Posted by Mitchell on December 26, 2002, at 20:31:26
In reply to Re: please be supportive of religious faith, posted by Dr. Bob on December 15, 2002, at 21:18:59
As the child of a Baptist family in the American South, I am astounded that a psychologically oriented web site would bannish open discussion of harm caused by presumptive thinking patterns often referred to as faith. This defies scientific and academic standards of language.
Here is the short version of my formative years firmly grounded in a southern church: family violence that I was aware of, and whispered among adults, lynchings, church burnings and the Sunday morning shooting of a civil rights activist, in the presence of his family, just two blocks from the Baptist church where the activist had been denied entry.
What about the children who were allowed entry? Are we to call our religious experience positive and be good quiet Germans when somebody speaks of human rights violations? I can say with certainty that, in settings where I am otherwise invited to promote religious speech as a healthy behavior, prohibitions against honest discussion of my childhood experience comprise abuse of authority. Consider how the child of Nazi parents would feel reading a site where only positive aspects of the Nazi experience may be discusseed.
Much of the injury I suffer now as a child of the South focuses on the silence I must maintain regarding inappropriate authority. From my childhood experiences, I learned to recognize abusive authority. Now I see abusive power relationships more plainly than many who grew up without challenging innappropriate authority. Now, I live in a world where I routinely witness abusive use of power by public officials, merchants, scholars and employers, but am required to act as if their abuse is legitimate. To find an ostensible mental-health-related site were religious thought, speech and activity can only be treated as a healthy activity adds insult to my injury.
Maybe this is not your religous experience, but it is mine, Dr. Hsuing. I am sorry you want no part of my experience, and are unwilling to allow here public consideration of suffering such as I encountered before I was old enough to defend myself or my community. I wonder whose interests you are protecting. Perhaps other schools not founded on Baptist principals will allow acurate discourse in their public forums.
poster:Mitchell
thread:8516
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20021128/msgs/8592.html