Cult Recovery: I have the Right to be (as) Healthy (as Possible)

This is part four of a series on Basic Rights. 

This may not seem like it should be a Basic Right. It should be just a status-quo statement. It should not even have to be posted. In a world as blessed and prosperous as the one we live in - this honestly should not even be a question. With as many hospitals, access to prescriptions, medical professionals, and specialists, you would think that such a statement is simply a given. But it is not.

And it certainly was not in the environment that I came from. 

The right to be healthy is a new concept for me. Yes, it really is. Because in the environment that I grew up in, the cult of Armstrongism, those rights were denied.

Everyone in my collective past has a different experience. Some were very liberal and simply didn't care what the cult leaders thought (risking expulsion). Others, like my family, were very fundamentalist - and followed Armstrongism to the core of it's foundation - where every word was as if it came from God, and every practice was followed to the letter. Of which was the practice of medical treatment.

Doctors were shamed. Prescriptions were witchcraft. Going to hospitals was a lack of faith. Therefore, hospital visits in my childhood were non-existent. I should have gone when I had a serious viral infection as a toddler. I should have gone when I had every childhood illness you could think of. I should have gone to be vaccinated. I should have gone when I needed dental care. Should of, would've, could've. These things did not happen because of the practices of the Church.

I should have gone when I developed a persistent and troublesome cough at a very young age that got worse, and worse over time. As it turns out, because of a very pre-mature birth, I had immature lungs and a weak heart. Down the road, partly because of my failure to resolve these issues, this led to a nearly-fatal heart condition - which is now a part of chronic care in my life. There are other serious issues as well which I will not get into. Suffice it to say, the lack of care of these ailments in my life - that nearly cost me my life - were a direct result of the violation of my right to be as healthy as I can possibly be.

This is not to bemoan my individual past. This is a wake-up call to those who, for some reason, feel that God's healing for whatever reason does not happen in a hospital, or at a doctor's office, or with medical treatment, or with prescriptions. Everyone has the right - in fact, the duty, and the obligation - to medical care and treatment when and where it's available - regardless of cost or expense. Health Care should not be based on the status of a person, but solely on the premise of the notion and value that each and every life is important. Regardless of who you are, where you are, what you are, or any other factor - you have the right to live and to be healthy. No religion, no power, and no policy should ever take that away from you. 

Yet that is exactly what happened with thousands who came from my cult experience. Many, sadly, died. Many suffered excruciating pain and deaths needlessly. Many did not take prescriptions. Many with health conditions felt the obligation to fast on the Day of Atonement without care or concern for their ailments - because of fear of God's wrath and ministerial punishment. Many were talked down to, or talked out of, going to get medical help. Those who did were shamed into thinking they did not have enough faith. The practice was to simply call a minister, get prayed over, have a cloth put on their forehead anointed with oil - and then believe you are healed, and wait. And because of this, they stayed outside of the very place that could have been the healing they were looking for.

I now have doctors. I have medicines. I have people who know what they are doing and what path is best for me. It is a different world then what I used to have as my world. It's a difficult world. But I am alive - and if I had listened to the Church I grew up in, I would NOT be today. And this is everyone's right - to be able to prolong their lives for the benefit of their wives, their husbands, their kids, their pets - and themselves.

Yes. I have the right to care for my body as best I can. And so do you. And to anyone who has a religious mentor telling you otherwise?

Shut the door in their face, and get yourself some medical care. You will feel so much better about it - mentally and physically. And your FAMILY will thank you for it!

These rights have been adapted from The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Eugene Bourne (Oakland, CA, New Harbringer Publications, 1995)