“You pray in heart?” my favorite Muslim cab driver asked me from the front seat. I met his dark eyes in the rearview mirror and nodded yes. Yes, I pray in heart. “You pray in heart,” he thumped a hand to his chest before lurching the car forward, “I pray in heart. So me and you, we same. Everyone who pray in heart is same.” Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself. Bahá’u’lláh (Bahá’í Faith) Do not wrong or... Read more
This picture lies. Yes, it is me and my Dad sharing the father-daughter wedding dance. Yes, the photographer perfectly captured the sheer, sweet joy of the special moment. And yes, it remains one of the hands-down most amazing snapshots of my life thus far. But. The photo tells a thousand lies by omission. It doesn’t show the years during which my father and I didn’t speak, followed by the years we could only yell and hang up on each other. It... Read more
Excerpts from my interview with New York Times bestselling author Frank Schaeffer about his new book Why I’m an Atheist Who Believes in God. (See the Washington Post’s excellent review ) Reba: What does the Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome term mean to you? Frank: It’s a way of describing what I’ve been trying to write about it my memoirs…the church experience that I came out of had some trauma, and I’ve received literally thousands of emails from people coming out of... Read more
Warning: Frank Schaeffer’s new book Why I’m An Atheist Who Believes in God (available for download FREE on Amazon today and tomorrow!) may cause moments of transcendence in your regularly-scheduled life– whether you’re a believer, Atheist, or, as Frank’s title holds, both at the same time. Last Tuesday, I sat down with Frank, New York Times bestselling author (and son renowned authors Francis and Edith Schaeffer), via Skype to talk about PTCS, spiritual healing and his new book. I transcribed... Read more
Three years ago today, I triumphed over Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome. Oh, it didn’t look like triumph on my twenty-ninth birthday. It looked like a sopping-wet woman walking exactly three steps from the shower before crumpling into a shivering, crying, heap on the floor of the closet because she was too physically ill and spiritually injured to stand for one minute longer. It didn’t feel like triumph, either. It felt like sickness and pain and despair. (It also felt freezing cold,... Read more
Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome
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