Thelindenpapers - TheLindenPapers

I am an atheist. I am angry and bitter.

But I am not angry and bitter "because I'm an atheist".

I am angry and bitter, because I WAS a christian, and because what was done to me during that time by my abusers and my community has had awful and far-reaching consequences that I am unable to undo.

I'm much happier in other ways.

I no longer have to hate myself, and hate humanity in general, on behalf of an immoral god who displays all the markers of an abuser; for whom I'm compelled to try to do mental gymnastics in order to explain or defend them in the face of perfectly reasonable critiques.

I don't have to walk around with the CONSTANT anxiousness that that capricious and "unknowable" god inspired.

I no longer have to fear hell.

I can accept myself as a full person now; instead of demonizing my libido levels, my femininity, my curiosity, or even my creativity: assuming that being a woman should be a curse, and that a woman with a high libido is somehow a disgrace, and that people who think (and who question!) outside of the box are somehow dangerous or defective when they are neither lying, nor causing any harm.

I don't have to be afraid to Love myself -- whether literally or figuratively.

I certainly don't have to LOATHE myself on behalf of my "betters".

I defend myself far better, now that I don't believe that I'm supposed to be some insensate piece of property that fathers and husbands get to trade between themselves, expressly for them to use, control, and torture.

I am even able to scrape together moments of joy and purpose, as well as hope for a better future for humanity -- even if a better future has been denied me, personally, as an individual, via the disabling neglect and suppression of opportunities of my "husband"; and, before him, the purposeful isolation and suppression of opportunities by my father.

Being miserable is a given, considering what I have gone through. Anger is a perfectly reasonable response to their lies, cruelty, mistreatment, and dismantling behaviors.

But atheism has only bought to me a light and a clarity that exists DESPITE the miseries I've been saddled with, and it provides tools that aid my struggle to overcome in whatever ways that I still can.

Atheism is fine. Atheism is a joy.

It is RELIGION that has caused my sorrow.

A man doesn't have to be poor to have a poor wife. It doesn't get talked about nearly enough.

A lot of these "stable" and even "rich" men that women are encouraged to seek out on dating advice columns, in romances, and in fairy tales; will buy gifts and show out BEFORE the marriage, and then deeply restrict household spending -- even to the point of closing you out of accounts or cutting off your access to healthcare or other services that he has on lock, under HIS name -- AFTER the marriage.

There are many women who literally wind up physically disabled, and therefore dependent on their abusers, due to the *purposeful* long-term medical neglect of these men.

Hell: my father, despite enjoying himself with daily steaks and new car after new car; still had my mother so financially shut down, that she was compelled to pattern and sew the curtains in order to keep me clothed throughout elementary school.

Wives of middle and upper class men do not necessarily share in their husband's wealth or opportunities. We're just told that they do, to help romanticize the idea of women "marrying up".

This is not the first time this has happened either:

[Jul 16 2024] Berlin police is arresting children at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, in what activists say is a shocking escalation of already widespread police violence against pro-Palestinian voices. The most recent confirmed arrest of children involved the early June detention of a 7-year-old boy for allegedly hitting an officer’s helmet with his flag. In a witness statement shown to The New Arab (TNA), the boy's father said he had been carrying his son on his shoulders at a march when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by officers who lashed out at the crowd and then took the pair away to a police van. The police confirmed via email that a 7-year-old was arrested on suspicion of "assaulting" a police officer at the same protest in Berlin. Police told TNA that six children under the age of 16 were detained on June 8.   In a video posted on social media, the child can be seen screaming in a state of extreme distress while he and his father are surrounded and grabbed by 11 officers in riot gear. The father says the child now experiences anxiety and needs psychological treatment because of the incident. In another incident on the same day, a 13-year-old was handcuffed and dragged away by officers using a controversial "pain grip" after making a rude hand gesture to a police officer. Berlin police have confirmed that a 13-year-old was detained "on suspicion of insult," which is a criminal offence under German law. A few weeks earlier, on May 29, an incident was reported where two adolescents were punched in the face several times by police officers at a house entrance in Sonnenallee street in Berlin. This incident of police violence was condemned by Amnesty International Germany, and urged an investigation into allegations of unlawful police actions. 

Sunrise books, vinyl, cd, buy, sell, trade

Just like I said. Illegal adoption.

https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/immigrant-mom-loses-effort-regain-son-us-parents/story?id=16803067