Toxicity

DIAGNOSING TOXICITY
An honest assessment of the toxic, abusive power of religion can be described in ways by which religions use cult-like methods of fear and guilt to attract, retain and control members:

  • People join religion out of fear of going to hell.
  • People join religion because they feel guilty about the things they have and have not done in their lives and fear that God will punish them for their shortcomings.
  • People adopt religious beliefs and engage in religious practices out of fear of rejection they imagine they would experience if they did not openly demonstrate to co-religionists  that they share those beliefs and respect those practices.
  • People follow religious rules because they fear that God will not love them and reward them if they do not follow those rules.
  • People stay in religion out of fear of rejection by friends and family if they would leave.
  • People stay in religion because they don’t know who would conduct a funeral for them and say nice things about them after they die.
  • See this link for more fears, concerns and questions that keep people in religion.

All of this fear has the effect of poisoning the mind in a way that creates a very negative, pessimistic world view based on fears planted by religion. None of this thinking reflects a Godly world view based on love. This is why God wants to cast out religion based on fear and replace fear with his love. And he is doing this one person at a time when he calls his people to come out of religion.

The process of being called out begins with doubts about religion that God plants in the minds of people.

STUDY TIP: See the article Two-Thirds of Christians Face Doubt for a report on how common doubt is among Christians.

Jews seem to have a more redemptive view of doubt as we see in How Do I Deal With Doubt? Their view more agrees with the Godly perspective which says that doubt leads to salvation.

The nature of doubt is that it does not come all at once. It begins with a little here and a little there. If quenched, it will go nowhere, or at least delay coming to spiritual maturity. If nurtured, however, it will become fruitful as God slowly, but surely, leads us away from the wilderness of religion where we listen to false prophets into the promised land where we hear his spoken voice.

Along the way, doubt, when combined with study in pursuit of truth, disciples who are taught directly by God and true prophets — not false prophets — will come to the following realizations:

  • They realize that religion has controlled how they think about people who do not share their particular religion.
  • They realize that religion has controlled to some degree how they use their time and money to support the religion.
  • They realize that they have been deceived by false prophets.
  • They realize that religious leaders selectively use scripture to justify the fear and control they use to attract and retain people to support their religious organization.
  • They no longer find the literal words of the Bible to be believable.
  • They are only satisfied with what they learn from God’s spoken voice or through his true prophets.
  • They see hypocrisy in religion.
  • They see the ever-present, pervasive commercialism in religion.

Disciples come to understand these truths only because God has opened their spiritual eyes and ears to hear his voice. People who are intoxicated with religion, however, do not see these problems with religion and cannot understand why anyone would want to leave their religion. Religious indoctrination has blinded from seeing the truth.

Ex-religionists, on the other hand, do see, or at least have begun to see, how they have been victims of fear, guilt  and control perpetrated on them by religion. Therefore, ex-religionists will understand why religion is the enemy and why God uses the terms of slavery and bondage to describe the effects of religion.

The Toxicity Forum assumes that the toxic nature of religion poisons a healthy spiritual relationship with God while convincingly and deceptively representing religion as a benefit.  It is a  place for people to report personal experiences — successes and struggles — in their addiction to toxic religion so that others might learn to recognize religious toxicity and be encouraged to endure in their own challenge to overcome addiction to religion (i.e. detoxify).

Visit the Toxicity Forum to read what others have to say and comment on your own experiences with religious Toxicity.

Commenters to all forums are strongly encouraged to read Cautions About Forum Posts before posting to any forum.

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