#ReligiousTrauma

Mx. Luna CorbdenWe can't retain hope in the fight for progress if we only look at the state of politics.Institutional waves are more meaningful. Individual growth even moreso, and these changes spread outward in ripples. THAT is anarchy to me. That is the principle of Mutual Aid applied to influence and cultural momentum.But it takes time. It took this kid years to make the decision to read this letter to his Seminary (LDS high school religious education). And now this will sink deep into some of the other kids' minds. They will resist it, dismiss this act and dehumanize its actor, but the memory of it will surface over and over and they will ponder its meaning. It can only change some of them, and it will take years and many other disconfirming events for them to take a similar plunge. But some will, indeed, themselves walk out of the cave. And maybe make a fuss on their exit.This is activism. Not one hero riding in to save the day, not one prophet standing on the walls of Zarahemla under a rain of arrows, but each individual choosing the right as they learn it, one inch at a time.<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/1kc9uh5/its_finally_over/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/1kc9uh5/its_finally_over/</a><a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/cults" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#cults</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exvie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exvie</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exvangelical" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exvangelical</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/resist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#resist</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/EternalProgress" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EternalProgress</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenThey don't get to define my boundaries.<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/USPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Religion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Religion</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://m.ai6yr.org/@ai6yr/114428304002026354" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://m.ai6yr.org/@ai6yr/114428304002026354</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenSome people leave the LDS Church individually. I was one of those.But it's fascinating the times when it becomes a group project, when one's own doubts are generated by the doubts or struggles of others. It's less common perhaps, but it sometimes happens for couples and in close-knit extended families that don't immediately disown the first doubter.It happened in the case of John Dehlin and tens of thousands of his Mormon Stories audience. As he tried to grapple with issues in a faith promoting way, his doubts grew, his listeners' doubts grew, and then when the Church excommunicated him, he took most of them with him.Same with my client Natasha Helfer, on a smaller, more private scale. As she helped her therapeutic clients with faith crisis, or even just saw their pain trying so hard to live up to impossible ideals, or doing what the Church said and having tragic results, she learned from them, and they learned from her.Until they excommunicated her, too.It seems like they really don't like that, and will excommunicate the figurehead of this process.But all those invisible participants are just as much part of it. It's a collective thing. It wasn't Dehlin or Helfer who "led them astray." It was the falseness of Church claims, and the people collectively figuring that out by the mirrors they held up to each other.<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exvie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exvie</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exvangelical" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exvangelical</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenYesterday I learned about the Daybell murders, who were close degrees of separation from my family here in Idaho.Wild story. Not sure how it missed my awareness until now.Lori was just convicted last week.<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallow%E2%80%93Daybell_doomsday_murders" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallow%E2%80%93Daybell_doomsday_murders</a><a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/IDPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#IDPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/cults" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#cults</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenWhile we're interpreting the Pope's death right after Vance's visit in a certain humorous way, you'd better believe that a significant number of anti-Catholic evangelicals and Mormons will see it as Vance single-handedly conquering the church of the devil.🤷<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/USPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/religion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#religion</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exvie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exvie</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exvangelical" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exvangelical</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenAlso the economic system of Zion, The United Order, is basically communism, which the LDS Church fights tooth and nail.The lyrics to John Lennon's Imagine basically described how things would be in New Jerusalem, and as a child this was crystal clear to me. (No religion either, because everyone would believe the same thing because Bro Jesus is like *right there*, so that's just "reality".)But John Lennon was a hippie pinko commie so I was supposed to hate him. This was in fact one of the earliest items on my shelf. I might have been 7 when I had these thoughts. I never did, in fact, hate John Lennon. I mean, how can you?<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenI explored some of the logic of Zion awhile back, but more to do with power structures.What does it say of a God that erases nearly all trace of a city that managed to eradicate poverty and abuses of power? Such that any knowledge of *how* they did it no longer exists, so that anyone hoping to replicate it will have to start from scratch?If you've never been Mormon, keep in mind that Mormons do hope to replicate Zion. But that's kind of difficult when its leadership and perhaps even its God keeps putting up barriers.<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenWait, so if the Curse of Cain was a "skin of blackness," and Enoch was the son of Cain, then the City of Enoch, aka Zion, was a city founded by a Black man. Yes, that city, the one so righteous ("there were no poor among them") it got lifted up into heaven...🤔 <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenAlong the lines of what I've been saying about asking questions, being curious and promoting curiosity, avoiding talking points, and sticking to core values in discussion.This applies to political dogma as well."The only thing that can get someone to think critically about their dogma is to think about their foundation for the dogmas, which is their sense of themselves, their worldview, and their social identities that are important to them."(Probably paraphrased slightly.)<a href="https://youtu.be/lzr_1jEkq7Y" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/lzr_1jEkq7Y</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/MindControl" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MindControl</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Manipulation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Manipulation</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/religion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#religion</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/CriticalThinking" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CriticalThinking</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/psychology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#psychology</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenTo literalist promotors of life-dictating takes from the Bible, remember Christ's Pearl-Swine corollary:Do not cast your costume jewelry before scholars.<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/TheCostumeJewelryOfGreatPrice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#TheCostumeJewelryOfGreatPrice</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenAn excerpt from the most recent issue of ICSA Today, on how to help someone escape coercive indoctrination, by Dr. Janja Lalich, one of the cult researchers I quote in Recovering Agency.In short, DON'T PREACH. DON'T ARGUE. Instead, show someone what having a choice looks like."Effective Intervention Approaches"1. Creating Safe Spaces for Ambivalence: Rather than demanding immediate recognition of abuse or control, effective intervention allows people to safely explore their doubts without threatening their entire meaning system at once. This might mean supporting someone in questioning specific practices while temporarily accepting their continued commitment to the group’s core beliefs."2. Reconnecting with One’s Pre-Group Identity: Helping individuals reconnect with aspects of their identity that preceded their involvement in the totalistic environment. This isn’t about erasing their experience but about expanding their frame of reference beyond the bounded system. I describe this as doing something that will hopefully tug at their emotional heart strings, reawakening thoughts, feelings, memories that have been suppressed by the group’s indoctrination processes."3. Addressing Practical Constraints: Understanding that bounded choice operates through both ideological and practical constraints. Effective intervention often requires addressing concrete obstacles to leaving—financial dependencies, fear of social isolation, lack of practical life skills—along with psychological barriers."4. Building Alternative Support Systems: Recognizing that totalistic environments become self-reinforcing partly because they meet real human needs for belonging and meaning. Intervention must include helping individuals find alternative sources for these needs."<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/MindControl" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MindControl</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/USPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenEssentially that's what my <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a> model does. It addresses those beliefs, not just within an individual survivor, but for all of us, in how we help abusers with our language, beliefs, preferences, in who we choose to defend, in our moral systems, in our laws and biases.I've taken what I've learned from my own abuse recovery and therapy of many years, my studies on psychology and trauma, but most importantly, from learning about cults, high-demand groups, coercive persuasion, and religious trauma recovery, and merged those into a unified theory.There really isn't much difference between domestic abuse and cult membership.And cult recovery involves deconstructing those beliefs, making yourself aware of them so that you can consciously choose which to keep and which to throw away.I've been out of Mormonism for 24 years, and I still find beliefs I have not been aware of this whole time. I've been away from my worst abuser for almost a decade, and still find beliefs he instilled in me that I have not yet examined.The undue influence techniques used by cults are almost identical to those used by abusers and manipulators. These techniques are used at the societal and political levels as well, and can also demonstrate how racism, sexism, etc all work.I can't tell you specifically which beliefs you have in you, but I can show you the purposes they serve... there will be beliefs about who you can and cannot trust, what you should be afraid of, what punishments await you for misbehaving, and a couple dozen others. Knowing that framework can guide you through discovering your own induced phobias, milieu control, and thought-terminating clichés.(Brief plug for my book, Recovering Agency, which outlines 31 manipulation techniques in context of Mormonism, but that can be applied elsewhere.)<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Abuse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Abuse</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/PTSD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PTSD</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/CPTSD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CPTSD</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/cults" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#cults</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/MindControl" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MindControl</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenThere's an aspect of <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/CPTSD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CPTSD</a> I don't see much discussed or even studied, but you can bet that whoever is causing the CPTSD thinks of it this way, either with conscious awareness or not:Behavior modification.That's what really separates PTSD, say from a random act of violence, from complex PTSD that affects almost every area of one's life.CPTSD is a result of a behavior modification program. An abuser or abusive system conditioned you to believe and behave a certain way, often many sets of behaviors across most areas of your life. That's what makes something a cult or a high-demand group. That's what makes for a domestic abuse situation – it's in the things they force you to do.The recovery focus tends to be on the trauma itself -- ok we're in sympathetic nervous state, let's unpack triggers, get coping skills, EMDR, meditation, calm you down. Fine.But rarely (outside of cult exit counseling) have I seen much focus on the BELIEFS an abuser or system has instilled in us. Beliefs that modify behavior. That sense that if I touch a hot stove I'll be burned, but it's not a stove, it's normal everyday things that I can't avoid and I'm wandering an inescapable maze of pain-points.Address the beliefs themselves.It's a major gap in how PTSD is treated in our culture. EVEN the helping professional community is so bogged down in these abuse culture assumptions (that trauma is "in the past," that the abusers are no longer present, that it's just a nervous system thing, just process the trauma events) that they often ignore the set of interlocking ever-present beliefs, and they ignore the very aspects of society we're just supposed to tolerate (bad workplaces, chronic stress, toxic religious beliefs).What did my abuser make me *believe* about myself? What did my toxic religion make me believe about the world? How do I view reality through an abuser-provided lens?<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fascism</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/antifa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#antifa</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Abuse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Abuse</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/PTSD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PTSD</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a>

Mx. Luna Corbdenlol looks like I was on about this last week when I was editing these letters. Probably the same letter. Because the behavior of a bishop and stake president towards a child in this case is not excusable. *I* am angry at them and I wasn't even there.But I do understand that impulse to excuse and lay palm fronds in the path of my abusers. Very, very much.<a href="https://defcon.social/@corbden/114275598543827504" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://defcon.social/@corbden/114275598543827504</a><a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fascism</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/antifa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#antifa</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Abuse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Abuse</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenI'm at the stage of my work researching and writing about abuse and religious trauma, where whenever I read something like, "I'm sure they had the best of intentions," I become appalled and amazed at the dissociation people carry, their utter naiveté, like all the abusers are somewhere "out there," mysterious beings we never meet and only hear about, but never the people we know or occupying positions of power we respect. If one or two of every ten people is on the Dark Triad of personality disorders, and even more are abusers, then statistically, naw hun, there's a very good chance they did, in fact, do it intentionally or were driven by dark impulses. That draconian policy is there for a reason. That clergy you're writing to begging for leniency is actually a bonafide asshole. He's not merely ignorant, but is getting off on this horrible process, and very likely laughing at your innocence, how easily misled you are.I see a reflection of my old self, and how such views kept me going back for more, if not from the first person who had finally proved themself as an abuser, then from the next person or system, ready to give the worst people the best benefit of the doubt until they proved themselves beyond a shadow of a doubt. Until I finally saw the connections between them all and learned not just some of the red flags, but ALL of them.I give no more excuses for harmful behavior. Even if I misjudge bad behavior as abuse when it's really just ignorance, letting someone with truly good intentions off the hook helps no one either. Accountability for EVERYONE. Even myself and the harm I've done. I answer for it and improve.Our programming runs deep. That's my goal in talking about the <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a> model. If you're not woke to how it all works, then you're a flying monkey, an enabler, a dupe, a sucker, an accomplice. That's how THEY see you. So wise up. There's no other way to fight back.<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fascism</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/antifa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#antifa</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Abuse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Abuse</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenBut that's just a (conspiracy) THEORY!<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/UTPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UTPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/HandsOff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HandsOff</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenThere's a reason why cults can get away with just about any crime in this society. And it isn't the First Amendment.Cults serve an important function for the establishment:They get passionate, principled people out of circulation, directing all that Change-the-World energy towards bullshit. Cults protect the status quo.(You'll notice it's generally only the cults with large arsenals that they ever go after. I see you Janet Reno.)<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/AbuseCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AbuseCulture</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/UTPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UTPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/HandsOff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HandsOff</a>

Mx. Luna Corbdenidk I guess I'd like to think that some of the folks in that photo read Recovering Agency, got over a bunch of their pain and confusion, and were able to attend that protest because of it.Based on feedback I've gotten in the past, this is very likely true.And that's why I want to restore my health, so I can do more of that. That's my calling. That's what stirs my spirit.<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Mormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Mormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/LDS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LDS</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/USPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/UTPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UTPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/HandsOff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HandsOff</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenThat said, there's also a lot of authoritarianism running through Mormon doctrines, and those with authoritarian mindsets glom onto those ideals instead.They have their eye on a Utah theocracy, just like ol' Brother Brigham once ruled over. And many of them are in Utah government and police. So I also wouldn't be surprised if that comes to blows.The prophecy about separating the wheat from the chaff has never felt so poignant, so imminent. <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Mormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Mormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/LDS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LDS</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/USPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/UTPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UTPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/HandsOff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HandsOff</a>

Mx. Luna CorbdenThat photo of the Utah protest keeps going around. Social media and news outlets are all surprised for some reason.I'm not. Not at all. That's because 1. I was raised LDS and know the fire they implanted in people like me to stand for what is right, and 2. I've followed activism in Mormon spaces for the last two decades, and know that when educated on these issues, nuanced Mormons and exmormons bring all that fire with them. They've been largely working within Mormon spaces to change the Church and help those wounded by it, and have accomplished amazing things, moving the mountain that is the world's wealthiest religion with hardly a mustard seed.Most of the base values Mormonism teaches are perfect for anti-Trumpism. The Book of Mormon is anti-monarchy and pro-liberty. The driving core doctrine is "free agency." The world after Jesus returns is basically a functioning global commune.This is why I've chosen to work in this space as my own activism, my calling, to heal Mormons and exmormons of their trauma, teach them critical thinking, educate them on these issues, expose them to progressive ideas, and then they'll have the energy for changing the wider world. We were reared to change the world, pushed to magnify our talents, taught to be leaders, shown how to organize, and then they chained us to a hamster wheel of useless activity that did the opposite of changing the world. Once released from that hamster wheel, we are a force to be reckoned with.So yeah, folks in Utah are gonna show up. Don't underestimate the Mormons.<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/HandsOff" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HandsOff</a><a href="https://defcon.social/tags/UTPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UTPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/USPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USPol</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmo</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/exmormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#exmormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/LDS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LDS</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Mormon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Mormon</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/ReligiousTrauma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReligiousTrauma</a>

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