This article is the second in a bi-weekly set of articles on the forms of Abuse. (Although, not so bi-weekly!)


<sub>a·buse /v. əˈbyuz; n. əˈbyus/
–verb (used with object)
1. to use wrongly or improperly; misuse: to abuse one's authority.
2. to treat in a harmful, injurious, or offensive way: to abuse a horse; to abuse one's eyesight.
3. to speak insultingly, harshly, and unjustly to or about; revile; malign.
4. to commit sexual assault upon.
5. Obsolete. to deceive or mislead.</sub>

Spiritual abuse was a term coined in the Twentieth century to refer to the cruel treatments and teachings of some churches and religious groups. It is used by Christian counselors, former church members, and the like to refer to what may have happened to them during their stays within the particular group they chose. Professional psychologists and the like usually refer to it under the category of emotional abuse.

Some of the forms of spiritual abuse are Authority, Manipulation and Control, Elitism and Persecution, Life-style and Experience, and Dissent and Discipline. In the authoritative abuse, the Leaders of the sects will often put themselves in a higher position of power of the minds and lives of those under them, taking advantage of the religion itself for their own gain at the expense of others. In manipulation and control, the powers bestowed upon a leader are abused to the point of controlling in a Leader-Disciple manner, taking away the very rights of the 'disciple' to even make routine decisions such as what to wear or even where to work. Elitism and persecution, in the author's personal opinion, comes in the form of sects such as Scientology, where the group sees themselves as far above those outside of their sect, and dismiss any outside criticism and the like as people of an evil nature attempt to belittle or ruin what they have. Religious groups of this nature keep themselves away from the rest of the human element to place themselves in a position of feeling as if they are high above the world spiritually, and will do whatever necessary to maintain this, even at the expense of it's own followers. Life-style and Experience group abuse usually sets up a behavior system of a rigid life that requires a faithful conformity to all things, no questions asked, no matter the cost. For the last, dissent and discipline, the religion basically squelches any questions or challenges within the group itself by way of physically and/or emotional embarrassment or deprivation of things that are necessary to an individual to 'teach' them to never question the authority of the group again.

It can often take months or years to leave an abusive religious group, and, sadly enough...some never make it out due to the extreme trauma inflicted upon mind and body.

As with the first article, we close with some select deviations concerning various religious themes, although not necessarily about abuse this time, and the links to referenced websites and other sites that you can visit on this topic.

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[link] (Spiritual Abuse on Wikipedia)

[link] (SpiritualAbuse.org)

[link] (Apologetics Index - Abusive Churches)

[link] (Recovery from Spiritual Abuse)