Week in Review (July 4th Edition)
Democracy Demolition, Leaving Religion without Losing It, and Why It's Best We Unplug Everything
Has religion created a public mental health crisis?
My week started with this question. A recently released study in the Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry Journal, or SHERM Journal, found that 1 in 3 Americans suffer some form of trauma related to religion at some point in their life. I decided to discuss this issue in my published article on Tuesday titled, Can you Pray Away a Mental Health Condition? Why religion can be bad for your mental health.
For my paid subscribers this week I published an additional article that gives a sneak-peek into what I will be presenting at the ORTCON 2024 conference next week at the Grand Tetons. ORTCON (Open and Relational Theology Conference) is a collection of theologians and philosophers who gather together each year to present their latest work. What I will be sharing is still incubating but I made my first attempt to articulate it in my Substack article, Not Ready for Prime Time: My Upcoming ORTCON 2024 Presentation. Be warned; it’s not for the faint of heart, and may result in my being branded a heretic by some… for the second time.
What Subscribers are Saying
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe695346f-a7cc-46a2-8183-c8b6516254b2_800x800.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F09510cbc-c815-42ac-a083-fe7719b7a556_800x800.jpeg)
The story behind the book Robert refers to, Being Jesus in Nashville, was quite an ordeal. I devoted a year of my life to a human experiment. After deconstructing and discarding most of my Christianity, I set out to determine if and how Jesus was still relevant for my life. I signed a 2-book deal with Zondervan Publishers, which included the book about my Jesus project, and a second follow-up book after that.
I had no idea that my one-year experiment would include the deaths of my mother and father, two of my own near-death experiences, and a mind-blowing resolution to my Jesus question. Nor did I expect I would become the center of a public firestorm of controversy when I submitted my manuscript to Zondervan.
The Being Jesus in Nashville manuscript was rejected on the grounds that it did not “lie within the bounds of biblical, orthodox Christianity.” I was accused of heresy and my 2-book contract was promptly canceled. As a result, all my books were pulled from the shelves of LifeWay and other Christian bookstore chains. There was further controversy about the original version of the book that was eventually published, and I released a new edition of the book this year. Phew! Like, that’s way too much going on for one book!
Roundup of Notable Reads
Given the July 4th holiday, I decided to mention a few notable reads related to American democracy.
- in her Substack publication Letters from an American wrote a July 4th article that is worth the read. Among other things, she touches upon recent interests of some to rename “Western democracy” as “Christian democracy”.
One reason why I subscribe to the newsletter of
is how she challenges people to unlearn societal conditioning and live more authentically. A New York Times bestselling author and former political analyst, she still occasionally discusses politics and her article this week, Do You Want the US to Remain a Democracy? is worth consideration.I recently subscribed to
’s Substack newsletter, The Good in Us. Mary Trump is an American psychologist and writer. She also holds the distinction of being a niece of former US president Donald Trump, who she has been critical of as well as the rest of the Trump family. This week she published an interesting July 4th article, Who We Choose to Be:On the heels of the most recent presidential debate,
wrote an interesting article titled, Honestly, how old is too old? Robert Reich worked in the administrations of presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997 in the cabinet of President Bill Clinton. He was also a member of President Barack Obama's economic transition advisory board.Historian and author,
, wrote a compelling piece this week, What the Slave Is the Fourth of July? - Frederick Douglass, which unpacks the speech given on July 5, 1852, by Frederick Douglass, who asked, “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?”
This Week in Images
It was a week in politics. The below photo seems to capture it:
David Hayward’s cartoon below sums up the difficulty many people experience in seeking love through religion:
I’m a huge fan of the Tour de France. British sprinter Mark Cavendish broke the record (photo below) for the most Tour de France stage wins in history with his sprint finish victory during Stage 5. Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates is the overall leader of the 2024 Tour de France general classification standings and is wearing the yellow jersey.
5 Tips for Not Driving Yourself Crazy After Leaving Religion
Refrain from indulging social media posts written by people representing the toxic religious group you left. If necessary, unfriend or block such people and remove yourself from any related groups. It’s a waste of mental and emotional energy to follow or stalk religious folk from your past or similar religious-thinking people. Cultivate a new network of connections and relationships that encourage and support your current spiritual and personal growth journey.
Find a more meaningful and substantial direction for your journey than only fighting the absurdities of toxic religion. Look, that’s why you left. Right? Because it was absurd. Why rehash this every day? What is this doing for you? Do you think you're going to wake up one morning and suddenly all these people are going to think like you do? There will never come a time when there will not be absurd religious thinking. I'm not saying to stop exposing and opposing the damage that toxic religion does. I'm just saying don't let it be your main or only thing. Make your life more than what you are against, be a living expression of what you are for.
If you have been psychologically or spiritually harmed through your involvement in abusive religion or toxic religious indoctrination, get professional help and support for cultivate healing, freedom and wholeness. I have a counseling practice that addresses the issues of Religious Trauma Syndrome, and the damage done by toxic religion. This is one reason why I founded the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality, to build a community and network of resources to support people in their deconstruction, healing, recovery and reconstruction process. Being angry and resentful toward religion is a normal response and a stage in the recovery process, but too many people get stuck there and never progress further than that. Anger and resentment are understandable but will only get you so far.
Focus on rebuilding a new life after religion. It's not necessary to make religion the focal point of your life, either for it or against it. Invest your energy in creating the life you want going forward. Explore and investigate non-religious spirituality and cultivate a spirituality that is meaningful to you. Expand your horizons by exploring new fields of knowledge such as the sciences, philosophy, psychology, the arts, and history. Another reason why I started the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality is to support people in their exploration of spirituality beyond the limitations of organized religion.
Cultivate compassion for people trapped in toxic religion. The reason why religious people judge, harass, betray, reject, and condemn those who leave, is because the religious system they were indoctrinated into leaves them no choice. Once you leave toxic religion, you are an existential threat to the people who remain in the system. That doesn't excuse their behavior, but you can understand this since you were once in it yourself. It's not personal. Though feelings of hurt, betrayal and anger are a natural response to those who wound you, in the long run it's better for you not to harbor resentment, but to develop compassion.
In Summary
Toxic religion has created a public mental health crisis, which hardly anyone is talking about.
This July 4th in a presidential election year has brought into sharp focus the current volatility of American democracy and the impact of religion.
Find a rationale for compassion in all cases.
I’ve done my share of long-distance cycling and traditionally watch each year’s Tour de France, which is 2,170 miles.
If all else fails, try unplugging it and plugging it back in.
I was biking the Natchez Trace Parkway in Nashville, Tennessee. No, it’s not a Tour de France yellow jersey, but a guy can dream.
Thank you for this. Especially this ..”Cultivate compassion for people trapped in toxic religion. The reason why religious people judge, harass, betray, reject, and condemn those who leave, is because the religious system they were indoctrinated into leaves them no choice. Once you leave toxic religion, you are an existential threat to the people who remain in the system. That doesn't excuse their behavior, but you can understand this since you were once in it yourself. It's not personal. Though feelings of hurt, betrayal and anger are a natural response to those who wound you, in the long run it's better for you not to harbor resentment, but to develop compassion.”
That is helping me to step back. Step back to compassion. After watching the Bad Faith documentary and seeing myself in the faces of those who are being systematically indoctrinated into a worldview, I’ve been angry and anxious about what to do to wake people up. Now I know I need to do a couple of things. The most important one is to take care of myself. Angry and anxious are not good starting points. The second thing is to remember my own journey out of the system and maybe be a friend on the road for other travelers. I’m going to check out your recommended reads because I’m thinking they will be encouraging. Appreciate your work, Jim, as always.