A “cancelled Christian” who grew up believing in pro-life and anti-abortion has changed her stance after “deconstructing” her faith.
Cherie Transeau, 26, was brought up as a fundamentalist Christian – which she describes as believing in “no errors in the bible” and taking it as a “literal interpretation”.
She says she was taught about “extreme beliefs on women” – and says she didn't think a woman could be a president or take a leadership role within the church.
Cherie says she was told abortion was “worse than the Holocaust” and protested from the age of eight with her church – something she now feels “ashamed” of.
When Cherie started at a Christian college, she began to question her beliefs and claims the people surrounding her had “no mercy” or “empathy”.
She began to research her stance on pro-life and realised the bible verses "didn’t match up to a view of anti-abortion".
Cherie stopped going to church during lockdown and said it “deprogrammed” her and she now no longer believes in fundamentalism and supports pro-choice.
She still has her faith and refers to herself as a “progressive Christian” or a “cancelled Christian”.
Cherie, a property manager owner, from Alexandria, Virginia, US, said: “If you questioned anything you were going to hell.
“Every Friday the churches and I would go around protesting against abortion.
“I’m so ashamed of it now.
“I was told abortion was worse than the Holocaust.
“I was told a women should close their legs.
“I was told they were mostly late term abortions.
“Most people don’t question it.
“Women should be able to have sex if they want to.
"I was taught it's bad, bad, bad but when you're ok it's ok.
"I didn't get a proper sex education.
"I was told women are there to keep their husbands from stop cheating.
"it was very hard to go from it's bad to ok this is good."
Cherie grew up believing the LGBTQ+ community was a “lie” and women “didn’t have a huge role in society”.
She said fundamentalists "really want to have an influence in politics to push their beliefs further".
Cherie Transeau, 26, was brought up as a fundamentalist Christian – which she describes as believing in “no errors in the bible” and taking it as a “literal interpretation”.
She says she was taught about “extreme beliefs on women” – and says she didn't think a woman could be a president or take a leadership role within the church.
Cherie says she was told abortion was “worse than the Holocaust” and protested from the age of eight with her church – something she now feels “ashamed” of.
When Cherie started at a Christian college, she began to question her beliefs and claims the people surrounding her had “no mercy” or “empathy”.
She began to research her stance on pro-life and realised the bible verses "didn’t match up to a view of anti-abortion".
Cherie stopped going to church during lockdown and said it “deprogrammed” her and she now no longer believes in fundamentalism and supports pro-choice.
She still has her faith and refers to herself as a “progressive Christian” or a “cancelled Christian”.
Cherie, a property manager owner, from Alexandria, Virginia, US, said: “If you questioned anything you were going to hell.
“Every Friday the churches and I would go around protesting against abortion.
“I’m so ashamed of it now.
“I was told abortion was worse than the Holocaust.
“I was told a women should close their legs.
“I was told they were mostly late term abortions.
“Most people don’t question it.
“Women should be able to have sex if they want to.
"I was taught it's bad, bad, bad but when you're ok it's ok.
"I didn't get a proper sex education.
"I was told women are there to keep their husbands from stop cheating.
"it was very hard to go from it's bad to ok this is good."
Cherie grew up believing the LGBTQ+ community was a “lie” and women “didn’t have a huge role in society”.
She said fundamentalists "really want to have an influence in politics to push their beliefs further".
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FunTranscript
00:00 If you are in the midst of deconstructing or you have deconstructed, I'm sure you've had people say this to you,
00:07 and that's, "You were never real Christian." Or on my videos, I get a lot of comments of, "She was never real Christian or else she wouldn't have walked away."
00:16 And this is really hurtful and very annoying to people who are deconstructing because I was a real Christian, a real fundamentalist Christian.
00:26 I went on missions trips. I did VBS. I had a diary that I would write to Jesus. I read my Bible every day, prayed. I prayed the prayer. I lived out the prayer in my life.
00:40 I did communicants class. The elders and pastor of my church literally said, "Okay, this girl is saved. That's how I can take communion."
00:49 They had to approve me, and I was approved. Oh my gosh. And it's so, so ignorant and so rude of people to say that, but I was thinking about it.
01:01 And the reason that they're saying this is because they're scared. I remember being in that place, and I remember someone very close to me deconstructed,
01:11 and they were so in it. They were working for a missions organization, and their whole life was surrounded on Jesus and God, and then they walked away, and it was terrifying.
01:21 And the only way to make your life viewpoint work is to say that they were never a Christian because Christians don't believe that you can be unsaved.
01:32 And it's terrifying because that's the only crutch they have. And so when people comment that I was never a real Christian, or when people have told me in my life that I was never a real Christian,
01:45 I just, I do still get annoyed and angry because it's annoying, but I just feel pity for them because they're coming from a really scared, terrifying place, and they don't want that to happen to them.
01:56 And so their crutch is that they're doing it right, you were doing it wrong, you were just fooling yourself.
02:02 Yeah, it's sad. It's really sad what that religion does to people and makes them scared that they have to attack others.
02:12 Just live your life.
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