abuse. When we
think of this in terms of adults, it is pretty creepy. When we see that this is
what parents are doing with their children in the name of their gods, it gets
horrifying. Let’s take a closer look at disorganized attachment.
The best way to accomplish this is to isolate the
followers as best as possible in a unique way. In cults and in churches around
America, totalitarian denominations are popping up. The goal of a totalitarian
religion or cult is to isolate the follower, make the leaders seem like the
keepers of good knowledge and truly unique or blessed especially by the divine,
consume the followers lives and calendars, and forbid close friendships with
those who do not believe the same ways. (Stein, 2017) This is achieved by
making the follower feel specially chosen and uniquely included in a really
loving family. Membership contracts require followers to agree to act in a
certain way and to understand they are joining a community of like-minded
people with keys to secret and special information. Not only that, this
community is truly loving. They take meals to each other during times of crisis,
pray for each other, and do most all of the socializing they do with each
other. In fact, it seems the cult or church completely takes over the lives of
the individuals they have. Members are afraid to leave because they will not be
able to make friends as close as these on the “outside” or in the “secular”
world. Stein calls this a totalitarian system. All aspects of life and personal
philosophy are now wrapped up in the church. (2017) Once that fear of the
outside has set in, members are taken on a yo-yo ride of being in the inner
circle of favorites to being in the lower lever peons. All members want to be
in the inner circle. Getting closer to the leader is the goal of all members.
(Stein, 2017) Being useful to the pastor is a special place. This inner
hierarchy is used like a weapon. One day you are in, the next you are out. The
desperate need for validation, the continued rejection, and emotional abuse
cause the follower great times of pain and confusion. In this state, they press
in harder to the thing causing them the most pain, the religion itself. Leaders
define the rules of approved holiness. Rules in churches where women wore only
dresses, where families just had mountains of kids, where poverty was the key
to holiness, keep believers uniform and together. Each cult or church has its
own secret in road to holiness. The ones that can follow the rules the best are
the most holy. If the people putting up with this were all adults, we would not
have to get involved. But parents internalize this sort of odd love and pass it
right on to their kids. (Cooper, 2012)
The absolute worst of this is the sexual molestation
abuse of Catholic children at the hands of priests. The literature on this is
heart breaking. The swath of devastation left by the church will take decades
to clean up. One of the most devastating articles brings up the fact that
fornication is considered a sin in the Catholic church. Victims take on
enormous amounts of shame. First, they were seen as special by priests. They
were chosen for retreats and to serve as alter boys. They were groomed for a
reason. In the grooming process, the priest assess shame levels and
understanding of sin. (McGraw, 2019) During and after the rapes take place, the
victims are placed in a horrible level of despair and shame. In their eyes they
have sinned, but the one that can absolve them did it to them. Many of them
don’t speak fearing the repercussions and blame they will face for tainting the
priest this way. (McGraw, 2019) This article goes on to say that PTSD is a big
worry for these victims. Added to all of the crushing symptoms of PTSD, shame,
guilt, fear of hell and excommunication loom large. Cognitive dissonance and
disbelief cause lasting damage and completely obliterate childhoods. Later the
victimization continues as parents and community friends just refuse to believe
the victims. (McGraw, 2019) After all, how could our beloved minister and
friend do this to us? These victims are at danger for drug abuse and fear of
life long isolation. (Cutajara, Mullena,
Ogloffa, Thomasa Wellsh, & Spataroc. 2010) As stated in the abstract the
solution is a bit more straight forward for this grouping because the American
government can arrest perpetrators that break the law and we need to. They need
to serve prison sentences for their crimes.
Surprisingly, similar outcomes await those victimized by
brainwashing, indoctrination, and emotional abuse. Chase Cooper in his work
“Confronting Religiously Motivated Psychological Maltreatment or Children; A
Framework for Policy Reform,” tells a tale of a toddler who refused to obey.
After being told twice to do what was told of him, the toddler, not quite two,
was taken in a back bedroom, beaten, and returned expectantly to obey. The
toddler did not. He was taken out of the room and spank beaten again. He was
brought back and told to obey again. A third repetition happened while all the
adults in the room prayed for the toddler’s deliverance to obedience. He was
returned and this time obeyed smiling. The religion members in the room thanked
Jesus. The toddler was then comforted by the abuser and praised. They explained
to an observing Cooper that this is how they “train up a child.” They said that
incidents like this were daily and unavoidable because of the sinfulness of the
human heart. (2012) In churches across America, very young children are being
threatened with hell for sins as small as taking one of the church pens home
with them. All children in conservative churches watch the truly wicked get
cast out. The psychological fear of being kicked into the street keeps youth
closeted. They have watched their gay friends be disowned and kicked out in
large numbers. (Roe, 2017) If they aren’t afraid of hell, they are afraid of
homelessness. The abject fear of knowing that there was something that could be
done that would forever make your family turn their backs is deeply scarring.
Is it abuse? Kenneth Adams writes from his observations that the patriarchal
system set up in these must be obeyed churches, “fosters misopedia, the hatred
of children, as wells as misogyny. Males and male interests are prioritized,
and others are a means to an end. Children represent the antithesis of
patriarchal manhood—subordination, lack of control, dependence on females, and
weakness. In the Bible, children’s interests are never the primary concern.”
(2019) Children being raised in this setting are shattered. They are broken
down to always obey, always be religious and always, more than anything, “don’t
be yourself especially if that is gay.” This clearly leads to lifelong
confusion and mental anguish. Which leads to drug use and disorders with a lot
of the alphabet in them. (Simonic, Mendelj, & Novask. 2013) It also leads
to political manipulation and marginalization of minorities.
When you look at the doctrines that these people are
forcibly putting into their children’s minds, you see that a lesson in fear and
hatred. They are telling their children that abortion at any stage for any
reason is murder. Psalms 139:13-14 In their world, if they accept the LGBTQIA+ community
as legitimate the entire world will be destroyed, Genesis 19, Romans 1:26-27.
These groups seek to protect their own and push out those that are different.
At its very core, fundamentalism excludes. The GOP in our nation is looking to
push out immigrants, remove rights from women, and re-marginalize the LGBTQIA+
by taking away marriage rights, (Groppe, 2016) This only pushes the trauma of
these beliefs out onto other communities of believers who believe differently, non-Christian
believers, atheists, and all of those sub-headings that are LGBTQIA_ or
immigrants. (Sowe, Taylor, & Brown. 2017) Children who internalize these
messages grow up either wholesale buying into them or living through PTSD and needing
very careful and affirming therapy. (Simonic, & et. al. 2013) Those that
grow up buying in completely become the voters and parents. We are seeing the
results of these organized voters and the stronghold of their beliefs and they
try to take away freedoms from those they deem ungodly. Other nations are
starting to call us the “Christian Talliban.”
In conclusion, we are faced with hard choices about the
well being of not only our children but our nation. If these religious beliefs
only were held by those 18 or older, the harm they inflict would be chosen by
the one believing it. Not only are these beliefs forced on children before they
are not able to fully understand the implications of what they are learning,
the rest of us must cope with the toll they are taking on our minorities and
vulnerable groups. What can we do to protect children? There has been loud
noise about taxation of churches that refuse to respect separation of church
and state. A growing number of the populace are completely fed up with having
to clean up after their messes. LGBTQIA+ youth are more than twice as likely to
face homelessness than their straight peers and charities have been stepping up
for years to care for the homeless teens. (Voices of Youth Count, 2019) States
have anti-maltreatment clauses, strangely enough, they exempt religious groups.
(Cooper, 2012) We need to do away with religious exemptions for maltreatment.
There is no reason for it. Maltreatment for religious reasons is maltreatment
and should be fully considered abuse. In many states, it is legal to spank beat
children because of the Bible verse, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”
Spanking should be made illegal. (Miller, 2000) Many adults were spanked as
children and pass the damage on, and spank their children from a Christian
perspective. These protections allow bullies and abusers to use religion as a shield
for their abuse and lazy parenting. (Cooper, 2012) What becomes really a grey
area, is the fear instilled in the children as they lie awake in the night
terrified of hell and filled with questions about “what if I did something that
would make my parents stop loving me.” Legally in America there is nothing we
can do without infringing on the religious beliefs of the parents. Right now,
the best course of action is just shining the light on all the harm
fundamentalist religion causes to the individual and in the whole society.
References
Adams, K.A. (2019)
Traumatic Fundamemtalist Childhood and Trump. Journal of Psychohistory.
(3)
Cooper, C. (2012).
Confronting Religiously Motivated Psychological Maltreatment of Children: A Framework for Policy Reform. Virginia
Journal of Social Policy & the Law, 20(1), 1– 11
Groppe, M. (2016). “Mike
Pence in His Own Words.” The Indy Star. Online
edition.
Miller, A. (2000).
Against Spanking. Tikkun, 15(2), 17
Roe, S. (2017). “Family
Support Would Have Been Like Amazing”: LGBTQ Youth Experiences With Parental and Family Support. The
Family Journal, 25(1), 55–62.
Sankowsky, D. (1995). The
Charismatic Leader as Narcissist: Understanding the Abuse of Power. Organizational Dynamics, 23(4),
57–71.
Simonic, B. Mandelj, T.
and Novsak, R. (2013) Religious-Related Abuse in the Family. Journal of
Family Violence 28:339-349
Sowe, B. J., Taylor, A.
J., & Brown, J. (2017). Religious anti-gay prejudice as a predictor of mental health, abuse, and substance
use. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 87(6), 690–703.
Stein, A. (2017). Terror, Love, and Brainwashing: Attachments
in Cults and Totalitarian Systems.
Waller, G., Quinton, S.
& Watson D. (1995) “Dissociation and the Processing of Threat-Related Information.” Dissociation volume 8.2.
