October 22, 2020
My work here on this blog and in my book is about exploring the ways that a life spent within fundamentalist religion impacts many other crucial aspects of our lives—not only what we believe. Some of these effects still linger long after we have left the faith. Some Deconverted Men may wrestle their entire lives with unlearning these damaging teachings.
One of those key areas that life within a fundamentalist religion damages is our health. In this article, I’ll discuss three key ways this occurs.
1. You don’t get proper medical care
Some sects of fundamentalism take their faith to the extreme and reject some or all common healthcare practices in favor of relying on God and faith to heal them. Christian Scientists and Jehovah’s witnesses are two such examples.
These sects and groups receive well-deserved criticism from believers and non-believers alike for the rate in which their members die or suffer permanent impairment from sicknesses that are easily treatable in our modern era.
The tricky part of this is that I can see where these guys are coming from. They have a desire to not be “lukewarm” in their faith and, as a result, have decided to go all in on their faith, no matter the outcome. These guys are probably the most faithful believers that exist today.
But that drops them back into the Stone Age. Faith is absolutely no excuse for the horrible things that they allow to befall their own, especially their children.
Fortunately, we have seen some prosecutions against these groups for their medical negligence, particularly in the cases of parents making fatal decisions to refuse medical care for their children.
2. You don’t take full responsibility for your health and wellbeing
Point #1 is obvious. Things get a bit trickier when you start digging into the non-obvious ways that fundamentalism affects your health.
I myself did not belong to a church that had extreme beliefs against medical treatment. If you got sick, the head pastor would happily tell you to make a doctor’s appointment (in conjunction with prayer, of course).
However, what I noticed was that there was a tendency to believe that everything that happened (or didn’t happen) in regards to your health was caused by God or God allowed it to happen, either because it was his grand plan or because he’d decided to test you with something to make you grow. It was usually up the interpretation of the individual.
So when you get sick, it’s God testing you. When you got better, it was God healing you. These beliefs can condition you to not take an active roll in your own wellbeing.
For example, let’s say a guy in your Bible study asks for prayers of healing for his elderly grandmother who fell and broke her leg. Pretty standard prayer request. All the guys in the group pray for Grandma every night for the entire week. They believe that whether Grandma heals fully or not, it’s all God’s plan.
Let’s say Grandma believes this herself. She is far less likely to push through her physical therapy and put in the time to retrain her leg to work as it used to because she believes the healing is all up to God.
When you finally remove God from the equation, you are forced to see your body as it truly is—a biological specimen that isn’t going to be miraculously healed (or not) because of a divine being in the sky.
Recovering from injury or sickness—and prevention as well—is a responsibility that is squarely on your shoulders.
3. You aren’t concerned with preserving your life
In general, fundamentalists care very little whether they live a long life or not. To them, they are quite content to rush through their awful, mortal life here on earth and make it to the eternity in heaven that they’ve been promised.
Us Deconverted Men, however, recognize that this life is all we get. Time instantly becomes a lot more valuable.
I remember the day I had the revelation that all health and wellbeing was completely up to me. It fundamentally changed the way I approached my exercise, diet, sleep, and stress management that has gone on to serve me very well over the years.
To be fair, many atheists and agnostics are not concerned either with how long they live, even while understanding that this life is all they get. I understand and respect that point of view. For me, however, I am interested in doing what I can to extend the length and quality of my life. I enjoy my life very much and would like it to last for a long time, while also maintaining my independence even into my old age.
My primary concern with taking care of my health now is really to better enjoy my day-to-day life with high energy, an effective body, and a clear mind. A lengthened lifespan is really just a mere side effect of that.
Do any of these points describe you during your time in fundamentalism? Let me know in the comments!