I heard about this book today:
http://www.newlife.com/0/?libid=87

The interesting thing is this book is written by a Christian. It discusses toxic faith, toxic churches and toxic ministers. I thougt it would be interesting to discuss toxic faith in any religion.



Answer YES or NO to the following questions...

1. Has your family complained that you are always going to a church meeting rather than spending time with them?

2. Do you feel extreme guilt for being out of church just one Sunday?

3. Do you sense that God is looking at what you do, and if you don’t do enough, He might turn on you or refuse to bless you?

4. Do you often tell your children what to do without explaining your reasons, since you know you are right?

5. Do you find yourself with little time for the pleasures of earlier years because you are so busy serving on committees and attending other church groups?

6. Have people complained that you use so much Scripture in your conversation that it is hard to communicate with you?

7. Are you giving money to a ministry because you believe God will make you wealthy if you give?

8. Have you ever been involved sexually with a minister out of wedlock?

9. Is it hard for you to make a decision without consulting your minister? Even over the small issues?

10. Do you see your minister as more powerful than other humans?

11. Has your faith led you to lead an isolated life, making it hard for you to relate to your family and friends?

12. Have you found yourself looking to your minister for a quick fix to a lifelong problem?

13. Do you feel extreme guilt over the slightest mistakes or inadequacies?

14. Is your most significant relationship deteriorating over your strong beliefs, compared to those of a "weaker partner?"

15. Do you ever have thoughts of God wanting you to destroy yourself or others in order to go and live with Him?

16. Do you regularly believe God is communicating with you in an audible voice?

17. Do you feel God is angry with you?

18. Do you believe you are still being punished for something you did as a child?

19. Do you feel if you work a little harder, God will finally forgive you?

20. Has anyone ever told you a minister was manipulating your thoughts and feelings?

If you answered YES to at least three of the above questions, you may have an unhealthy view of faith.

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InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

I have no religious beliefs and attend no churches. I just would like to comment that the paragraph you quoted was a splendid impression of what I have been calling negative religion as opposed to positive religion. Now I will need to get that book. Thanks.

Amergin

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Militant Agnostic: I don't know, and neither do you. There is no evidence of God so belief is optional.

TOXIC FAITH !...how very apt.

Great post LK.

I wonder what the antidote is ?...some sort of therapy I expect .

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Snowman1 Men are the same as women, just inside out !Snowman1

and these are mine, mine mine mine ...oh...and wifeys too !

Not at all. Be(come) a Taoist. For example, no gods to worry about, so by definition you are free from sin, beause there is no imaginary being judging you. There are of course things that you shouldn't do, but if you go against nature (which is a fair approximation of the Tao) you will just suffer the consequences. It's like if you're jumping off a cliff, it's probably not too healthy. You're in control. No fine print. No hidden clauses or tacitly implicit paragraphs. You don't have to study a book to know how you're supposed to live. Be free!

A toxic mind will see toxicity in faith.

Now let me answer your questions (I am a Hindu so my answers will be based on my faith) :

1. Has your family complained that you are always going to a church (temple) meeting rather than spending time with them?

I normally don't go to temples.

2. Do you feel extreme guilt for being out of church (temple) just one Sunday?

No

3. Do you sense that God is looking at what you do, and if you don’t do enough, He might turn on you or refuse to bless you?

Yes, God is looking at what I do. What I do is my Karma. I have a right to it. But I don't have a right to the result of my Karma. This right is vested in God.

4. Do you often tell your children what to do without explaining your reasons, since you know you are right?

No, I try to convince them.

5. Do you find yourself with little time for the pleasures of earlier years because you are so busy serving on committees and attending other church groups?

As I said earlier I don't involve me with temple activities.

6. Have people complained that you use so much Scripture in your conversation that it is hard to communicate with you?

I converse with people to share my views and experiences and to get the benefit of their views and experiences. People find it very easy to communicate with me even though they may not agree with me.

7. Are you giving money to a ministry because you believe God will make you wealthy if you give?

I help the needy to the best of my capability.

8. Have you ever been involved sexually with a minister out of wedlock?

I am involved sexually with only my wife.

9. Is it hard for you to make a decision without consulting your minister? Even over the small issues?

No

10. Do you see your minister as more powerful than other humans?

NO

11. Has your faith led you to lead an isolated life, making it hard for you to relate to your family and friends?

My faith has helped me to relate to my family and friends.

12. Have you found yourself looking to your minister for a quick fix to a lifelong problem?

No. My faith provides me all guidance.

13. Do you feel extreme guilt over the slightest mistakes or inadequacies?

I don't claim that I will not commit mistakes. Whenever I commit a mistake I accept it and work to correct it.

14. Is your most significant relationship deteriorating over your strong beliefs, compared to those of a "weaker partner?"

No. My beliefs make me strong in a positive manner.

15. Do you ever have thoughts of God wanting you to destroy yourself or others in order to go and live with Him?

No.

16. Do you regularly believe God is communicating with you in an audible voice?

Communication with God need not be audible. At least it is not in my case.

17. Do you feel God is angry with you?

No.

18. Do you believe you are still being punished for something you did as a child?

God does not punish anybody. We do our Karma and God deicdes the result of the Karma.

19. Do you feel if you work a little harder, God will finally forgive you?

God is kind without any reason.

20. Has anyone ever told you a minister was manipulating your thoughts and feelings?

No body has ever manipulated my thoughts and feelings.
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Spread Love Not Hate
Improvement starts with 'I'

I can see the point in this article, and religion indeed can, has, and is sometimes being used in a very negative fashion. I believe that is where dogma can get in the way of a belief system being positive. To me, any time religion gets so rigid in one point or another that it neither bends nor allows for the possibility of another interpretation, it is in great danger of breaking. It also tends to lend a bad name to the given religion. This is something that the Catholic church has been struggling with for a very long time. And some of the things they've been struggling with aren't really the fault of that church, but rather assumptions based on statements that have been made. (I am also not intending to pick on any religion in particular...there always seem to be factions of any religion that tend to base everything in exceptionally rigid dogma.)

I don't know if there is more to this article, and suspect that there is, but I'd also point out that any given religion can also be an enormous positive in a person's life. A key word was used in this, and it is something I hear often among Native Americans: Balance. Any time we are unbalanced in anything, we are heading for trouble.

I wouldn't go as far to say toxic faith but I will say it contributes to belief abuse. I must thank you Lightkeeper this does sound like an interesting read. I wouldn't just contain it to religious people either. Patriotic people and evolutionists could use a similiar checklist.

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"There is one thing that organized religion is not qualified to teach and that is an individual's purpose."-GOD

I experienced variations of questions 1, 2, 5 and 12 with one Buddhist organization I was involved with.

My practice fell away and ultimately dissolved shortly after I deliberately broke a "perfect attendance" streak. I had been chanting every morning and every evening for a prolonged period, and realized to my horror that I was afraid to miss a session. I wasn't actually enjoying the chanting; I was painting by numbers, purely to keep my record intact.

So the only thing for it was to stop, on purpose, and figure out why the idea of stopping made me feel so guilty. I left the group not long afterward, and went freelance.