escaping from cults
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DARVO
Read more: DARVOGreat post about DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender), a tactic frequently used in high control religions to prevent their adherents from leaving.
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Red flags
Read more: Red flagsThe best dating site, in my opinion, is OKCupid, because you can ask and answer questions about your dealbreaker issues. Then you don’t need to go on a date with some idiot who believes stuff like “women should submit to their husbands” or “pregnant rape victims should carry the foetus to term”.
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Deprogramming with Gillian Jenkinson
Read more: Deprogramming with Gillian JenkinsonJust got an update from Gillian Jenkinson: Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army BBC2 27 July and 3 August 9pm I had the privilege of being filmed delivering Post-Cult Counselling in a Recovery Workshop for a documentary “Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army” with four amazing survivors. This was filmed at my house…
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Toxic positivity
Read more: Toxic positivityThere’s a phenomenon in spirituality circles where negativity is strongly discouraged by practitioners. I believe it is known as toxic positivity. Speaking about negative things or criticising yourself and others was frowned upon. “It was a good-vibes-only kind of mentality,” Miranda explains. “Some of that comes from yogic philosophy, but it’s been exaggerated. You see…
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Review: An Apostate’s Guide to Witchcraft
Read more: Review: An Apostate’s Guide to WitchcraftOnce upon a time, Christendom labelled the Emperor Julian “the Apostate” because he reverted to Paganism. Nowadays, the title is applied to people who leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Moss Matthey left the JWs in order to live his truth as a gay man—as many others have left high control religious groups for the same reason.…
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The sunk cost fallacy
Read more: The sunk cost fallacyOne of the reasons that people tend to stay in toxic relationships and religions, persist with failing projects, and even watch terrible movies all the way to the end, is the sunk cost fallacy.
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Deconstruction story: Richard Swan
Read more: Deconstruction story: Richard SwanA friend shared a Facebook post by Richard Swan (in the fun group Dull Men’s Club) today, talking about how vanishingly few people are tone deaf, and most people can sing. I take the view that singing is an outpouring of the soul and one of the cruellest things a person can do is to…
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A healing journey
Read more: A healing journeyA new book from Moss Matthey, An apostate’s guide to witchcraft: finding freedom through magic, explores his personal journey from fundamentalist Christianity to witchcraft. Moss writes: This book is about my journey from a fundamentalist Christian cult to the joyous and freeing world of Witchcraft. Blending my personal experience with gentle exercises, this book is for anyone who is…
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State funding removed from Norwegian JWs
Read more: State funding removed from Norwegian JWsIn 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
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Religious trauma workbook
Read more: Religious trauma workbookI’m excited to see that Gillian Jenkinson’s book is out! Gillian Jenkinson is a therapist with extensive experience in helping people break free of harmful beliefs dinned into them by cults. I quoted her work in Changing Paths (my book) and I’ve been looking forward to her book coming out. It’s also very reasonably priced,…
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The exclusive Plymouth Brethren
Read more: The exclusive Plymouth BrethrenThis blog post was originally written in 2006 and posted on my old blog Nemeton. Some friends had asked why I tended to make statements about the awfulness of Christianity. Don’t be fooled by the cranky exterior of the Exclusive Brethren. They’re the religious equivalent of Vogons. I know because I was brought up in…
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Escape from Scientology
Read more: Escape from ScientologyTW: Scientology, religious trauma. ‘At 52, I abandoned everything, every friend, every family member’: the top official who escaped Scientology (The Guardian) When he was certain that he wasn’t being followed, he caught the tube to the National Portrait Gallery, where he sat on the grass outside and let his heart rate slow to its…
Changing Paths 