Marlene Winell marlenewinell.net and journeyfree.org Oakland, California

Abstract: Institutionalized religionism is even broader than institutionalized racism but it has not been understood or named. Yet it is taking an enormous toll. We are so far from being a “Christian nation” if compassion for people is any part of that ideal. Perhaps naming institutionalized religionism will be transformative in the same way that naming institutionalized racism has been galvanizing. We need to see and recognize the collective trauma we carry. Celebrating the nation’s religiosity in public ceremonies only reinforces our trauma. This article addresses the destructive effects of authoritarian religion, not the more progressive, liberal forms. There are churches and groups that are inclusive and life-affirming, and active in social causes, from a concern with this present life instead of being what is essentially a death cult focused on the hereafter. Marlene Winell, Ph.D. is a psychologist who specializes in religious recovery and has experienced in her own life the transition from being a devout religionist to being a “reclaimer,” a person who has left religion and reclaimed her life.

It’s instructive to relate this finding to ongoing conservative attempts to ban educational content in schools that might lead to students asking questions about racism.

A speculation about the non-difference between science and non-science: In my limited experience, the processes of scientific inquiry - how to formulate questions, the history of discovery, the invention of research methods, problem-based pedagogy, hypothesis and theory building, the psychology of curiosity, etc. - are very much downplayed relative to the practice of cramming as much information into undergraduate heads as possible.