-
24 votes
-
How Iceland takes better care of its foreign criminal offenders than the rest of Europe
9 votes -
Ohio pastor charged for housing the homeless
45 votes -
The three-decade saga that led to the Crown Heights tunnels
13 votes -
Citing safety, dozens of Jewish families are leaving Oakland public schools
37 votes -
Employees can be banned from wearing headscarves, top EU court rules
28 votes -
Diplomas for sale: $465, no classes required. Inside one of Louisiana’s unapproved schools.
27 votes -
Seeking advice from atheist/nonreligious parents: How have you raised your kids to be freethinking amidst a highly religious community and/or extended family?
This question is particularly regarding kids ages 5-12. I've read some great tips, and I'm wondering what you have found to help. Here are a few: Emphasize boundaries with frequent caretakers,...
This question is particularly regarding kids ages 5-12. I've read some great tips, and I'm wondering what you have found to help. Here are a few:
- Emphasize boundaries with frequent caretakers, such as grandparents and neighbors.
- Share science facts, religious traditions, and a variety of creation myths with young kiddos to neutralize Bible stories.
- Talk regularly about your own ethics and values.
- Explain others' beliefs and contextualize those beliefs as part of their culture.
26 votes -
Battle over a recurrent French national obsession: How Muslim women should dress?
17 votes -
From fights over LGBT rights to prayer at school board meetings, Chino Valley California public schools have become ground zero for the culture wars
9 votes -
New Jersey court sides with Catholic school that fired unmarried pregnant teacher
24 votes -
Growing segregation by sex in Israel raises fears for women’s rights
71 votes -
First religious charter school in the US faces legal challenge
21 votes -
How do you find community after leaving a religion?
Hi Tildes! Long time lurker here who recently got an account. I love the long-form thoughtful discussion here and thought this might generate some interesting replies. I and my partner left a...
Hi Tildes! Long time lurker here who recently got an account. I love the long-form thoughtful discussion here and thought this might generate some interesting replies.
I and my partner left a high-control religious community (fundamentalist evangelicalism, think a Canadian version of the Shiny Happy People doc) eight years ago, and the experience was like a bomb going off in our life that we still find ourselves recovering from in many ways.
Growing up in that environment led to us having an extremely strong, and very possibly distorted, sense of what community is. People that treat you like family; bringing meals when you're sick, throwing you wedding showers, helping with home repairs, being shoulders to cry on... the works. Of course, as we later found out, this community could very easily be turned against you by certain powerful members of it, and it turned out there were many many strings attached that only became visible once we bumped up against them. When we left Christianity our entire community essentially disowned and ghosted us and we were left adrift.
It's now been eight years and we've managed to develop some friendships with folks that we hang out with once in a while, but nothing that even approaches the level of closeness and "family" that we felt in the church.
But maybe that's not normal or a realistic expectation? The funny thing about being so immersed in a subculture like that your entire life is that when you're suddenly on the outside of it, you realize you don't really have any idea what normal is. I still feel like I don't a lot of the time.
So: What insight can you share? Has anyone had a similar experience? What do your social communities look like out here in the real world? How do you find them?
72 votes -
The revolt of the Christian home-schoolers
39 votes -
Denmark to grant asylum to all women and girls from Afghanistan
11 votes -
India police detain students gathered to watch BBC documentary on Narendra Modi
8 votes -
A lecturer showed a painting of the prophet Muhammad. She lost her job.
13 votes -
Why is America obsessed with racial trauma?
6 votes -
US Supreme Court rules for former coach in public school prayer case
12 votes -
The Deep South’s dames of dildos
7 votes -
No one said destroying our idols would be easy
9 votes -
For asylum seekers, Norway is a sanctuary but even in remote towns, Muslim refugees say they face surveillance and threats
2 votes -
XXX-Files: Who torched the Pornhub palace?
5 votes -
Photojournalist Giuia Besana visits the world's northernmost priest who runs the Svalbard Church in Longyearbyen, in Norway's Svalbard archipelago
6 votes -
How purity culture messed up most of the men I know
16 votes -
Ministry of violence: Corporal punishment, evangelical Christians, and the doctrine of obedience
8 votes -
"One by one, all my friends were sent to the camps" - A first-hand account of a Uyghur Muslim whose family escaped China
13 votes -
To be more tech-savvy, borrow these strategies from the Amish
10 votes -
The Pope vs. Lululemon
5 votes -
How I survived a Chinese ‘reeducation’ camp for Uighurs
16 votes -
How the sun illuminates Spanish missions on the winter solstice
4 votes -
'I could show you stuff you wouldn’t believe:' Gravediggers speak out about horrifying conditions
8 votes -
Men quitting masturbation: "Porn addiction" support groups reinforce damaging gender stereotypes
25 votes -
My teenage rebellion was fundamentalist Christianity
7 votes -
We are all niqabis now: Coronavirus masks reveal hypocrisy of face covering bans
12 votes -
The Christian withdrawal experiment
9 votes -
Peter Thiel's Religion
4 votes -
Jews and Muslims in Sweden outraged over call to ban male circumcision
17 votes -
It's been a year since Denmark's contentious so-called Burka Ban came into force – since then 22 women have been fined
9 votes -
More people need to talk about having fewer children
29 votes -
Santas from as far away as Japan and El Salvador are attending 62nd World Santa Claus Congress in Copenhagen
5 votes -
Foreskin reclaimers: The ‘intactivists’ fighting infant male circumcision
27 votes -
China Muslims: Xinjiang schools used to separate children from families
9 votes -
Let me speak freely: Our freedom of speech 'crisis' is culture warriors' codswallop
9 votes -
I am a Jewish Arab
9 votes -
These millennials got new roommates. They’re nuns
7 votes -
Gender-segregated swim hours create hot water in some city pools
7 votes -
Lawyers for Noah’s Ark theme park are suing its insurance company for rain damage
6 votes -
What happened when I met my Islamophobic troll
9 votes