What Reversing Roe v Wade Means to a Religious Cult Survivor

Before I begin, let me first say that I’ve been sitting for days with the news about Roe v. Wade simmering and stewing.

It’s not been pleasant.

The mere mention of the far right always triggers old feelings and dark memories. I was born a girl into a religious cult, neither of which I got to choose. That means I was muzzled, held back, tied down, threatened, and beaten, by the brethren and my parents.

If you think it was easy being me, then you’re mistaking cults like I grew up in with the idea of freedom of religion.

Trust me, I didn’t have an ounce of freedom until I left home at age eighteen and ventured out into the civilian world. It cost me dearly. I was disowned by my parents and with little experience had to figure out how to navigate the world outside of the cult. That wasn’t easy either.

My take on the whole Roe v Wade debacle will require at least two essays. So here goes the first of at least two …

Roe v. Wade is Just the Beginning

A few days ago, the news was suddenly awash with utter dismay by some and cries of victory by others. Roe v. Wade had taken center stage. People seemed shocked. Why? I don’t know. It was destined to happen the day the tides took a massive turn in this country. That’s right.

Trump became president and the US stood still.

It’s true. People were shocked that he won. Not me, but then I’m a survivor of a religious cult and I understand how the far right thinks. I’ve been trying for my entire life to stay as far away from the far right as possible. Yeah, it’s not working.

I left the cult when I was eighteen, but the far right followed me into the government.

Democrats like to think that they’re the highly educated, progressive party. They can become a bit disdainful of the uneducated, falsely believing that their own higher education gives them a leg up politically speaking. I have to laugh. Education has little to do with power or winning in this country.

Primarily, it’s money that talks.

Unless, of course, you’re a radical far right born again white American christian and you can latch on to a crazy white dude who defies all the rules and becomes your mouth piece.

Done!

Not that the christian right haven’t been strategically planning to run the country the christian way for decades. They’ve been diligent and long suffering in their quest to save America from a secular agenda, putting their god, the Bible, and prayer back into our lives whether we want it or not. I guess the patience of a saint really does pay off because their god seems to be rewarding their long, hard efforts to infiltrate the government and save America from the devil.

Hallelujah let Jesus sock it to you.

Democrats were so excited when Biden “robbed” Trump of his throne, but what they still failed to understand is that a very determined, insanely singleminded minority would continue to back his agenda long after he was gone.

Let’s face it, Trump adopted the far right’s agenda not the other way around.

If you’ve never encountered an evangelical American, if you don’t move in their social churchy circles, then you have no idea what they’re capable of accomplishing. You can’t know and there lies the danger.

Because you can’t know, they have the advantage.

You think you’re committed, but you can’t hold a candle to their tenacious ability to hang on indefinitely. Give them a single issue, like abortion, and they’ll dig their teeth into it and grind away at it until finally there’s a breakthrough. Of course, who doesn’t love a big win. Overturning Roe v. Wade will be a HUGE win. They believe that their WINS are God’s way of endorsing their steadfastness.

It’s a sign from above.

So there you have it, religion and politics in bed together and now there’s no stopping them. I bet you thought I was going to write about women’s rights and women’s bodies or how precious each and every life is in the sight of a god, didn’t you?

I might. Down the road, that is.

But overturning Roe v. Wade has much bigger implications that just women’s rights. Of course I’m angry that the right wing radical nut jobs are once again trying to put women in their place. You know, the place that god assigned them.

Yeah, living in subjection.

After all, I am a woman and I grew up in a cult where women really were forced to live in subjection. I know where that kind of utter control leads to and it ain’t a good place. If you think for one minute that virginity, no birth control, and answering to men all day long is the way I chose to live my life, you’d be wrong, dead wrong.

Plus, I’m not even convinced that life is a gift.

Shit the first 20 years of my life were hell and the next 20 were spent trying to rewire my heavily indoctrinated brain. Children suffer enormously at the hands of their unfit parents all the time. Their suffering goes unnoticed for the most part because Americans believe that children should live in subjection, too.

Our christian culture isn’t very friendly to children or women. After all, women caused the fall of humankind and children are born sinful creatures.

Yet life is precious. Right. Never mind that once they’re here, we abuse, neglect, and even kill them. If it’s not at the hands of their own broken parents then it’s in the never-ending wars or orchestrated poverty. Hungry children are fleeing their war torn countries every day and we turn them away.

So much for the sanctity of life.

I’m sure their are plenty of people who wish they’d never been born. Some eventually opt out.

Life is tough but the radicals want to make it even worse. As though our children don’t have enough to contend with after they enter this world, the tribe they inherited by the sheer lottery of birth will invent a Handmaid’s Tale world.

Have fun!

The stakes have been raised and the gladiators have entered the arena. Let the game of thrones commence. You thought we were going to see great progress, didn’t you?

Well, surprise, surprise! Welcome to REGRESSION.

After decades of praying and working hard behind the scenes to gain control of the country, the evangelicals are singing glory hallelujah in great anticipation of what comes next. And what comes next, you may ask.

Why the end of the world, of course.

The rapture and the Great Tribulations followed by a new kingdom for, you guessed it, christians. If you don’t become part of the movement to bring god back to America, then you’re part of the problem as far as they’re concerned. And, if you think playing nice will slow down this regressive movement to destroy all of the progress made in the 20th century, you’re part of my problem.

That tells me you have no idea what you’re up against.

I don’t have much faith that democrats can unite in spite of their differences. I understand how things work. That’s how we got Trump. Democrats failed to unite because they didn’t believe for one minute that Trump would happen. Nor would they have listened to me if I told them that Ted Cruz and Mike Pence were part of the same crazy right wing madness. Sure Trump was unexpected but once the far right saw how useful he could be to them, he became the chosen one. And, the rest is history.

While the democrats were talking about universal health care and free college in 2015, they had no idea that the far right was thinking about taking us back to pre1950.

I don’t have to tell you who is winning. Or maybe I do. Because once again, it’s really, really, really hard to grasp how committed a group of people can be if they believe they’re on a mission for god. It’s so hard to believe that most people’s brains will refuse to accept that this minority group of weirdos will keep getting away with what they’re doing.

But they will. Trust me. They will.

Teresa Roberts is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.