I am honored to be speaking about how religious homeschooling can traumatize children for the upcoming Conference On Religious Trauma on April 29-May 1, 2022. The Conference On Religious Trauma is organized by Janice Selbie, a former Christian fundamentalist who is now a counselor helping survivors of religious trauma.
Religious trauma is an important and quickly expanding field of understanding. As the Conference website explains, “There are widespread assumptions that religion in general is good or at least harmless. Yet people are seriously hurt by religious doctrines and practices every day. This has to end. There is such a thing as religious trauma.”
Homeschooled children and alumni are intimately familiar with religious trauma, as the vast majority of homeschoolers are evangelical Christians. Many homeschooled children have experienced corporal punishment, threats of eternal hellfire, educational neglect, molestation and rape, and other human rights abuses—all in the name of glorifying the evangelical god. In fact, due to the intentionally deregulated state of homeschool laws in the United States, homeschool parents have nearly absolute power over what they can do to and teach their children. Homeschooling has thus become a totalistic tool. This has created the perfect storm for abuse and neglect to thrive in homeschooling communities. I will explore these and other facts in my talk at the Conference.
You can register for the Conference here.