Were you involved with a church, synagogue or religious institution that you thought was destructive? This new section is for those who feel they were in something destructive and/or abusive, but that it perhaps did not quite fit the definition of a "cult."

I've been involved in Unity for many years. I don't consider it to be a true cult (though the evangelicals do, on theological grounds) but I have certainly experienced and witnessed a great deal of cult-like control, manipulation and secrecy.

In my opinion, there has been considerable cultic influence by groups such as the A Course In Miracles study groups. There seems to be something about that teaching that causes group members to become very cultic -- as either leaders or followers -- when it is studied in a church setting. They tend to want to take over -- and in many Unity churches over the past decade or so, they have done so.

In addition, there are teachers of ACIM in Unity churches that are associated with Endeavor Academy, which is definitely a cult. In addition, some Unity churches also have study groups dedicated to Sathya Sai Baba and Yogi Baghan's 3HO cult.

A big part of the problem is that Unity has become far too "interfaith" for its own good. There is little sense of spiritual discernment or common sense where these groups are concerned.

- Boz Martyn

Hi,

I was hurt and abused by a Pentecostal Church, and rather than share my experience all over again in the post, you can read about it here. This all happened 11 or so years ago, and I am still trying to overcome the effects of it. Maybe participating here will help me to do so in some way............

Yochana

A church like Unity may be OK, but a if a particular Unity church does not screen persons or groups who request use of its facilities, that particular Unity church can, unwittingly, wind up as a platform for cult activity. To use a computer analogy, You can run a variety of application programs using an operating system like Windows 98 (Unity). If one of the programs happens to harbor a virus (eg a problematic ACIM group), that will generate problems that can disrupt the whole system.

Some systems can be 'infected' and co-opted for cult activity more easily than others. So Unity in itself may be OK, but it may lend itself to co-option by corrupt entities. Gurdjieff/Fourth Way work is another 'operating system' that has been disastrously attractive to crooks, con artists and psychopaths.

ACIM groups can be OK have been known to shift in problematic ways--especially if they over do the -you-make-your-own-reality ideology. THis can become an issue if a support group for seriously ill or dying people uses badly taught ACIM material--the members are vulnerable to guilt tripping and thats the last thing they need.

To make things yet more complicated, you can have a church that is clean but that may harbor a subgroup that is cultic.

Assessing whether a particular group is a cult takes time. You have to observe a representative sample of the members. You need to study their materials, observe their leaders, and determine whether they have one set of teaching for insiders and another set of teachings for public consumption. And you have to tell if the group is interpreting its spiritual traditions in a balanced manner, or whether they are teaching a deviant interpretation.

There are people who can take even the healthiest, most wholesome spiritual teachings and turn it into a personal jail. The crucial thing is finding out if the individual is being encouraged to do this by the group and its leader, or whether the group and leader are genuinely trying to model a way of life that enhances personal responsibility, compassion for and accountability to others, critical thought and spiritual autonomy and empowerment.

Last but not least, a group may be healthy but gradually deteriorate if a new teacher takes over and begins behaving ina corrupt manner or if a power bloc of dysfunctional, controlling members takes control.

Maybe I just needed to vent my frustrations from the experiences I had with my former church. It seems the emotional effects are still bothering me.

Upon entering college, I was drawn into a small campus ministry group that seemed to take a new approach to Christianity. I became born again, got baptized and completely zealous about my new found faith. We had a good thing going with small groups meeting together, sharing and encouraging one another.

I was a part of this group for 5 years, actively becoming a part of the leadership. And slowly things began to change or maybe just surfaced from the pastor. We constantly changed our doctrine, constantly changed churches and networks we associated with, people joined and left quickly often bitterly or upset about something, we felt only our group was the source for truth and shunned other churches. But the core leadership was faithful and unquestioning about things, often looking at those who left as immature or erradic in behavior.

This charade went on until finally something began to bother me. I think it was mainly the finances of the church that gnawed at me. The group gave so much for offerings, including constant "love offerings" and gifts to the pastor and his family but it never seemed to improve the conditions. They bought a house because the apartment became too small for their children but finances were ignored even more, and the guilt giving continued. This along with the sullen church members began to make going to church quite intolerable - the pastor constantly made us feel like it was our fault that we were without faith and joy. Yet Sunday after Sunday, nothing seemed to improve what used to be a happy church. Now my husband and I tried desperately to reason with them and had meetings to go over basic financial management as well as how to get the church in the right direction again, but were ignored or left as inconclusive. We tried reasoning with the other leadership who strangely agreed with us about every point we shared, but covered it all up saying we weren't approaching this with love and mercy. And it all ended with our declaration to leave, which resulted in the pastor (who is very sensitive about things) angrily stomping out the door bumping hard into me without apology. My husband still cannot understand why he hasn't apologized for his action, regardless of everything else.

We have since moved on to try and find another church. But we are still in the same town, and preserving some of the friendships with current members. It is difficult because those friends are leaders of this church and continue on looking and acting miserable. Yet they maintain that the only solution is to stay and submit because they don't want to hurt the pastor any more. I can say this church has potential to becoming a cult, but it isn't. I sometimes wish I can move to another place to feel like I can start over. I wonder if anyone else has had such an experience.

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rrmoderator
Were you involved with a church, synagogue or religious institution that you thought was destructive? This new section is for those who feel they were in something destructive and/or abusive, but that it perhaps did not quite fit the definition of a "cult."

During my membership in the Jack Hickman cult, I was friendly with a particular family that left. They used to go from church to church. In fact, I don't believe they actually belonged to any one in particular.
There are people who kind of "church hop" and some of these people have some strange ideas. The mother of my friend once told me how "Jesus wasn't Jewish..." She seemed to have a problem with Jews in general. They probably left Hickman's organization when Hickman went kosher etc.
Similarly, I had a paper route and one of the people on the route was into this born again stuff. He had a boarder living with him who I used to spend time with. The boarder attacked me about "... Judaizing" in Hickman's group.
So, as usual I got caught up in the controversy between the church and the synagogue. The Xians seem to think I'm very Jewish and the Jews seem to think I'm a Xian.
I don't represent either side these days.

Hi, I had similar experiences to the experience Yochana
describes. In my situation, I had not done anything wrong.
Unfortunately, such experiences are not that uncommon today
and they occur in all kinds of groups and denominations, although there does seem to be more of this occurring in the pentecostal/neopentecostal/charismatic arena. There are some
good books available which address some of these issues.
Churches That Abuse, by Ron Enroth is a good book but I
believe it is now out of print. You may be able to find a used
copy. Another excellent book is The Subtle Power of Spiritual
Abuse by Jeff VanVondren (in print). A third good book is
Churches that Hurt, Churches that Heal (it may be the other
way around). This book was originally published under the title
Toxic Faith and it is by Stephen Arterburn and someone else
(My spellings and titles may not be exact).

I started an online list/support group which is a Christian
list for Recovery From Spiritual Abuse. (It is open to all people
but has a definite Christian perspective). I started the list
because at the time I could not find a support forum from
this perspective. There are other lists and forums, like this
one, which are excellent that are secular.

Having experienced this type of garbage from numerous churches
and groups, and the fact that it is fairly widespread right now,
has made me less interested in joining or attending a church.
I have actually found more support online.

I wish everyone the best in their recovery.

OceanwavesCa

and they occur in all kinds of groups and denominations, although there does seem to be more of this occurring in the pentecostal/neopentecostal/charismatic arena. >>>

NOT TRUE. I AM PENTECOSTAL,(ag)

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azusa
and they occur in all kinds of groups and denominations, although there does seem to be more of this occurring in the pentecostal/neopentecostal/charismatic arena. >>>

NOT TRUE. I AM PENTECOSTAL,(ag)

Evidentally, Hickman was involved with Gene Profeta. Land deals and other things were involved. Religion gives a pastor a wide base of power sometimes. John Hove, Hickman's co-minister converted to orthodox Judaism later on.

I was a member of the Assemblies of God. I now belong to no religious organization.

As much as people deny it, religion cannot be defined by the rules of scientific reasoning. I don't know whose definition of cult is right. Some people consider AG a cult, others don't.

I'm going to risk sounding classist here (what the heck, I'm not PC anyway). My former church attracted people who can't make it anywhere else in the world. The first people I met were the smartest, so I assumed everyone was, too.

Most members of my former church, I'm sad to say, weren't smart enough to think big. They pretended to know a lot but ultimately only repeated information handed to them. They knew all about the so-called evils of the Jehovah's Witnesses as contained in numerous booklets penned by If it's written by a radio preacher, they thought it must be true.

I had no prior religious experience; therefore, my first impression about religion was from this group. It has taken years to undo that and I'm still working on it. Staying in a controlling group because I feel sorry for them didn't do me any good.

My opinion is that that intuition is the best route to follow.