What Is Spiritual Abuse?
Spiritual abuse is when someone uses religion to control, manipulate, or harm others. It can happen in churches, religious groups, or personal relationships. This can include fear, guilt, shaming, or cutting people off from outside support. Victims often struggle with self-worth, faith, and emotional wounds.
ThisĀ cartoon on spiritual abuseĀ reveals many of the dynamics of spiritual abuse. You may also like this cartoon illustrating a venn diagram on spiritual abuse
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10 Ways Spiritual Abusers Think
- They think they are doing some good or at least whatās necessary.
- They think you are a deficient person.
- They think you should surrender your own personal agency.
- They think they are agents of Godās will.
- They donāt think you can or should guide your own life.
- They donāt think and donāt want you to think you can discern good from evil.
- They donāt want you to trust your own intuition, mind, or body.
- They want you to feel guilt and shame for resisting them.
- They will bully anybody, but especially women.
- They violate your space⦠physical, spiritual, sexual, etcetera.
Have you experienced this?Ā
I have many times and I know so many others here have too. There are many reasons why we allow abusive leaders to continue.Ā I hope my cartoons illustrating spiritual abuse make you feel seen and remind you that you are not alone in your experience. I wrote a blog post titled,Ā 10 Reasons Why The Church Is The Perfect Culture For AbuseĀ to highlight just how common this is in the church and why.