Religion works like mental illness. It gets you by through dysfunction, and leaves you with painful psychological symptoms

by Andrew Jasko | Dec 18, 2018 | Religious Trauma, Spiritual Growth

Fundamentalist religion works on the psyche like mental illness. It functions by creating dysfunctional personality structures that sort of get you by, but also produce enormous suffering. Anxiety is created by messages of fear and judgment, psychosis (not being able...

Christianity is Holy War. The Great Commission is Ideological Jihad. God’s Kingdom is a Regime of Violent Global Conquest. Liberal Christianities are Complicit.

by Andrew Jasko | Nov 22, 2018 | Hell, Religious Trauma, Spiritual Growth

Christianity is a Holy War Narrative. The Bible’s foundational message is a dictatorial King’s strategic vision of world domination. Holy War is a central metaphor in nearly the entire Bible.  Now that literal Holy War is less acceptable, God’s Kingdom Regime is...

Finding Spirituality after Religion. The Spiritual Suppression and Imperialism of Christianity: Individually, Globally, and Historically.

by Andrew Jasko | Nov 18, 2018 | Religious Trauma, Spiritual Growth

Christianity claims to promote spirituality. I sought spiritual experiences for twenty-six years in this religion. Yet I only began to experience them after I left Christianity. And I’ve noticed a curious trend: all the spiritual practices I find most transformative...

God is not loving. Love in God’s Kingdom is conditioned on obedience. Conditional love means I will accept you if you give me what I want

by Andrew Jasko | Nov 16, 2018 | Religious Trauma

God is not loving. Obedience and fear are more primary to the Christian system than love. Those who obey receive love; those who do not are condemned. Love predicated on obedience is conditional, and if I love you based on a condition, then my love is not really love....

Christianity is a trauma reaction. It re-enacts the trauma of suffering through punishments of wrath and sin. Compassionate awareness is the key to healing this traumatized way of approaching life

by Andrew Jasko | Nov 9, 2018 | Mental Health, Religious Trauma

Christianity is a trauma reaction. Judeo-Christian religiosity looks like a severely traumatized individual trying to resolve his trauma in unhealthy ways. Western religion attempts to resolve the trauma of humanity suffering by re-enacting it on other people in the...

The Protestant work ethic is the mental illness of our time. Willpower is a function of having access to yourself. Real hard work is not really hard.

by Andrew Jasko | Nov 5, 2018 | Mental Health, Religious Trauma, Uncategorized

The Protestant work ethic is the notion that your worth is a function of your hard work: what you produce. This is the mental illness of our time. The idea of hard work put forth in American society is a burden that crushes the broken and disenfranchised and...