Religious Trauma *Trigger Warning* - Two Sides of the Same Coin

This is going to push a few people's buttons and I completely respect if you don't agree with my opinion. Just please abide by the group guidelines and be nasty in the comments.

For a lot of us here, religion is why we turned to witchcraft. We wanted to escape judgement and persecution for who we are and what we believe in. A lot of us have loved ones that beat "The Fear of God" into us both emotionally, mentally, and physically and we're permanently traumatized by it. My own grandmother is a person like that.

The woman who was supposed to guide me and spoil me, also threatened to beat us with her cane and sprayed us with holy water when we did something she didn't like. It stems from the control issues that I mentioned in a previous article. She wanted us to be good people and go to Heaven when we died, so she tried to "beat the good" into us. You can see how that would mess some up pretty badly. I still have not forgiven her for a lot of that, there's still a lot of hatred. This is still the same woman who taught me about gardening, about cooking midwest/southern, who told stories about her Creole mother and would paint everything like it was fantastical. There's still love there but it's shadowed by hate and trauma.

Now then, I told you that to make this point (and this is the part people are not going to agree with). Using Catholicism as the subject here, we're not really that different. They borrowed pagan structure to create the church and religion, so there are similarities. They have:

They have multiple gods and saints that they pray to.

They pray using incense and ointment oils.

They also use song and sometimes dance to pray and put out certain energies.

There are rituals like making the cross with holy water and the Hail Mary prayer (which is still ingrained into my head).

I'm sure there are more examples but it's 6:44 am right now, and I'm running out of juice. I choose to work through my religious trauma through satire because laughter makes it hurt less. I understand that we're not so different and we follow a similar outline for life. I appreciate those who respect my beliefs and try not convert me because they think I need to be saved, they are my friends and we get along fine. I don't like spread hate and controlling people because you think you know better.

If you made it to the end of the article, congratulations! I'm sorry if this dug into any old wounds, sometimes reflection helps with the healing process. You don't have agree with my opinion, just please be respectful and don't leave nasty comments.

If you can, try to be understanding and friendly towards each other. We all have to live here together and it's much easier if we do our best to get along. :)