Are Fundamentalists Real Christians?

Straight Talk About Shaming Religious Trauma Survivors

My first reaction, pure instinct, was utter disgust. Then I registered the pain her words caused. Ouch.

Her message stung. I wish I could say it didn’t but I was reading her email at 3 am, breaking my own phone rules, and my defenses were down as well as my boundaries. While there’s a voice in my head that suggests, “this is what you get for checking email in the middle of the night,” in my heart I know that’s usually a safe thing to do, even if it is bad sleep hygiene.

Telling someone you don’t like the way they’re surviving and demanding they do it your way is a dick move. It’s cruel, and unfortunately for trauma survivors, it’s a trope we know all too well. When I get a message like this, it’s always from the same kind of source. This time I’m not going to delete and be silent; I’m going to use it as an example because it’s hella relevant to the work I do.

So here’s what happened. And yes, I’m going to quote the actual letter. This post is provocative and I hope it’s really clear. Why people piss off writers, I’ll never know. We say things. Writers tell. It’s what we’re here for.