Any Ex-Fundies here at DU?

[KitchenWitch]

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Yo.

--p!

[alittlelark]

2. I recieived at least 2 'exorcisms' at the hands of mom's churches

Back when she was convinced I was possessed by demons (in reality, she still thinks I am).

I Spoke in Toungues to get rid of them as well..... Nothing worked.

I KNOW that world. I'm 40 something... this sh*t has been around a looong time.

I will move on, but likely never forgive.

[KitchenWitch]

3. When I was younger, I got involved with a fundie

I was very impressionable at the time, so I got really involved with it, I have some scars, myself, from that experience.

I was raised Catholic, became a fundie, and am now (and have been for around 20 years) a pagan.

[hfojvt]

4. sort of, but I am not really an X

I was raised Presbyterian, but I have gone to Free Methodist and Nazarene and Christian (the sect, not the generic term) churches. It would not bother me to goto one yesterday, which is not to say that I would agree with everything they preach or teach, but the same is true of Presbyterian or Methodist churches too.

[Ladyhawk]

5. Yeah, it kind of sucked, too.

I could write a book.

[bling bling]

8. Maybe you should.

Maybe you could help others to understand.

[Ladyhawk]

20. I probably already have written a book in various forums. :)

Lately, I'm just sick of the whole thing.

[Solar]

6. I think so

I think I used to be close to being considered a fundie.

Then I grew up.

It was like an epiphany, all of a sudden I woke up and within a week or so I had done a complete 180.

[hfojvt]

7. Bokonon defines maturity

as a bitter disappointment for which there is no remedy, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything

[xchrom]

9. laughter is a remedy for most anything, isn't it?

great quote.

[mondo joe]

13. What was the epiphany?

I'm really very interested.

There are so many fundies that I believe KNOW they're...not right. But it's almost as if they've backed themselves into a corner and can't pull themselves out.

How the sudden change??

[Feathered Fish]

10. Not personally

but my first boyfriend was. Well, more like his parents. All three boys in that family were also regularly beaten by their father who would find any excuse to do so: swearing, blasphemy (ie: using jesus h. christ to express frustration), not cleaning up after themselves (the youngest boy was only 7 so he was often singled out by leaving toys on the floor) and any other small infraction. It was at this point in my life when I realized that religious fervor was a terrible and damaging trait.
All the other fundies I know are staunch Catholics, who do not necessarily conform to the definition of fundamentalist. The pious Catholics I know are quiet and do not try to push their religion on anyone.

[Love Bug]

11. Yep.

Got "saved" when I was 15 and drifted in and out of fundy church life for the next 25 years. When I turned 40 I decided I could no longer deal with the constant guilt and feeling I never measured up so I abandoned the fundamentalist brand of Christianity entirely. Best decision I ever made.

[Tafiti]

12. Yup.

My dad was an AG minister until I was 12, and 2 of my uncles still are. So, I spent my whole life around it. I wasn't able to completely shake it off until I really began my education at college, though the erosion process had already begun.

It is almost depressing to look back at how my life used to be. I watched the movie Saved! over the weekend, and it brought back awful memories. That movie did a pretty good job of spoofing fundamentalist Christians, even if a little oversimplified.

[Coventina]

14. I was raised very conservative...not quite fundie

My mom was raised as a fundie, though.

We went to some borderline-fundie churches growing up, and I was sent to fundie VBS programs. They forced us to watch movies like "Thief in the Night", which has scarred me for life.

:scared:

Maybe that's why I'm Christo-pagan now.

[Love Bug]

21. I remember "Thief in the Night"!

What a piece of shite!

[Coventina]

23. Greetings, fellow survivor

I hope you were not forced to watch it at the tender age I was (and I wasn't even in the youngest group).

:hug:

I can't imagine that is what Jesus had in mind for the treatment of children.

[realisticphish]

25. what is that movie about

:shrug: never heard of it, sounds intriguing in a horrifying sort of way

[Coventina]

28. It's about the rapture

It's meant to make the viewer paranoid about getting left behind.

And it does a good job, at least, when I saw it at 8 years old, it did a real good job.
The movie is extremely violent and scary, and it is the height of irresponsibility to show it to young children.
Even though I was raised in the faith, and firmly believed that I was a Christian, I've suffered a paranoia all my life that somehow I will get left behind if/when the rapture happens. Even professional (secular) counseling only helped slightly. It only helped me accept that I will probably be haunted the rest of my life.

on edit: typo
And a further warning: The "sequel" "A Distant Thunder" is even worse, and yes, I was forced to watch THAT also.

[realisticphish]

29. wow

i'm really sorry. I'm suddenly VERY glad my church doesn't do the whole rapture thing

[JimmyJazz]

15. Not exactly. I went from being apolitical to having

leftist political views. But, I was raised in a fundie household.

[ghostsofgiants]

16. I was raised Pentecostal (if Pentecostal is fundamentalist)

I've heard him call muslims "the source of everything wrong with the world" and he gave me an hour-long lecture about how the "so called educated people" are gonna try to teach me about evolution in university.

But I became rather skeptical of religion at a relatively young age.

[Missy Vixen]

17. Yes

My name is Julie, and I am a former fundy. I left the church when I realized that I didn't believe 99% of the crap being preached from the pulpit -- in other words, Planned Parenthood was not a tool of the devil, one would not go to Hell for seeing a R-rated movie, etcetera. I also was fairly amazed to discover that those I had thought so godly had some interesting personal habits which they were convinced the pastor had no idea about. (Whether or not the pastor had knowledge was directly in correlation with how much the church member had contributed to the building fund.)

To this day, I avoid attending any event in an AG church.

Julie

[Blue Diadem]

18. Never one myself, raised by one

I was finished with it all when my Mom sent me to our neighbor's church when I was around 13. On my only visit, the minister decided I had to be possessed because I refused to follow the rest of the people and fall when they pushed on my head. I can still remember the neck pain as she pushed on my forehead. Then she decided to push on my stomach while the person who normally caught the people, began to push on my mid/lower back to make me throw up the demon. I really thought they were trying to kill me.

I never told my Mom what happened..it would have been all my fault. I just refused to go back.

[Love Bug]

22. It's a shame you didn't throw up on them

Would've served them right!

[ChickMagic]

19. Yeppers.

I'm recovered now.

[KitchenWitch]

24. Thanks everyone for sharing your stories

I especially related to the "push on the head" story. How gullible do these people think everyone is? The very sad thing is that my dad has gone over to them (the fundies) and buys the bullshit lock, stock, and barrel. And this is an educated man.

I was a fundie well before my dad was, and now I am not, but it is hard to watch him.

I refuse to talk politics or religion with him, as it is a no-win situation. He is convinced that he is right, and agreeing to disagree is not enough for him.

[donheld]

26. X-fundie here

Thank god i'm over it.

[ze_dscherman]

27. Kind of

I was raised as a Jehovahs Witness, and got out when I was seventeen.