It sounds to me like the way your mum acted crossed the line into a schizophrenic episode. Hearing things in her head, delusions about an impending apocalypse, becoming emotionally unstable and turning on a loved one. Sometimes people's mental health problems can be disguised (even encouraged) by religion - schizophrenia especially involves a lot of symptoms that can be misinterpreted as religious 'manifestations'. Unfortunately your relative did exactly this - misinterpreted your mum's actions as legitimate expressions of her faith.
You might try and reason with her, but I doubt very much you'd get through. The best thing would be to confide in some friends or different relatives who you know aren't Christian and can offer some sympathy and support. Avoid discussing your agnostic stance as much as possible with your Christian family members, try to avoid taking any bait. It'd also be wise to have the number for a support line handy, like the national or charity-funded numbers you can call if you need to talk about serious problems at home, just in case it gets any worse. Best of luck.
I currently don't know of any relatives that are non-christian. I wouldn't confide in my offline "friends". I don't want them knowing about my personal life. In fact, I've been slowly distancing myself from them. The ones that in the past I would've confided to, I wouldn't now since I feel so bad for inadvertently burdening them with my past problems.
Needless to say, there are no support lines I could call. I wouldn't call charity lines because I'd fear that they may take things out of context (for instance, they might get the impression that I'm suicidal and call the authorities which would only make things worse) and I have a hard time confiding into people anyway. I wouldn't be comfortable unless I was talking to a therapist. Then again, I have hard time trusting them too. :/
I try my best not to get into her religion. I've tried reasoning with her to no avail. I had been trying to going under the radar with my beliefs when the incident happened. When she does bring it up now, I'll have to nod. But if I just nod then she might start asking if I believe and I'd have to lie to her again.
Paranoia due to religion, IIN?
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What your mum did isn't normal.
It sounds to me like the way your mum acted crossed the line into a schizophrenic episode. Hearing things in her head, delusions about an impending apocalypse, becoming emotionally unstable and turning on a loved one. Sometimes people's mental health problems can be disguised (even encouraged) by religion - schizophrenia especially involves a lot of symptoms that can be misinterpreted as religious 'manifestations'. Unfortunately your relative did exactly this - misinterpreted your mum's actions as legitimate expressions of her faith.
You might try and reason with her, but I doubt very much you'd get through. The best thing would be to confide in some friends or different relatives who you know aren't Christian and can offer some sympathy and support. Avoid discussing your agnostic stance as much as possible with your Christian family members, try to avoid taking any bait. It'd also be wise to have the number for a support line handy, like the national or charity-funded numbers you can call if you need to talk about serious problems at home, just in case it gets any worse. Best of luck.
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Avant-Garde
10 years ago
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I currently don't know of any relatives that are non-christian. I wouldn't confide in my offline "friends". I don't want them knowing about my personal life. In fact, I've been slowly distancing myself from them. The ones that in the past I would've confided to, I wouldn't now since I feel so bad for inadvertently burdening them with my past problems.
Needless to say, there are no support lines I could call. I wouldn't call charity lines because I'd fear that they may take things out of context (for instance, they might get the impression that I'm suicidal and call the authorities which would only make things worse) and I have a hard time confiding into people anyway. I wouldn't be comfortable unless I was talking to a therapist. Then again, I have hard time trusting them too. :/
I try my best not to get into her religion. I've tried reasoning with her to no avail. I had been trying to going under the radar with my beliefs when the incident happened. When she does bring it up now, I'll have to nod. But if I just nod then she might start asking if I believe and I'd have to lie to her again.
Thank you:)