Unregistered

I very strongly relate to this.

I was a church kid and got out between 10 and 20 years ago when I was about 19 or so. The conservative brainwashing was powerful, I had internalized a lot of that. I was homophobic, had warped, toxic ideas of masculinity, had trouble relating to women, major repression issues, sexual and otherwise, and on and on. My brother is still involved with the LC and it's pretty clear that it has only been reinforcing a lot of his already vile opinions.

The same pressures that got me to leave also forced me to reevaluate pretty much everything about what I believed. It was a psychologically painful, emotionally agonizing process, but I definitely came out the other side as someone that I can be proud of. Part of this was a categorical rejection of economic and social conservative beliefs. As I've gotten older and continue to keep evaluating what I believe and why, I've only gone further and further left.

I think that's what happens with a lot of people who've gone through something difficult or traumatic and developed a stronger sense of empathy from it. When you can better understand that people are out there with inner lives that are just as rich and valid as your own no matter how different they may be and when you're able to see how much people are suffering from economic and social injustice, you can't help but align with leftist ideology.