What is Religious Trauma?
Perhaps you’ve noticed the uptick in people discussing Christianity’s connections to and complicity in racism, white supremacy, and colonialism? These are big, important subjects to tackle, and I hope if they’ve stirred something in you that you would continue to lean in and listen, as I believe they’re connected to religious trauma.
In this post I want to draw your attention to a few concepts I’m learning more about. I first learned about “religious trauma syndrome” while research purity culture. It may not yet be a formally recognized syndrome but “religious trauma” or similar terms like “moral injury” or “spiritual wounding” are certainly older, recognized concepts, both formally and informally.
What is religious trauma, moral injury, or spiritual wounding?
All these terms assume the existence of a spiritual reality but leave the specific definition of that reality up for individual interpretation. And while they may appear to be three ways to say the same thing, each term has been coined and studied separately. Throughout my exploration I found there is no universal definition for any of these concepts. Whether or not the symptoms are distinct or not from PTSD or can be caused by an individual or a community is still being debated.
Defining Trauma
To begin to understand any of these concepts I wanted to establish a general (emphasis on general!) understanding of trauma, which is a word used frequently nowadays.
“Trauma is much more than a story about the past that explains why people are frightened, angry or out of control. Trauma is re-experienced in the present, not as a story, but as profoundly disturbing physical sensations and emotions that may not be consciously associated with memories of past trauma.”
— Bessel van see Kolk, MD
Another way to look at it is to see trauma as:
“any event that shatters your safe world so that it is no longer a place of refuge.”
— Norman Wright, The New Guide to Crisis and Trauma Counseling
Please note there are different types of trauma, acute, chronic, or complex, and yet not all stressful events are categorized as traumatic. Symptoms vary.
Religious Trauma (Syndrome)
Dr. Marlene Winell is a popular figure in the recent world of religious trauma. She writes about her own experience leaving fundamentalism and offers resources for those considering leaving (or those who have already left) their religious communities.*
She breaks down religious trauma into two pieces:
- The doctrine, teachings, and practices of a community can foster physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual harm due to their toxic or abusive messages. (She also emphasizes the role fear and shame have in many religious groups to control and manipulate.)
- Leaving the community can be extremely stressful. Separation cost someone their sense of security, community, or family, among other things.
She lists many symptoms. One may experience confusion, doubt, anxiety, guilt, grief, substance abuse, nightmares, loneliness, and more.
*Some choose to leave their faith and church behind completely, some choose to stay, and others find a third way. Religious trauma comes in all shapes and sizes and the option you choose should be the right decision for you and your circumstances.
Moral Injury
To be morally injured is to experience wounds on the soul. The following definition is a combination of the work from Shay and Litz.
“Moral injury originates (1) at an individual level when a person perpetuates, fails to prevent or bears witness to a serious act that transgresses deeply held moral beliefs and expectations which leads to inner conflict because the experience is at odds with their personal core ethical and moral beliefs, and/or (2) at an organisational level, when serious acts of transgression have been caused by or resulted in a betrayal of what is culturally held to be morally right in a ‘high-stakes’ situation by those who hold legitimate authority.”
Prior to this in 1992, Berg defined “spiritual injury” as:
“our response to an event caused by self, or an event beyond our control, that damages our relationship with God, self and others, and alienates us from that which gives meaning to our lives”
Fuson expands understanding to define it:
“…as the condition where one’s spiritual identity is in question. The individual suffering from spiritual injury has difficulty understanding how his or her view of faith, spirituality, relationship with God, and God’s involvement in one’s life can be true given the horrific experiences observed. A person suffering from spiritual injury doesn’t have answers to the questions related to the trauma he or she has experienced, is unsure how to resolve this tension and find the answers, and/or may be doubting that God is trustworthy.”
Spiritual Wounding
According to Kruk, this term is defined as “the violation of the sacred or spiritual core in human beings, harm experienced at the deepest level of one’s being.” In the early 1900s Simone Weil worked on the understanding and implications of this idea in her piece,The Love of God and Affliction.
She saw three major elements at the core:
- Physical trauma
- Psychological/Emotional Trauma
- Social marginalization
In each of these ideas we can observe general themes of deep pain, individual and collective harm, and the wrestling with identity, belonging, and purpose.
Where can we see these themes in our own hearts or community?
What does religious trauma look like?
As a major example of religious trauma let’s look at the impact of European colonialization of Indigenous populations in North America in the name of the Christian church. The article below talks about the impact of collective historical trauma of genocide and colonialization.
What happens when the trauma from “kill the Indian, save the man” becomes coded in your DNA? How does this impact one’s soul?
Intergenerational Trauma: Understanding Natives’ Inherited Pain by Mary Annette Pember
There is much more to say on this topic and it is well worth your time to dig deeper on it. For now, can you identify common themes in this example with the themes of religious trauma, moral/spiritual injury, and spiritual wounding?
How does these forms of trauma or injury play a role in today’s current events?
Other sources of religious trauma, moral injury, and spiritual wounding:
- physical or sexual abuse from clergy member
- abuse or neglect justified by theological concepts or ideas; “God says…”,
- Church’s silence/complicity in racism
- sexism or patriarchy
- xenophobia
- Christian nationalism
- colonialism in the name of God; manifest destiny
- witnessing the abuse of others individually or through community violence
- slavery
- public tragedies
- natural disasters
- domestic/international terror
- purity culture
- incomplete/inaccurate sex education
- sex shaming
- body shaming
- understanding on gender
- traditional views on gender roles
- traditional understanding of marriage and sexuality
- language of war when describing spiritual realities
- leaving a cult or fundamentalist community
Each of these things can be very stressful events, whether they happen once or multiple times. And certainly, they could be a combination of other forms of trauma compounded by religion. If you’ve been impacted by this these concepts know that you are not alone.
Even if you have not experienced religious trauma, understanding these concepts and the potential sources can increase your empathy and awareness towards those who may be experiencing it first hand.
What comes to mind as you think on religious trauma?
Additional Resources:
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, MD
- Journey Free: Healing from Harmful Religion
- Religious Trauma Institute
- Scrupulosity – Audrey Assad on The Liturgists Podcast
- Parenting Forward after Religious Trauma
Spiritual direction is
Holy Listening
If you are healing from any form of religious trauma, I invite you to explore how spiritual direction and companionship can support you on your healing journey. Use the link below to send me an email.
