Have you ever experienced a church where the leader must be obeyed without question because they have a direct line to God? Where there is an explicit or implicit narrative that this church/family/group is the only one that “gets it right”? Where the flow of information in and out of the group is tightly censored? Where leaders use scripture to control all aspects of your life?

You may have experienced spiritual abuse.

Spiritual abuse is a form of emotional and psychological abuse that is characterized by a systematic pattern of coercive and controlling behavior in a religious context. For a detailed exploration of what is and isn’t spiritual abuse and how to identify whether you’re in a spiritually abusive situation, John Perrine has written “What is Spiritual Abuse” here. In Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse, Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys distill years of academic research into the following characteristics of spiritual abuse:

1. manipulation and exploitation

2. enforced accountability

3. censorship of decision making

4. requirements for secrecy and silence

5. coercion to conform [inability to ask questions]

6. control through the use of sacred texts or teaching

7. requirement of obedience to the abuser

8. the suggestion that the abuser has a ‘divine’ position

9. isolation as a means of punishment

10. superiority and elitism

This downloadable syllabus is designed to help you identify spiritual abuse, name the harm that has occurred, and find healing.