Anyways I believe the rot at the core of Dr. James Dobson's beliefs are abusive on every level. Which is why I have spent the past 18 months deep-diving Dobson, purity culture, and how serial child predators operate: strongwilled.substack.com/p/inside-the...

For me, "goodness" is related to how you treat people and much less to do with religion. Do you treat people as human beings deserving of care, compassion, and human rights? My parents cannot offer that even to their own children, let alone anyone outside of their insular religious group.

Is it any wonder that some of us leave? We've been hurt by the people who claim to love us, but we have to tell them constantly that their worldview is correct or else they withdraw what little support/affection they have. Their abusive, conditional love is the big secret we cannot say aloud.

When people disparage exvangelicals or anyone who has had to set firm boundaries with their evangelical parents I wish I could communicate how we were born into systems that we have no control over. The rules of the game are comply with the veneer of goodness, suffer silently, or leave.

The image of goodness that they cling to is what makes it so difficult to be in relationship with these folks. They only want to interact on their terms -- and those terms are that they are good people and their actions and beliefs are loving. Therefore they cannot listen or even apologize!

He (and other popular Christian writers, speakers, and pastors) also exported this way of being in the world to millions of people. So many of us exvangelicals struggle with this dichotomy in our own families. Every time we try and bring up how we have been hurt, we are met with dismissal.

read more here:
substack.com/home/post/p-...

Starting with Freud, there have been strategic and intentional efforts to not educate people on who is actually harming children, and we are all suffering as a result. Stranger Danger became a helpful myth to protect predators and leave children vulnerable.

The movie doesn't end with a revolution! but with the idea that the people cannot be unbrainwashed and so their illusions must be kept in tact. I just didn't understand it.

Sometimes I just think some of us need to celebrate how angry we make our relatives, you know?

Plus you get access to our discord! Like most creators, times are tough for us and your small financial contributions ($4 a month) really means. Thanks for helping us keep everything we do ad-free!

It's the third legacy media publication that seems to have been more concerned about my pronouns than my writing/thoughts/actions. Which is . . . not a good look for any of them.

Here's part three of our deep-dive into how purity culture is actually pedophile culture: strongwilled.substack.com/p/inside-the...