Religious abuse is perhaps one of the abuses that has the most lasting and long lasting types of abuse because it may result loss of the Heavenly Kingdom, the ultimate reward that we all strive for.
What does religious abuse include? religious abuse (a sub-set of emotional abuse), in which the abuser uses religious sayings or stories to make the victim feel like a failure.
Why have we included this forum section on abuse? Because many single adults have experienced some kind of abuse in their lives. (not all singles) To be able to share from our experience is a way of helping us to heal and by sharing our experiences we help other to know that they are not alone. We can also learn from one another's experiences.
Please only share from what you are able to.
DARLENE
I AM not sure if this would be an example.
but when I 1st became and S.D.A. many of
my old friends throught I WAS crazy for following
JESUS. also my DAD and MOM throught I was in
an occult and was very negitive toward me for the
1st few years in the church.
again I am not sure if this is a good example or not???
dgrimm60
Perhaps that could be considered abuse but, whatever it would be called would really make a person feel badly!
I really feel sorry for some of the kids today who are raised in some very religiously strict homes. Being strict does not equal abuse but, sometimes parents feel they are doing what is best for their children when really it is done with too much force and in a warped manner. Children raised in those kinds of home have an image of God in their minds that is so distorted that when they are on their own they will have noting to do with God. I would say that that is abuse even though the parent thought they were doing the best for their child.
I found the following C.E.A.S.E. website as a resource listed on Adventist Plusline. I have never heard of this organization/website before but, it looks interesting. It says "CEASE stands for Clergy and Educators Abuse Survivors Empowered. C.E.A.S.E. has been created by victims/survivors of sexual, physical and spiritual abuse committed by employees and volunteers of the. . ." (Adventist Church)
http://www.advocateweb.org/cease/
DARLENE
WOW this looks very interesting.
it also looks like it has a lot of resources
to go to for information.
dgrimm60
It does look interesting. Thank God for the 'net and our openess as a society to bring these things out of the closet.
If an abuser knows that a person is religious, they will certainly not let the opportunity pass to use it at some point in the relationship.