MSI Press Blog

  When a child grows up in a home that claims Christian identity but practices violence, several predictable psychological and meaning‑making dynamics can unfold. Research doesn’t say “abuse causes atheism,” but it does show patterns in how trauma disrupts trust, worldview, and spiritual frameworks. Below are the most commonly cited mechanisms. 1. Betrayal Trauma and Cognitive Dissonance Children rely on caregivers to model what “Christian love” looks like. When the same adults who preach love, forgiveness, or divine goodness also inflict harm, the contradiction can feel irreconcilable. Abuse is “outside of a person’s control” and often leaves victims feeling betrayed, angry, and confused . If the parent is the child’s primary representation of God, the betrayal can generalize: If the messenger is unsafe, maybe the message is too. This can lead to rejecting the entire religious framework as incoherent or morally invalid. 2. Loss of Religious Comfort Research shows that...

Today's meditation from  Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living   by Dr. Frederic Craigie. -8-   Irenaeus, the great early church father, said the glory of God is a human being fully alive. Now, if you back off from every little controversy in your life, you’re not alive, and what’s more, you’re boring. It’s a terrible thing that we settle for so much less… The greatest pleasure for me was being with black civil rights leaders and followers, because they were so alive. You can be more alive in pain than in complacency. These often very poor blacks in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, were so wonderfully alive, so cheerful, so courageous.   William Sloane Coffin   You are alive as you extend yourself on behalf of something that matters. William Sloane Coffin was no stranger to controversy. He certainly could have led, in his words, a “polite” and “comfortable” life as a clergyman and college chaplain, but in addition to the...

  Today's Publisher's Pride is  A View through the Fog   by Bob McGee, which reached #212 in biographies of artists, architects, and photographers and #384 in coping with suicide guilt. (This book was in on the top 100 list nearly every month through January 2025 and often since.) Book description: A View through the Fog  is compelling, poignant, and packed with both moving and hilarious anecdotes. All human life (and death) is here. With his own distinct voice, McGee opens the door on the dizzying world of the Golden Gate Bridge-the beauty of both nature and the bridge itself, the camaraderie and friction with colleagues, and the devastating tragedies of suicide jumpers. He brings an entire community to the page with a thought-provoking and richly detailed memoir that will resonate with many readers. The motive for his writing this book is love of his subject. He paints this world he knows in a way that gives readers the feeling they are on the Bridge with him. From...