In this thread, I want to focus more on the related issue of toxic positivity, an American cultural issue that has specific evangelical expressions.

Toxic positivity is a natural outgrowth of the “Protestant work ethic,” i.e. Christian-infused capitalism

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/toxic-positivity-mental-health-covid/2020/08/19/5dff8d16-e0c8-11ea-8181-606e603bb1c4_story.html?outputType=amp
If you're thinking, "Boy, this sounds a lot like those MLM people," you are absolutely right. Amway was founded by Richard DeVos, father-in-law of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Their uber-Calvinist family hails from a heavily Dutch Reformed region of Michigan
And MLMs (multilevel marketing schemes, for those unfamiliar with the abbreviation), are wildly popular among evangelicals. When I was a little kid, my mom sold Mary Kay cosmetics (evangelical women love that brand). Later we did Amway for a bit. Then my dad did Vemma supplements
In these endeavors, there is a whole lot of positivity talk. There's this whole sort of bizarre cheerleading ethos running through the whole thing. And it works great for the tiny sliver of people at the top, who can't rake it in w/o all the folks who lose money at the bottom
I mean, okay, technically they bought products with the money, but they also did a lot of free labor trying to recruit others, and no one really needs to buy those kinds of products through multilevel schemes. Not to mention that some of the products are, erm, unscientific
But evangelical toxic positivity is a much more pervasive phenomenon than just the culture of MLMs. As I said in the first tweet in this thread, it's also very much about the "witness" of "the Church." This is something I address in my latest article:

https://religiondispatches.org/whats-wrong-with-taming-the-tongue-gossip-and-the-limits-of-evangelical-abuse-prevention-efforts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=whats-wrong-with-taming-the-tongue-gossip-and-the-limits-of-evangelical-abuse-prevention-efforts
There are Bible verses and stories used to indoctrinate evangelical churchgoers, and especially children, into toxic positivity. In Christian school and Sunday school I had to memorize verses that drilled into my head that I was to be able to be "joyful" in any circumstances
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers," says the New Testament book of James, "whenever you face trials of many kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

Not necessarily terrible advice for someone consciously trying to cultivate a Stoic mindset
But not great advice for kids, really, who you can be pretty sure have never read Marcus Aurelius, and who are almost certainly not mature enough to realize that developing coping skills for managing difficult emotions is *not the same thing* as repressing negative emotions
As authoritarians, evangelicals coerce in all things. As #GoodChristian™ capitalists, displays of feeling they enforce include "gratitude" and "joy" in labor. Complaining is right out, unless you want to rant about evil liberals and "the gay agenda." Then you can be negative 🤷‍♀️
But you must never complain about your church or its leadership, your Christian school, your daily life, your chores or work. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as if working for the Lord..."

And who could forget the classic "Slaves, obey your masters."
As @megaforte84 points out, songs taught to kids in Sunday school are another way that positivity is enforced:

https://twitter.com/megaforte84/status/1387458426595422218?s=20

The wildest example I can think of is the version of "God Loves a Cheerful Giver" we sang in our Christian Church (Restoration Movement)
In our version, there was a verse that went like this:

"Ananias and Sapphira got together to conspire to try, to cheat, the church and get ahead. They knew God's will, they did not fear, they tried to fool the Holy Spirit. Peter prophesied and they both dropped dead!"
This was accompanied with lots of motion, clapping, laughing. Look how funny it is that God kills people for saying they were donating the full price of a property they'd sold when in fact they kept some of it! Wouldn't want to be them! Be a cheerful giver, yay!
Of course, evangelical toxic positivity manifests in how parents interact with children (and, in a culture of denunciation and social discipline, often in how peers interact with each other).

In my latest article, I tell a story I'd never told before:

https://religiondispatches.org/whats-wrong-with-taming-the-tongue-gossip-and-the-limits-of-evangelical-abuse-prevention-efforts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=whats-wrong-with-taming-the-tongue-gossip-and-the-limits-of-evangelical-abuse-prevention-efforts
Even now, having published this I'm afraid of getting a phone call from my mom, crying, upset that I would tell this story. Especially so soon before Mother's Day. Or a DM or text from my aunt or sister shaming me on Mom's behalf. But I'm no longer not talking about these things
In fact, I have a pretty good relationship with my mom now, after many hard years of severe disconnect and lots of tears. My mom says she's proud of me, I'm a good writer, but that what I write "makes her sad." She's asked me multiple times not to write about our school or family
I had to tell her I can't agree to do that. That would be censoring way too much of my life story. My mom still doesn't fully understand, I don't think, that healthy relationships depend on honesty and openness. You have to face things, not just shove them to the side
I don't want Mom "canceled." She's growing. She has always been more loving and supportive than a lot of evangelical parents. I got far from the worst of it. But I still got toxic positivity, Christian version.

As a kid, I was constantly accused of "dragging out arguments"
But the "Drop it" that was regularly lobbed at me is a recipe for repression, not conflict resolution. Look, I'm sure I was annoying as a kid sometimes, and maybe I should have been better at letting go of things. But I had a need to talk through problems, not just stop talking
And this was most frequently enforced by Mom, and sometimes by a particular aunt, and often on behalf of my sister (lol), because I mean who else are you going to get into a lot of arguments with as a kid, other than your only sibling? But anyway...
I remember Mom frequently scolding me as a kid for "complaining too much." And also frequently telling me to "be positive," because, you know, you can just magically force yourself to be, that totally works 🙃

These are mechanisms for the avoidance of real issues
But this is what she'd been socialized to do. And this is how I was socialized. So yeah, in my article I tell this specific story that I now actually think is pretty funny in retrospect. When I was between 13 and 15 years old, I finally started listening to more secular music...
Some of the stuff I had I bought when I was out with a friend, and just kind of didn't bring it up. Secular music wasn't strictly forbidden in our family. But I figured if my parents knew I listened to bands like Green Day, who used the word "fuck" in lyrics, a ban might happen
So anyway, getting into 1994-era Green Day and some other alternative, I began to find much of contemporary Christian music wanting by comparison. The music wasn't as good, and the lyrics were trite. In fact, CCM is full of Christian positivity! And I was not a "positive" person
So at some point in there, I'm out with my Mom and sister and we're going to a Wal-Mart where Mom or sis is going to pick up some CCM. Like, that's the purpose of the trip. And the Wal-Mart greeter is chatting us up, and asks about what we're there to purchase.
This Wal-Mart greeter is white. This is Colorado Springs, ca. two years after Dobson's Focus on the Family moved its headquarters there. Where Ted Haggard is building his brand. That Colorado Springs.

There is a ca. 99.9% chance this Wal-Mart greeter is a conservative Christian
So the almost-certainly-Christian Wal-Mart greeter wants to know what brings us into the store that day. Oh, we're headed to the music department? What sort of music?

"Boring Christian," ca. 14-year-old me quips, feeling ornery or surly for some reason. Maybe I was hungry?
The change in my mom and sister's demeanors is instant. They are aghast. HOW COULD I SAY SUCH A THING. The scolding starts in Wal-Mart and continues in the car. It was very, very wrong of me to insult contemporary Christian music; that could keep someone from the faith!
Christians need to be very careful how they present themselves in public, you see, so that we are always being a good witness. You never know when God might use that. You don't want to mess it up! Jesus NEEDS YOU to be super positive or else people going to hell is your fault
I'd like to say that I thought this was ridiculous then, but that may be time coloring my memory. I probably profusely apologized to get the scolding to stop. I probably felt some shame. But I kept right on listening to Green Day. And I definitely think this is ridiculous now
Listening to Green Day quietly when my parents weren't around, because, after all, I didn't want to have the album banned. But listening to Green Day nonetheless
Tomorrow I get my second Pfizer shot, which will very possibly knock me out for a couple days, but I think I'll publish at least one new article next week.

This is the part of the thread, by the way, where I remind readers that freelancing doesn't pay all the bills
Thus, if you value my work and have the means, I would greatly appreciate it if you'd pay something for it via @Patreon. Thanks to readers like you, I am able to work full-time as a writer and advocate, at least for now. Thanks so much for your support! https://www.patreon.com/cstroop 
You can follow @C_Stroop.
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