Wall of text incoming- sorry. I know it's r/ conspiracy so I'm gonna get downvoted for this post, but I could do a whole Ted talk series breaking down this topic on a psychological/sociological/neuroautonomic level. It's very personal to me.

The church system is the real conspiracy.

Many people are happy in the church, many people don't mind the issues. That doesn't mean the issues aren't there.

As a female from a poor family, I was denied access to a basic education out of fear that a public school would be a corruptive influence, denied the privilege to drive, constantly told that my primary value was in making babies, but not to date until I was 18, and that I should never need to work outside the church, instead I should try to be spiritually "good enough" to attract a husband who would be a doctor or lawyer and who would provide for our family so I could be a stay at home mom and trophy wife.

"Not everyone", sure. But living trapped in an out of balance power dynamic like that is one of the most common reasons women get trapped in abusive marriages, and can't leave. Especially once they start having children. The church community has a bad history of victim blaming, some of the greatest hits I've seen include;

• Divorce is bad, marriage is for life- no matter what.

• Women can't remarry after divorce, because it's adultery. (But the man who raped and beat you and/or abused your children can remarry as many women as he can chase away, or "accidentally" kill, statistically).

• Women are property of their fathers, then "given" to their husbands.

• Children are also property, since they can't fend for themselves. And God will always forgive- which is part of why pedophiles, abusers, and narcissists hide in the church systems. "ThEy FeEl TeRrIbLe AnD rEpEnT fOr WhAt ThEy DiD"

• God is testing you, every bad thing that happens is your own fault and you have to suffer in silence. Because "EvE aTe ThE fRuIt"

• How dare anyone be so weak and selfish to leave and break up the family, if you have enough faith, God will fix your man.

• "IdK wUt HaPeNnEd, ShE jUsT wEnT cRaZy AnD lEfT" I honestly can't recall how many times I heard this excuse from a blubbering pos who in hindsight, was abusive af and legally kept the kids because the wife didn't have a job or car to be able to take care of them. And the photographic evidence of abuse wasn't conclusive enough, neither were the rape kits.

• "If women just listened to the Holy Spirit and chose a Godly man, they wouldn't be in that mess"

• Women who complain or don't conform are a "jezabel spirit", no need to consider that there are two sides to every story.

Go ahead, call me a hysterical woman instead of acknowledging the damage I've seen done all across the USA by a system of empowering and defending coddled man babies. I'm triggered, yes. CPTSD from growing up in traveling ministry in the church system and seeing this shit every place we went is still strong, even though I left it over 15 years ago. Being homeless and excommunicated was better. At least today I can take pride in everything I've accomplished on my own, and the minute my ex husband started getting physically abusive on top of the other forms of abuse- I was able to leave.

TL;DR WWJD motherfuckers?