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TIA LEVINGS

Healing After Christian Fundamentalism

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  Tia Levings

HI, I’M TIA LEVINGS

I'm a former Trad Wife and Christian Fundamentalist, and together with my children, I narrowly escaped the Christian Patriarchy. Today, I'm dedicated to shining a spotlight on the realities of high-control religion and church-sanctioned domestic abuse and to the support of my fellow survivors.

My work includes a bestselling memoir, an educational platform on social media, speaking engagements, an anti-fundamentalist column, and bylines in major publications. You might know me from the hit docuseries on Amazon--Shiny Happy People---or the We Can Do Hard Things podcast. I love stories of survival and trauma recovery, and I believe we can heal.

I hope you find my work helpful.

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Yes, that was me in Shiny Happy People.

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LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL I think what conscie

LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

I think what conscientious and truly patriotic Americans who believe in democracy might not realize that when Christian Nationalists pledge “with liberty and justice for all,” they don’t mean “all.”

They mean liberty and justice for
all who are like us.

Christians have a parallel pledge they say to a flag once used by German believers who wanted to stand against fascism with Americans. But there are versions of it, and you’re feeling the impact of denominational agenda today, specifically as it relates to immigration and due process as part of life, Liberty, and freedom.

The conservative evangelical version:

I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Saviour for whose Kingdom it stands; one Saviour, crucified, risen, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe.

This version removes mercy, grace, and love, and inserts the salvation transaction.

The trend about liberty and justice for all underscores that you’re not like them. But they’ve been pretending that
they’re like you all along, saying the pledge along with every American, performing the appearance of democracy while privately amending the qualifiers in their hearts.

Christian Nationalism does not want liberty and justice for all. They do not want mercy, grace, and love for all, let alone liberty for all.

Christian Nationalism serves itself.

#libertyandjusticeforall #libertyandjustice #pledgeallegiance #christianflag #religioustrauma #exevangleical #lovewins #freedomforeveryone #christiannationalism #fundies #democracy

✨ I’m honored to be presenting at Reclaiming A

✨ I’m honored to be presenting at Reclaiming Autonomy Through the Written Word—a writing symposium for survivors of spiritual, religious, and cultic abuse.
From my narrow escape from Christian Patriarchy to publishing a NYT bestselling memoir, A Well Trained Wife, I am a fierce advocate for survivors of church-sanctioned abuse.

My session, “The Keys to Passion and Self-Preservation Post-Religious Trauma: Self-Care and the Written Word,” will explore how writing can be a vital tool for healing and reclaiming personal power after coercive control.

🗓 March 29, 2025 | 1-4 PM ET

🖊️ Early Bird Registration: $39 OR $49 After Mar 15th

🔗 Register now: gerettebuglion.com/writing-symposium

The slide with A Well-Trained Wife @joeldavidrich

A WELL-TRAINED WIFE is available anywhere books are sold. NYT Bestseller, Goodreads Choice, Audible Canada Best Memoir list. A SOUL OF HEALING coming in 2026

#ReclaimingAutonomy #WritingForHealing #TiaLevings #SpiritualAbuseSurvivor #CultRecovery #ReligiousTrauma #HealingThroughWriting #WritingToReckon

📌 Save this post & tag a friend who needs to hear this!

PLURAL TRUTHS: Many things can be true at the same

PLURAL TRUTHS: Many things can be true at the same time. It’s expansive, gracious, and life-giving to wonder, “what else is true?” Making and holding space avoids rigid binaries, polarities, and either/or ultimatums.

But it doesn’t mean you’re being a fundamentalist thinker if you have boundaries that define what kind of person you are, how you behave, and who you spend time with.

It’s not fundamentalism to maintain personal ethics and draw a firm line on certain behaviors and abuses.

Personal integrity (having a backbone) is an internal structure that holds you up, supports growth, and means you can be reliably trusted.

Unfortunately, fundamentalists and abusers who need you to comply with them and do their bidding shame anyone with healthy boundaries and personal integrity by making you the bad guy and themselves the victim. Now you’re the rigid thinker because you drew a line. This is a DARVO tactic and also ironic, but I’ve found time is a great tool in a situation like that.

Can you slow down? Take your time? Are they upset if you do? Do they become anxious if you suggest slowing down and considering before moving on? Do they insult, blame, ignore, shame or steamroll those who don’t agree to their pace? Time will often answer all of the above, which makes your boundary setting much clearer.

This week— babies, bad news, hard news, good news, tacos and tells, a book club reading, pedicures, family time, road trips, a few jaw drops.

See how I personally breakdown agenda and fundamentalist influence in our headlines, entertainment and culture at DeconstructingFundamentalism.com

A WELL-TRAINED WIFE is available anywhere books are sold.

#pluralism #multipletruths #boundaries #fundamentalism #highcontrol #darvo #religioustrauma #integrity

What Democrats and Progressives don’t understand

What Democrats and Progressives don’t understand about evangelical fundamentalists is that they’re fixated on trans identities because they’ve always been obsessed with genitals.

In the Christian Patriarchy, your lifetime role and purpose are designated by your bits. Little girls and boys grow up understanding that acceptance and approval depend on obedience. They don’t grow up with options, ideas, or possibilities. Christian children grow up with assignments.

What gender they will be attracted to

What duties they will perform

What deity they will serve

What system they will belong to

What party they will vote with (and if they’ll vote)

Evangelical patriarchs feel entitled to women’s bodies but their real goal is to remove all women from the public sector. They know it’s a long road and for now, they haul out the trad bathroom issue when the party needs a distraction (crashing market, trade war with our allies, car deals on the White House lawn.)

Content credits: @nytimes @mattxiv @19thnews @lgbt.teen.group @rightwingwatchdotorg

I translate the evangelical fundamentalism informing our headlines today. A WELL-TRAINED WIFE is my memoir of escape from Christian Patriarchy, an NYT Bestseller and Goodreads Choice selection. It’s available anywhere books are sold.

Grab my free FUNDIE CHEATSHEET link in bio @tialevingswriter

#sarahmcbride #transrightsarehumanrights #religioustrauma #fundies #womensrights #christianpatriarchy #underhiseye #joelwebbon #dalepartridge #progressives

I encourage everyone who considers themselves part

I encourage everyone who considers themselves part of the “deconstruction” space recovering from religious trauma to read the GRACE report on TNE Reckoning.

TNEreckoning.com

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP I think that those who respec

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

I think that those who respect religious diversity might not realize that the women elevated by this administration are evidence of the warring factions within Christian Nationalism.

When exevangelicals and cult survivors warn of the realities of Project 2025, the disenfranchising women through the SAVE Act, removing women from the public sector, and oppression on par with The Handmaid’s Tale, these appointments can appear to discount those warnings. Patriarchy always brings in women to secure the behavior of other women.

It doesn’t matter how qualified they are. They represent the flavors of factions that value visible women to an end: crowd control.

Today’s MAGA girls are not
tomorrow’s leaders.

You should care because it’s a manipulation tactic designed to lower your resistance.

We the people are resisting in record numbers, and our pushback against authoritarianism is working.

Patriarchy will react to resistance by attempting to appear more moderate. The more extreme groups will quiet back into the shadows.

We must see through their tactics and keep speaking up.

Clips: @emilyinyourphone @aaron.rupar @mosheh @religionnewssvc @newrepublic

More hidden realities of Christian Fundamentalism in my free FUNDIE CHEATSHEET, link in bio and at TiaLevings.com

A WELL-TRAINED WIFE is an instant NYT Bestseller, Goodreads Readers Choice, and Audible Canada Best of Year memoir. Get is anywhere books are sold.

#feminism #womenleaders #womeninoffice #handmaidstale #underhiseye #project2025 #religioustrauma #christiannationalism #theocracy #tomorrowsleaders #girlpower #resistauthoritarianism #awelltrainedwife #tradwives

My friend Emily died of what survivors like me mos

My friend Emily died of what survivors like me most fear: the exhaustion of a broken heart. She had so much more to do here, and bright ideas for life ahead, and I felt eager to see what she’d do next. I’m sharing her light with you as a candle passed from hand to hand.

Memory eternal, Emily Robertson. Thank you for sharing your light. @emrob1030 me, tagging you, just to see you one more time in my DMs.

The full poem is at TiaLevings.Substack.com

#emilydickenson #poetry #memorial #fireflies #strongwomen #womensupportingwomen #smashthepatriarchy

Currently having a bit of shadow experience here,

Currently having a bit of shadow experience here, likely because I say some things that need to be said about Christian Nationalism, cults, and religious trauma. This happens. It’s why I live by the grandmother’s apron wisdom of “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Diversify your platform, friends. It’s helpful while experiencing censorship.

My work is cross-platform. DeconstructingFundamentalism.com

TiaLevings.com

A WELL-TRAINED WIFE is available anywhere books are sold.

Word gets around. They can’t really silence truth.

My reading stack is always tall. My habit is to have several going at once, a chapter from each one when I sit down to read. This way it feels like I’m in conversation. And when several writers explore similar experiences with similar metaphors but from distinct viewpoints, it feels like we’re in a club anyone can join but all must read to understand. We’re friends.

For example: multiple writers explore suicide, drowning, water, and specifically Virginia Woolf’s pocketed stones.

The Wedding People @alison.espach
Syme’s Letter Writer @rachsyme
You Could Make This Place Beautiful @maggiesmithpoet
Be Ready When the Luck Happens @inagarten
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
The Tell @amygriffin
Bitter Sweet @lottebowser
Rest is Resistance @thenapministry
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Reading the Waves @lidiamiles
Matrix @legroff
Tell Me Everything @lizstroutauthor

Zelenskyy is a diplomat with self-control and temp

Zelenskyy is a diplomat with self-control and temperance. But I wish he could have stood up and left. As they say of abuse dynamics: “You can’t neogtiate with terrorists.”

“When people show you who they are, believe them.” Maya Angelou

Today, Trump removed any doubt.

And, with abusers behaving like that, America does not deserve to be considered a superpower or ally to anyone. This moment is fragility on display. It’s dangerous.

DARVO

Deny
Attack
Reverse Victim and Offender

If your body remembers what it’s like to argue with a narcissistic egomaniac who’s yelling their betrayal, solidarity. We saw what really happened. We know gaslighting is what comes next.

This is the most embarrassing moment of my American history. Yours?

#darvo #zelenskyy #standwithukraine #rightsideofhistory #narcissisticabuse #bullypulpit #mayaangelouquote

“Anti-Christian bias” to the fundamentalists b

“Anti-Christian bias” to the fundamentalists behind Project 2025 just means “you refuse to beleive like me and I have to make room for it and don’t like that.”

This administrations “task force” to address “anti-Christian bias” will mean Christian Nationalism exclusively.

#christiannationalism #project2025 #fundamentalism #religioustrauma #plurality #religiousfreedom #freedomfromreligion

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