Religious Superiority?

Each of us has an outlook on life that is unique to us as individuals. Some of us go through life living by someone else’s rules, and others insist on making their own rules.  The majority of us are on a continuum between the two points. My personal outlook is light years away from what I was taught as a child.

I was raised in a very strict religious environment from birth to the age of 10.  Even after we left the “cult,” my parents’ values continued to be based on those which had been instilled in them through years of teaching a.k.a. brainwashing.  

This “cult” that I left as a child has many ideas or beliefs which I am not at ease with and, quite frankly, I am appalled that people still subscribe to this way of thinking. 

One example of a belief that I cannot understand is their attitude of religious superiority.  It makes me shudder because it is this very attitude that provokes them to send missionaries around the globe for ‘church planting.’  Africa seems to be a favorite destination, as if Africans in particular, are in need of religious assistance.  This is sending a strong message that they believe their religion is superior, and in turn implying that they are superior people.  Coincidentally or not, the missionaries being sent to Africa by this religious organization are inevitably white, and frequently ministering to non-whites.  To assume superiority, spoken or unspoken, based on religion or any other criteria is absolute poppycock. 

Another example of a practice I believe is incorrect is the breaking of a child’s spirit.  From infancy forward, a child is subject to the whims of the head of the household..   There are several methods in which this “breaking the spirit”  is accomplished.  Holding a child tight until they give in is one way.  Expecting young children to sit still and be quiet during the hour long church services, and spanking them if they do not is another way.  A child whose spirit has been broken is unable to think of themselves as an individual..

Another of their basic tenets which is repulsive is that women are “possessions” of men and men are the “head of the household.”  In their eyes, even though I was not a member of their community, Myrna Penner ceased to exist when I married.  Not only did I lose “Penner,’ I became Mrs. Mead, a possession of Kevin Mead.  I became Kevin’s wife.  Visiting our home meant that visitors were going to ‘Kevin’s” not to Kevin and Myrna’s.  Waiting for us at family gatherings became waiting for Kevin’s, not waiting for Kevin and Myrna.

The previous mindset ties right into their belief that men are the “stronger vessel” and by inference, if one is the stronger vessel, the other is weaker and somewhat inferior.  Women are taught to “submit” to their husbands, which can potentially put them in a highly dangerous situation if the man is on a power trip due to his perceived superiority.

At the time I began to think for myself and question such things as I have described above, every attempt was made by others to squelch my voice and break my spirit.  In some ways they succeeded, but that has only made me speak volumes louder later in life; as if to make up for the silence that was enforced in my earlier years.

I will not be silenced.