It seems a decade ago when Kanye West's rampage against Pete Davidson and his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian on social media was all the talk replaced now with the infamous Oscar slap. (For my thoughts, see here: https://artistthriving.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-slap-post-pandemic-trauma-recovery.html). However, even if Kanye West's rantings are not currently in the mainstream dialogue, rest assured they will arise again, as recent history as well as the cyclical nature of Bipolar reflects, thus I still feel it pertinent to continue this blog series.
For today's entry, I want to focus on the spiritual abuse component of the relationship between Kanye and Kim. If you have been following this blog, as well as other means of my content, you are most assuredly aware that I spent a great deal of time in my twenties as a practicing fundamentalist Christian, having started around the tender age of 22 (give or take) in the year of our Lord 2000 (er, sure, yeah, okay), to find myself exiting the church one noon Sunday never to return in 2010. The years that tumbled forth from that departure were a-wash with dealing with an abusive spouse, trying to continue stability within my own mental health as well as survive in this 'material world', while beginning the awkward and alone-ness of deconstructing from Christian fundamentalism.
Spiritual abuse is described as "Any attempt to exert power and control over someone using religion, faith, or beliefs can be spiritual abuse. Spiritual abuse can happen within a religious organization or a personal relationship. Spiritual abuse is not limited to one religion, denomination, or group of people." For me, my experience with spiritual abuse happened within the confines of intimate relationship as well as corporately within the church. In addition, the depths to which spiritual abusers can go reflects the extent of time, closeness, and sway they have over their victims."
For my part, I was fortunate in that my time within the fundamentalist worldview was under a decade and I did not experience any real physical or sexual abuse from being a part of it. However, this does not negate the abuse I experienced as well as the pain and trauma I hold, nor does it for others as well. Thus, I can say with much assertion that I am a person who has experienced spiritual abuse and therefore can claim an additional aspect of PTSD labeled "Religious Trauma Syndrome".
Religious trauma syndrome is described as: "occuring when an individual struggles with leaving a religion or a set of beliefs that has led to their indoctrination, often involveing the trauma of breaking away from a controlling environment, lifestyle, or religious figure."
Despite having left the church a year before my ill-fated marriage, the effects of the church's indoctrination ran deep and I found my mind still succumbing to the controlling beliefs on woman's roles within my abusive marriage. Because of this, I believed both that if I prayed for and practiced marital submission the marriage would be successful. Moreover, I carried an inner martyrdom belief that somehow all the abuse that befell upon me was somehow a fault within myself. In addition, being raised in a family that mirrored the marriage of which I found myself within played a significant role in my staying within the confines of this abusive situation.
I share this in relation to the Kanye/Kim saga because Kanye West has recently professed to be a fundamentalist Christian, having come out with his song, "Sunday Service" and trying to adhere to the regular practices of this religion. One of those it would seem would be the theme of patriarchy and mysogyny within the confines of fundamentalist Christianity.
Fundamentalist Christianity uses the scriptures below as means to subjugate and dominate women:
"Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything." --Ephesians 5:22-33
"I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."-- 1 Timothy 2:9-15
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