Exvangicals
While traveling through Greece, I have been finishing "Exvangelicals" a book about the exit from Evangelicalism, particularly since the Trump presidency.
The portion I am reading now speaks of the trauma that has been visited upon these evangelicals by their religion. I appreciate this analysis since threats of eternal condemnation, crazy rapture theories, denial of your orientation, guilt around normal sexual thoughts and behavior, can do a real number on you. Yet, I worry that trauma can be thrown around too easily these days. PTSD is a real condition. Using it too lightly can do a real disservice to those who have it. From my perspective, not all of our challenges and struggles, especially as privileged Americans, are a matter of trauma. Talk to the Gazans about trauma. Talk to the survivors of the Holocaust about it. Speak to the descendants of slaves. Speak to the fighters of wars. Sometimes, not always, their trauma experiences may put ours in some kind of perspective, which is not to deny the power of our personal trauma at all, but to make sure ours is not a matter of personal whining.