Sarah Zang hoped to escape her highly controlled home life in 2006.
— John Verner
She enrolled as a student at Liberty University in Virginia. She looked forward to making her own decisions, free of her parents’ strict rules. Liberty University, a Christian college, seemed like the perfect haven, promising safety and a community that shared her values.
Read the rest of the article on Substack (content note: sexual assault trauma and white evangelicals being obnoxious)
In Norway, subject to rules about not being coercive or oppressive, all religious groups can apply for state funding.
Due to the JWs’ practice of disfellowshipping and shunning people who leave, including children, the Norwegian government has removed their funding.
Friendly Atheist: Norwegian court upholds ban on state funding of Jehovah’s Witnesses
This is old news, but interesting nonetheless. BRIN (British Religion In Numbers) collated a number of datasets and research results from a variety of sources in 2017, including data on women and LGBT+ people in churches, both of which would go a long way towards explaining why people are leaving churches in droves.
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Changing Paths 