The Upstream Cause of the Youth Mental Health Crisis Is the Loss of Community

Re:The Upstream Cause of the Youth Mental Health Crisis Is t... by scruple on Friday August 02, 2024 @02:57PM (#41141556)

The church that I was raised in and grew up in for the first 18 years of my life... I became a militant atheist when I left that church at 18, close to 30 years ago. In my 30s, I started to drift between Zen Buddhism, Druidry, wicca, paganism, looked into Daoism, and on and on it went. And I finally realized, quite recently, that I had a God-shaped hole running right through the center of me. I still haven't quite figured out what to do about that, I've been looking deeply into Eastern Orthodox Christianity because I find it very compelling, and I have no interest in going back to Protestantism and am deeply troubled by the Catholic Church and it's hierarchy, but I have my doubts and skepticism still.

Regardless, I personally find all of that to be vastly preferable to whatever the fuck is happening to us in the absence of Christianity.

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Re:The Upstream Cause of the Youth Mental Health Crisis Is t... by wussboy on Friday August 02, 2024 @03:47PM (#41141987)

I asked many of these same questions when I lost my faith. I found compelling answers as to why I had a god shaped hole in D.S. Wilson’s Darwin’s Cathedral. It’s taken 15 years, but I also finally have plans about what the fuck we should be doing about it.

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Re:The Upstream Cause of the Youth Mental Health Crisis Is t... by ahartmetz on Saturday August 03, 2024 @02:53AM (#41145072)

As a low key non-religious person, I find the German Mennonites pretty appealing. They have a sort of DIY approach to religious practice and very little decorum. But AFAIK the US branch is much more radical, I'm not even sure if there are others than the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Protestants in Europe are also very different from the US btw - they are more moderate than Catholics, not less. I grew up Protestant and have always had doubts, which turned into being pretty sure that it's all bogus from age 20 or so. Having something to believe in is probably nice, but it doesn't work for me.

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Re:The Upstream Cause of the Youth Mental Health Crisis Is t... by BeFlatXIII on Saturday August 03, 2024 @10:01AM (#41146660)

I (somewhat unknowingly) spent several months of immersion in a Hindu monastery. At least in the branch they practiced, they were very clear that your internal beliefs on the theology were far less important than doing the practices that will bring you benefits in this very lifetime—no need to reincarnate to enjoy your positive karma. Christianity puts too much emphasis on belief and not enough on rituals & practices to thrive in a skeptical public.

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Re:The Upstream Cause of the Youth Mental Health Crisis Is t... by pjlegato on Saturday August 03, 2024 @12:41PM (#41147632)

Catholic and Orthodox Christians still retain and practice vast repertoires of rituals. They are not thriving amidst our skeptical public.

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