Episode 10: Spiritual Abuse

Spiritual abuse is a complicated topic because everyone's religious beliefs are different, everyone typically thinks that their beliefs are the correct ones, and many, many abuse survivors have had religion used against them at some point, either by their abuser or as secondary abuse (sometimes referred to as double abuse) by their church or families. Often, the victim ends up leaving the church altogether due to this abuse.  

In their book Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse, Dr. Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys define spiritual abuse as  "A form of emotional and psychological abuse.  It is characterized by systematic pattern of coercive and controlling behavior in a religious context."  They also state that "Spiritual abuse can have a deeply damaging impact on those who experience it." 

There are entire podcasts, blogs, and foundations devoted just to the topic of religious abuse, but for our purposes, I will discuss the markers of spiritual abuse within an abusive relationship that are listed in Sarah McDougal's Red Flags chart. Many of the examples come from the Patrick Weaver Ministries Facebook Page. Please keep in mind that these 'half truths, untruths and/or false applications of scripture' are used to coerce and abuse.  While some of these statements may seem true within the scope of a healthy relationship, they absolutely do not apply to an abusive one.

For a written out list of the explanations, examples, and resource list, please hop over to my blog for the full list. 

https://meghantschida2021.wixsite.com/my-site