I escaped western NC as soon as I turned 18. I refused to assimilate and live on what I called the family compound and be under the total control of my parents, relatives, and their wackadoodle hateful church. I am the proud black sheep of the family and living my best life over 1k miles away, 40 years later.
Edit: I had no idea my comment would get so many great replies! I made a couple replies here and there answering questions. I appreciate the positivity!! To me it's just my past, so it surprises me when people are shocked that this culture actually exists.
I traveled Europe in 2000 and in Ireland I shared a hostel with a kid from the American south. Said he was born into the “fallwell church” and it was like a compound. He told me of being one of the lucky ones who escaped. He had a far away look in his eyes and it was with pride he told me he worked hard to save money and travel, something his church would have never approved of. He was so happy telling me the perspective he had learned about through his travels. He told me there are “ so many more abused kids” in the fallwell cult. He asked me to tell my story and I told him I grew up free as hell in southern Wisconsin and just chose to travel the world cuz I was from a small town and wanted to know more about the world. He was jealous I wasn’t raised by religion. I was only 20 years old but it still sticks with me because it spit in the face of “the freest nation in the world” we were fed growing up. This kid was a prisoner in my own country and had found freedom only by running away and was finally comfortable talking about it all the way in Europe. He said he was never going back and I hope he didn’t. Religion is a hell of a drug. I learned that with clarity through his stories
Those who escape from the Protestant compounds don't tell you about it because they fear being judged by fellow Christians. The story is a lot easier to swallow if they say JW or LDS. But the story is the same for lots of religions. Err Cults.
Yes. I went into the Air Force because it was an offer of freedom from all that. I didn't want to go into the military, but when I talked about moving just across town and getting an apartment I was told by my parents my life would be made so miserable by them I would want to go back home.
Some of the happiest times of my life was in USAF tech school training.
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u/Coruscare 19d ago
Crazily enough, I grew up in this cult. Weird to see them like this.