There's a new button on 72 Pins that you can, and should, click. Doing so will allow you to make a donation to Cancer Research UK, which is a good idea as they're doing work that has the potential to benefit humans in all parts of the world, not just the UK.
Another group I could have chosen to support is called To Write Love On Her Arms, which I previously knew only as a slogan I had seen on a couple of t-shirts. Digging into their website a bit, I discovered that they support counseling for people at risk of committing suicide. That's an admirable goal in itself, but as I read more, something started to disturb me. Little by little, the tell-tale signs started to present themselves, and soon I got the familiar feeling that I was reading something written by evangelical Christians.
A little more digging confirmed this to my satisfaction. Here's a quote from TWLOHA's "Vision" page:
That has nothing to do with suicide prevention and everything to do with evangelizing--evangelizing to vulnerable people who need help from medical professionals. I read more, and wasn't comforted by TWLOHA's official denial of their status as a Christian organization:
But that's not really a denial of being a Christian organization. That's a denial of wanting to be perceived as a Christian organization. Claiming to be secular while pushing God on people who are too weak to resist isn't non-Christian--it's lying.
You need to know that rescue is possible, that freedom is possible, that God is still in the business of redemption.
That has nothing to do with suicide prevention and everything to do with evangelizing--evangelizing to vulnerable people who need help from medical professionals. I read more, and wasn't comforted by TWLOHA's official denial of their status as a Christian organization:
Q: Is TWLOHA a “Christian” organization?
A: No. Identifying something such as a band, store, venue or project as "Christian" often alienates those outside of the church/Christian culture, and we don't want to do that. TWLOHA aims to be inclusive and inviting. This is a project for all people regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs. This is a project for broken people, and it is led by broken people.
But that's not really a denial of being a Christian organization. That's a denial of wanting to be perceived as a Christian organization. Claiming to be secular while pushing God on people who are too weak to resist isn't non-Christian--it's lying.
I think my distaste for TWLOHA's approach is justified, given that I was once in a position to need the secular help they insist is their primary mission. In 2005, I ended two abusive relationships, one with my ex-girlfriend, one with my ex-employer. I have never felt worse about myself, less confident, less useful. I started popping sleeping pills since the self-loathing thoughts wouldn't let me get to sleep on my own. Every time I woke up, I'd pop another pill immediately. One afternoon I woke up and it dawned on me that, maybe if I swallowed the whole bottle of pills at once, I wouldn't have to wake up again.
I don't remember much of the next two weeks or so, except that I was in a couple of different hospitals and talked at by a lot of doctors whose voices blended into the background noise. When I finally got out, I only felt better to the extent that I no longer actively wanted to die. I had quit my job to go back to college, so I threw myself into my studies because it kept my mind off of darker things, most of the time.
I was studying philosophy, and the more I learned about how to think critically, the more I was able to confront the issues that had brought me to the lowest point of my life. I realized that my problems largely stemmed from my own irrational thinking. Logic gave me a set of tools to evaluate and correct those thought processes. Realizing that I wasn't the prisoner of those thought processes was the most liberating, confidence-building experience of my life.
I was studying philosophy, and the more I learned about how to think critically, the more I was able to confront the issues that had brought me to the lowest point of my life. I realized that my problems largely stemmed from my own irrational thinking. Logic gave me a set of tools to evaluate and correct those thought processes. Realizing that I wasn't the prisoner of those thought processes was the most liberating, confidence-building experience of my life.
That's why TWLOHA's evangelical nonsense about being "a project for broken people...led by broken people" completely enrages me. The thought that everyone and everything was "broken" is exactly why I got to the point of wanting to be dead. What saved me was realizing that I wasn't broken, just wrong. And wrong can be corrected, if you're willing to learn.
I don't doubt that the people at TWLOHA have the best of intentions, but I think their approach, couched in evangelical anti-humanism and self-hatred is wrong, dangerous and ultimately the opposite of loving. Never let some pious idiot tell you that you have to accept your "brokenness" and theirs as well. Identify your problems and find solutions, because they do exist.
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Glad you sprung back from the brink. The night I talked to my Uncle on the phone as my cousin lay upstairs clearly drugged up on something and told him I would have to throw his son out of our house because he certainly wasn't doing his part to get better and I had my own child to think about, he said something along the lines of: "You know, no one in this family believes in a higher power, but maybe that's what he needs. Maybe he's too weak to actually get better by himself and he needs something bigger than him to think about."
ReplyDeleteI think that's what religion is a lot of times. A crutch for weak people to use when they can't improve their lives on their own. It's good to know that you found a better way to escape your emotional prisons. I use my wife and kid as a crutch instead. Probably not the best solution but it works.
I know it probably doesn't sound like it reading this post, but I actually don't have a problem with people using religion as a crutch, as long as they make the decision on their own. My problem is with those religious people who (maybe without even realizing it) focus their conversion efforts on those who are too weak to make rational decisions.
ReplyDeleteI agree. My cousin might have needed a higher power, and maybe that's what he found -- I haven't talked to him for a few years so I wouldn't know. My sister threw herself into religion when she was depressed and it's mostly helped her turn things around so I don't really talk about religious things with her. If that's what it takes for people to find some hope in life then I won't argue with them.
ReplyDeleteOn the note of organizations that lie about their christianity pushing, I forget their name but this Leftover Crack song is about those people that would take money for giving food to third world countries and spend a large part on bibles as well - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0rZp8hqPtg