Christianity really can be like a drug. And when it’s not, people insist that it is. Take the widespread distrust of psychiatry and counseling found throughout the religion. No, psychiatry is not perfect and has its problems. Big problems. But untreated mental illness has even worse problems.
Both my parents got sucked into fundamentalism after growing [...]

I write so much on here about how much religion has hurt me, but I thought the other day about how much worse it could have been in so many ways! In many ways, I am very fortunate. Here are 1o reasons why I’m lucky (in no particular order):

I had Steve to help me [...]

I loved working at our church’s camp. As my mother worked nights, it was where I learned how to be a good, Christian woman. I learned how to cook and clean. I found and read a copy of Martha Peace’s The Excellent Wife: A Biblical Perspective in the evenings and learned about how to treat [...]

How did I manage to get myself into such a predicament regarding my career choices? I’ve mentioned how I have a psychology degree a few times. But what possessed me to get one in the first place? My parents told me they didn’t want me to get a psych degree, though the reason they gave [...]

Leah, a former Mormon who blogs at The Whore of All the Earth, asked on Thursday how we have replaced prayer in our lives if we used to be religious. I realized, a bit surprised, that I don’t miss prayer at all. In fact, I feel a lot less stressed because of it!
Prayer for me [...]

My parents, good Christians that they were, carefully monitored everything we watched on television. Very few modern shows were allowed, with even certain G-rated movies deemed “inappropriate.” (They have, by the way, relaxed a bit over the last few years.) Instead, we watched quite a few rather horrendous Christian B-movies. Some of these included the [...]

Ninth grade, PE, deserted locker room. Can you tell where I am going with this? (Not too far, don’t worry.)
It happened at the beginning of my second year of public school. We won’t talk about the first–it was that humiliating. I will talk about my life all day long, but hardly anyone knows how badly [...]

It’s interesting to go back and read thoughts on the beginning of a relationship that ended badly. Sometimes, I wonder, what was I thinking?! Well, now I know!   Here is the first journal entry I ever wrote that mentioned Bob. And wow, it’s . . . well, just read it for yourselves. Sorry, Steve!
This [...]

I found it. The journal I kept in my earliest days of college, naivete dripping from every word. I can barely read it. Some people don’t really believe what I write. Could I really be so innocent? I challenge them to make it through more than two entries before they start kissing my feet, begging [...]

I tell people I didn’t become an atheist just because I was angry at God, and that is true. One of the reasons I know this is because I did go through an angry phase right after I separated from Bob. My reasoning: I spent everything I had on pleasing God, and I lost everything: [...]