I know this community isn’t very big yet, but I’m wondering who else here might have been a preacher’s kid or missionary’s kid growing up?
My brothers and I are PKs and no longer Christian. One is still spiritual but more in a open to what makes sense to him. My other brother and I are atheist but he might be more agnostic.
Our parents hammered home the teachings of Christ and we were all so confused by the hatred of Christians.
In my case they hammered home the lessons of Christ and then allowed themselves to be taken hostage by white Christian nationalism because you don’t see it when literally everyone around you is reinforcing cruelty.
My sister and I are PKs. Our father is a closeted gay man who for some unfathomable reason gravitated toward increasingly conservative megachurches during our childhoods. We’re both queer atheists now, and our childhoods left us damaged, angry, and sad. Now he’s retired and half-out while our mom is bemusedly waiting for the other shoe to drop. The relationship is emotionally exhausting so we both moved far away to minimize contact. I have a great relationship with my in-laws and would love something similar with my parents, but I feel there is likely too much baggage to unpack.
My nephew is most likely gay and his homeschooled upbringing and cognitive dissonance drove him to go to all in as a Baptist music director, get married to a Christian tradwife and have as many babies as possible, like having kids firmly establishes he’s not gay. Sad.
I’m a Pastor’s son, grandson, and nephew. Also a Missionary’s nephew. None of my siblings or I are “out” as ex-christian to anyone other than each other. We’ve all just moved far enough away from family that we can live our lives without family expectations, although we’ll still attend services and participate outwardly when visiting family over the holidays. It’s probably not the healthiest thing, but it still allows us to have at least somewhat of a relationship with family, that would cease to exist entirely if we let family know we no longer believe. My youngest brother is also gay, which would unfortunately be an even bigger deal for my family to accept. I think once the grandparents are gone, we won’t bother keeping up the facade as much, but for now we’ve all independently concluded that after a lifetime of keeping up outward appearances, a few more years of faking for the sake of having a normal last few years with the grandparents is worth it.
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