Tabby.

[tabby]

Walkaway from Fundamentalist Christianity, school and church, here; survived a lot; fortunately never got near a lot of things.

I basically have the familiar abuse/survival story.

Also, atheist feminist lesbian. Being a lesbian actually had nothing to do with any of the abuse, really, besides making me more likely to befriend the guys in early childhood and get alienated as a result when rigid gender roles set in later.

But it did make me realize my teachings couldn't possibly be true, because I was guaranteed God didn't make people gay, but I knew I hadn't chosen and couldn't change. (No, I didn't have a relationship with a girl--I fell in love with a guy.)

And yeah, ask me about the lies of Creationism. I spent so much time deprogramming myself it's not even funny. Talkorigins is love <3

(And yeah, I also went under Tat!Anon here, since that was my first comment. XD)

[jemand]

welcome tabby! I enjoyed your Tat!anon comments and I'm sure I'll enjoy the rest of your comments as well.

[tapati]

Hi Tabby! Welcome.

I was pretty much blasted out of my religion by realizing I was not straight. At the time, I thought I must be a lesbian because I had fallen in love with a woman, but later on I realized I was bisexual. Either way, by the fundamentalist orthodoxy of the Hare Krishna Movement there was no room for me unless I continued to view myself as "fallen" and needing to get rid of my queer desires and behaviors. I decided that God made me just the way I am and later gravitated to Goddess worship.

I'll be interested to hear more of your story.

[calulu]

Tabby! I so totally hear you on the deprogramming. It's taken me about three years to decompress/decompose/deprogram from my years at a semi fundie church. It's an odd thing when you start to really think on your own and realize what a crock of you know what you've been following. Good luck with your path.

A year ago I started writing a novel about a woman that had a rude awakening about the lifestyle of Xian fundamentalism and walked away. It's been very therapeutic and thought provoking for me at the same time. It's not been an easy process.