Heather Williams 

Structural STIGMA:

Historical and Societal Roots of Distrusting Spiritual Work in 2026

July 11, 2026

Our work culture, at least in the U.S., is fundamentally built around tangible proof: college degrees, certified titles, and years of measurable experience. To be trusted, a person must possess these credentials.

But what about those who are naturally gifted and operate based on highly developed intuition—the spiritual practitioners whose value lies in an intangible, unquantifiable sense? Their success, earned in their own rite, often sparks social distrust. This happens because we, as a society, have created a standard by which we measure competence, and work that involves healing, mediumship, or energetic guidance does not fit neatly on a resume. In this article, we’re going to explore some historical, cultural, and societal reasons why the essential work of spiritual practitioners is still heavily stigmatized in the year 2025.

historical reasons why there is distrust

Slavery and Racism: Forcing spiritual heritage underground 

The rich spiritual lives of African people were a direct target of colonization and slavery. Before and during the transatlantic slave trade, various indigenous religions were practiced. One such tradition that beautifully illustrates the spiritual resistance is the Yoruba religion of Nigeria, specifically its practice in Cuba, known as the Lucumi religion. To preserve their faith and evade brutal persecution, Cuban practitioners disguised their Orishas (deities) with Catholic figures. This syncretism, exemplified by las siete potencies (the seven African powers), allowed their worship to continue in plain sight.

The popular Cuban song, ¿Y Que Tu Quieres Que Te Den? by Adalberto Alvarez y Su Son, names this tradition in its lyrics: Obatalá Las Mercedes, Ochún es la Caridad, Santa Bárbara Changó, y la Regla es Yemayá.

This act of resistance, while meant to be a shield of protection, inevitably forced the practice into secrecy, allowing the dominant culture to successfully label it as "hidden," laying a foundation for modern spiritual stigma based on racism. 

Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959 provided resistance from the opposite side- effectively banning all organized religion and declaring Cuba an atheist nation, which created a layered stigma for those practicing Santeria and others sects of the Yoruban traditions.

Religious bans would continue for over 30 years, and begin lifting in the early 1990s. 

Fear of enlightened African people groups

In 1883, fear, hate, and the desire to conquer the Congolese and their religion led Belgian missionaries, as instructed in a letter by King Leopold, to instill confusion in their Congolese victims. They were told that the Most High and the Creator are the same being, directly contrary to Congolese beliefs that they are distinct entities.  They were further instructed to focus on converting the younger Congolese as they were less likely to oppose this conditioning. If you’d like to explore further what happened to the Congolese, I recommend this interview from Obehi Podcast.

Social Conditioning and Religion

The Christian religion has traditionally and historically been a religion of control. Rigid rules, restrictions,  monotheism, and  sin are all large focal points of Christianity.

The Puritans spent the majority of their focus on religious writings convinced that man is all sinful and his only hope to escape eternal damnation is clinging to Christ, while simultaneously believing that believers could never escape sin. They made man a completely helpless being, unable to do anything about his own sinful human condition, but to constantly fight against it, never coming to a resolution. However, they name Christ as the resolution. .

John Owen, a Puritan writer published many books, one of them being The Mortification of Sin (1656). This quote from the book gives us a look at the focus of Christianity in those days and still in 2025. 

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

While fighting against those who didn’t practice Christianity the way they did, they lost the message that Jesus taught. The message of love and compassion for sinners, including one’s own self. 

How does all of this relate to spirituality and the stigma associated with being a spiritual practitioner? With such rigid expectations and beliefs, Christianity leaves no room for outside interpretations or influences to address the human condition.

Modern Christianity is lazy and places all the responsibility on Christ.  Christians have a very shallow ideology (do this because God said to; if you don’t obey, you’ll go to hell for eternity).   They blindly obey scriptures in fear of a place that they believe will burn them forever. Many Christians are driven to action simply because they believe their Bible tells them to do certain things like helping the poor. And often their help is accompanied by unwelcome preaching telling people they will burn in the everlasting fire if they don’t simply believe Jesus as their savior. 

I grew up in a Christian household and continued in that faith for many years after I left home. I always felt confused, which, through the lens of Christianity, was my problem.  I finally departed the church in 2015, when I felt my personal freedom threatened by a church I was attending at the time. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. 

  Current laws against practitIoners

Currently, there are still laws in existence that prohibit the work of spiritual practitioners. 

One such law is that in Pennsylvania, a law with origins in the year 1861, that bans fortune-telling for profit. Under 18 Pa.C.S. § 7104. 

This law is currently being challenged. See this article for more information. 

I hope you enjoyed this article and feel a little bit more informed about this topic!