Religious culture block.
It's not necessarily an official term, but it's something that I experienced growing up. What do I mean, then?
To provide some background: I grew up in a religious household. God and church got me through some really hard times in my life (if you don't believe me, check this out). In fact, I was a singer in the worship band for some time, and I also attended bible school and tried to become a minister.
So, if I loved it so much, what culture block am I talking about? Well, when I was in intermediate school (5th grade to be exact), I went to a religious seminar that taught us about Satanic symbols. At the time, I was in the middle of reading the Harry Potter series. It was really gooood, and I believe I was in book 3. However, the seminar taught us that there are hidden Satanic symbols everywhere. One of such symbols being... *drum roll*...
Yes, the lightning bolt. And who has the lightning bolt in the middle of his forehead?
Just like that, I decided to drop my reading. To this day, I regret not reading it. I've read the first book as an adult, but I haven't gotten around to reading or watching the rest of the series.
What other things resulted from my "religious culture block?"
Well, I didn't listen to "secular music" growing up. The first time I allowed myself to listen to a secular radio station was around 11th grade. I was always scared that changing the radio station from the Christian to secular would make me crash.
I also broke boys' hearts because I believed it was the "right" thing to do, aka they practiced a different religion than me.
In addition, I was taught that God loved all people but didn't like what gay people were doing. I acted on those teachings a few times. There's nothing I regret more, well, that and protesting outside of Planned Parenthood with the youth group.
I missed out on pop culture, politics, and accurate information many times. I'm not saying that everyone who practices a religion experiences culture block, but this is what I experienced. Now I know that there are different ways to be "religious" without experiencing a culture block.
Have you experienced something similar? Let me know!
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