Catholicism molested my brain.

[quarky]

Never mind sex, my young mind was given math formulas that didn't compute, for lack of better analogy, from the Roman Catholic Church.

I don't think I was ever sexually molested, but I remember some of the poignant details of advice from these authorities:

A nun, at catechism class, explained that we wouldn't need to go to church or school if it wasn't for that original sin that Eve did.
As I had already suspected at the age of 7, church, and school were punishment.

Jesus comes along, and I like him, because my very earliest toy was the manger figures that I got to play with at Christmas time, and I really liked animals, and I thought that Jesus was very lucky to get to have a crib with donkeys and sheep and a camel standing nearby.

So he sort-of pays off the sin of Eve (Adam wasn't a major player in the sin as it was told to me) and now we have enormous debt to Jesus because he made this sacrifice to cover for the bad thing Eve did, and it boils down to eternal church-going. With some money-tossing into baskets. And some "domini-dominis" at the correct moment; with a sense of mortal sins tossed in...stuff like kissing a girl before you were married; eating meat on Friday; missing mass on Sunday, etc.

The illogic of this early, heavy-handed programming is worth mentioning, as a form of abuse.

The sexual abuse news about the Catholics tends to dominate the conversation. The broader issue might be this:

Even if they managed to completely eliminate molestation of any sort, the Catholic Church would still be churning out kids whose mind's had been farked.

I had a dog i truly loved as a boy. Because they had got me all scared about hell and heaven, I asked if my dog would go to heaven, and the nun in charge said "no".

Around the same time, I was learning some math and science.
There was extreme incongruities. My aunt Betty told me I was going to hell for raising the subject matter to her.

We need to be rid of this cruelty to children.
Its not just sex abuse.
I hope that part doesn't make a smoke screen over the underlying sickness of shoving formulas, of sorts, down young children's throats...that simply don't compute.

This is the foundation of mental illness, imho.

yes, tl;dr

but I feel better.

 

[stilicho]

A nun, at catechism class, explained that we wouldn't need to go to church or school if it wasn't for that original sin that Eve did. As I had already suspected at the age of 7, church, and school were punishment.

Jesus comes along, and I like him, because my very earliest toy was the manger figures that I got to play with at Christmas time, and I really liked animals, and I thought that Jesus was very lucky to get to have a crib with donkeys and sheep and a camel standing nearby.

I was brought up in a religious household--Lutheranism. But my Dad, in spite of being the minister, also held that scepticism was important.

I guess my first realisation that something was wrong--I must have been eight or nine--was that I couldn't see how anyone could disprove they were the second coming of Jesus if "he" was supposed to return. I mean, what if the kid I had a scrap with on the soccer field was actually Jesus? He might turn me into a newt or something.

As you did, I found that the ritual of attending church was a punishment. It always seemed to come at the most inopportune time--Sunday morning--what's with that? I could get into it if it was during a school class I didn't like, just to break up the boredom.

I never did get confirmed because it didn't seem important and there was no pressure for me to do so. I guess that's a little different than others who were compelled to go through each of the rituals before they quit. To their credit, and in spite of their continued adherence to religion, both my parents have willed that they should not have a religious funeral ceremony upon their deaths.

We will probably have a party on both occasions.

That said, I think it's time for those who are religious to really take a closer look at the culture it fosters.

 

[quarky]

well said.

 

[Modified]

As you did, I found that the ritual of attending church was a punishment. It always seemed to come at the most inopportune time--Sunday morning--what's with that?

I remember thinking the same. They tell us this is a "day of rest", then assign a grueling chore.

 

[stilicho]

I remember thinking the same. They tell us this is a "day of rest", then assign a grueling chore.

And I tried passing the time by singing different hymns to the same tune since they printed the numbers corresponding to the verse and chorus at the tops of the pages, and also trying to get "god" to blow out the candles or make the altar turn into a block of ice, or something interesting.

The potluck suppers were kind of fun, though.

 

[casebro]

To sum up all of the christian tribes beliefs: Jesus Christ had a very bad weekend for Eve's sin. Ever since, they have engaged in ritual cannibalism, right in front of the family.

So why should I waste all those Sunday mornings, and the Tuesday afternoons in catechism?

But lately, I've been spending Sundays performing my own miracle. Turning water into wine. Simply add sugar, fruit juice, and yeast. Jesus was a Homebrewer!