Suppose you were to have a serious conversation with a parent who told you that, since their child did not obey, love and trust them – they were going to take the child to the basement and burn him until he learned his lesson. Would you turn that parent in to child protective services for potential child abuse? If you heard or read that some parent had tortured their child for not behaving, what would you think of that parent?
How would you feel for the child who endured that punishment? Of course, you would turn the parents in; of course, you would feel awful to hear about such a tragic story! You would want to protect the child because you know that no loving human being would ever do that to their child, no matter how awfully they’ve behaved.
Yet, children across the world are forced to endure hideous mental intrusions on a consistent basis in one of our world’s largest belief structures. If they do not believe in their religious deity, he will take them down to hell and torture them forever and ever. They will live in a place of fear and anguish for eternity. If you would not threaten this to your own child as a punishment you personally would inflict upon them, why tell them someone else will? Is it acceptable because it is not you who will do it?
Religion should be looked at as child abuse, especially in families with gay and transgender children.
After reading Michelle Goldberg's excellent book, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, I started thinking about the goals of the Christian nationalist movement.
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