RE:My experience with
(Date Posted:03/30/2008 2:34 PM)
Hi John I'd love to help you in anyway I can but I don't live in the USA. But yes it happens in Aust as well! I've had some experiences with xain counselling. For example: I did a 3 mth contract working with the Salvation Army Family Services on a group project for Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse (in Aust) You may not know but the Salvo's are fundamentalists ( I didn't know at the time) That was the one and only time I ever worked with christians - It was shocking. I complained to other agencies. In fact made no offer to look into it. On another unrelated occasion, I needed to find out some info and sought the 'advice' from christian leaders - all I got was crappy 'cult' talk - that any 'church' that was dodgy or abusive was naturally a 'cult' and they the 'good' christians had no jurisdiction over them. I'm also aware that in some denominations - the 'paster' is the only person who apparently has the 'authority' to counsel people but you know the drill. So anyway...I know a little bit of the abuses people suffer at the hands of christians - counsellors, pastors etc. Its an incredibly vulnerable position to put yourself in. There are no accountability checks or any of the 'normal' client care systems in place. Amazing betrayals!
I wish you all the luck in the world! Hope your project gets the attention it deserves! I believe ANY kind of christian based counselling is going to offer an unethical biased at the very least and when they start talking 'hell' and devil possession its outrageous! Most christian counsellor are not sufficiently trained & receive in house christian training.
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In exchange for obedience, Christianity promises salvation in an afterlife; but in order to elicit obedience through this promise, Christianity must convince people that they need salvation, that there is something to be saved from. Christianity has nothing to offer a happy person living in a natural, intelligible universe. If Christianity is to gain a motivational foothold, it must declare war on earthly pleasure and happiness, and this, historically, has been its precise course of action. In the eyes of Christianity, woman(man) is sinful and helpless in the face of God, and is potential fuel for the flames of hell. Just as Christianity must destroy reason before it can introduce faith, so it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation.
-- George H Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God
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