Why did I start "The Child Cult"? - a way for atheist, pagan, and LGBTQ kids and teens to escape religious households

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My name is Vincent Bruno and this is my blog "The Child Cult".  This is a project to help atheist, pagan, and LGBTQ kids and teens to escape their abusive religious households.  I am very angry that I had to be raised in the religious manner I was raised as it was highly abusive.  At the time of my abuse, it would not have been considered normal to take a child out of a household where the abuse was religious, spiritual, or ideological... the idea that the child had any say in how they were being indoctrinated was not commonly held.  This is now changing but we must swiftly accelerate it. 

Here is a brief of my story.  I was raised a Jehovah's Witness.  As a child, I wanted to be a scientist, a profession not considered wholesome for a Jehovah's Witness who should not be spending their time on intense secular and material pursuits but instead should be focusing on converting other people into Jehovah's organization. Plus, science was not fully accurate and was tampered; the earth is only 6,000 years old, etc.  However, even though I was discouraged from studying science, I did still have a scientific, logical, and rational mind.  Things that the Jehovah's Witnesses said didn't make sense to me.  They said that the world had to have a beginning, so god had to exist to create it, but when I asked where god came from, they said he always existed.  That is a contradiction in my book, how is it that god can have no beginning but the world must have a beginning?  It was just not good enough of an answer to me and they even admitted that it could not be understood through human reason. 

I found these kinds of concepts hard to believe and for this I was made to feel like I was immoral, that I was arrogant because I was so smart and was only listening to myself and not god.  I was not supposed to lean on my own intelligence but was supposed to be guided by Jehovah's organization.  They tried to make me feel bad about myself and made fun of scientists saying they think they are god. Just because I don't believe that it makes sense that this universe must have a beginning but god can have no beginning does not mean I think I am god or that I am worshipping my own ego. A 6,000-year-old earth is utter rubbish, why should I believe anyone who believes in that? My logic was demonized and not countered but was decried as satanic. To make your children feel immoral, stupid, arrogant, or satanic for believing in common facts, like the fact that the earth is round or more than 6,000 years old, is abuse.  In these writings you will see some children are raised in households so messed up on this illogic that they are scolded for believing in viruses and bacteria. If something is scientific consensus, and you are making your children feel that they are wrong for believing it and trying to force nonsense on them, then this cannot be tolerated, by the child or by society. This includes forcing your children to believe in god and retaliating if they don't.

Then there were two more aspects to my abuse, in an Abrahamic household I was secretly a pagan and gay. I always liked mystical fantasy movies as a child, Legend by Ridley Scott and The Dark Crystal by Jim Henson were my favorite.  I really can't explain it, I don't know how I knew, but I was just naturally an idolater, I loved statues of gods and felt they were real and alive.  I no longer believe this and can see how it can be seen as irrational, but at least I was not pushing this on anyone, it was my own spiritual conclusion.  I soon became interested in witchcraft and started studying it deeply.  But my cult conditioning took hold of me and out of guilt I confessed my so-called "crime".  This started the worst years of my life.  Immediately my mother and the whole congregation accused my of being demon-possessed and a satanic panic broke out.  I was forbidden from playing with the other children and the adults shunned me. People at the Kingdom Hall (Jehovah's Witness church) said that my presence disturbed them and so I had to be hidden in another room away from everyone. The Elders started giving sensational talks on witchcraft and satanism and things like human sacrifice which were directed to rile up fear and accusations against me.  I was told I was going to go insane and kill myself or end up in a mental hospital. They told me that I would suffer demon night rapes. I tried to defend myself and my religion for a while, but I eventually succumbed to pressure and went back to Jehovah's organization, while secretly remaining a witch, until I was able to escape years later. 

Finally, there is the fact that I am a homosexual. Jehovah's Witnesses officially disapprove of homosexuality, believe it is unnatural and a sin, and practicing homosexuals are disfellowshiped.  As a child I had to read about commands for homosexuals to be killed in the Old Testament and for them to be marked as detestable further in the Torah and New Testament. While Jehovah's Witnesses are not supposed to openly tease gay people, they do speak very negatively about them among themselves, some even say they "hate" gay people and when they are alone, yes they will mock homosexuals.  My mother openly associated with people who said they hated homosexuals and who would make fun of gay people's mannerisms and voices. Once someone said to my mother that they "hate" gay people and she replied "yes!".  Even though it is considered wrong to make fun of seemingly gay children, gay bashing of gay kids is common culture among other children and adults. Above this, if you are gay, you might not survive the tribulation and make it to paradise, and so gay children are spiritually terrorized. This applies to all LGBTQ youth. 

I am not grateful for my upbringing, no one atheist, pagan, or LGBTQ child could go through this without some form of damage.  I am not grateful but I will use my experience as a guide to make sure this kind of stuff does not happen again and that the religions that cause this kind of damage are destroyed.  I'd like to start destroying those religions like Christianity, Judaism, Noahidism, Islam, Hinduism, and more by helping children escape these cults when they are young.  We need to make it the law that as soon as a child can conceive of and articulate a coherent personal doctrine that is either spiritual or anti-spiritual (including a statement of sexuality/gender) then a parent has no right to in any way make the child feel they are in any way wrong or to punish them for this doctrinal observance, other than to offer their personal beliefs which cannot be mandated upon the child or any forced observances. Any aggression presented by the parent against the child's ethical choice would lead to the child being given the option to leave the home and enter either foster care or a state home, hopefully soon a special state housing program for atheist, pagan, and LGBTQ youth who are exiting religiously abusive homes.

By giving atheist, pagan, and LGBTQ children a way out, we can help to undermine the religions that create these kinds of conditions for them.  Children are the future, if the children can get out, then the monotheists start losing the game and losing numbers.  The blog is dedicated to building a movement among children to escape religious abuse.