Exploring Religious Microaggressions and Their Effects

I've been talking with friends and doing research about microaggressions. 

Microaggressions are insults against a certain group of people that come off as a joke or even a compliment. Often they’re not even thought about… the aggressor sometimes doesn’t even know what they’re doing. They’re automatic comments that are often made in passing.

"The MicroAggressive Christian Tee" cartoon by nakedpastor David Hayward

Description: A MicroAggressive Christian t-shirt with the words, "God Loves Even You!"

 

Here are some examples of microaggressions 

  • “You don’t seem gay, though!”
  • “You’re the whitest black person I know!”
  • “Figures your family is rich, being Jews.”
  • “You’re actually pretty cool for a Christian.”
  • “You look like you’re from China.”
  • “Have you gained weight?”
  • Or this one: "God loves even you!"

The accumulation of microaggressions in the daily life of the ones receiving them is exhausting.

I get them all the time, usually in reference to my art and my beliefs or lack of them. I AM unique and different, and I'm okay with who I am, even though others think they're superior to me because of how they believe or choose to live their lives.

But the microaggressions I suffer are nothing in comparison to the those suffered by others because of things they didn't choose... like the color of their skin or their sexuality or gender or where they're from or their shape, etcetera.

Microaggressions are committed by people who consciously or unconsciously think they are superior to the one they are offhandedly insulting. They may not know it, but their language betrays it.

Let's not do that to each other.

And if we do, let's call each other out on it! 

Microaggressions deserve macrocorrections! 

I'm up for it. You?


Related Religious Trauma Blog Posts

Here is a list of other blog posts I've written on religious trauma and spiritual abuse.



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