In a search for info to a reply I made re a Dark Christianity thread (in regards to spiritual abuse within the Assemblies of God in Australia and the Australian Assemblies trying to start a dominionist movement in Oz), I discovered something that was, shall we say, quite interesting to me...and also firms up a lot of what I've noticed as an Assemblies walkaway myself.

I've written rather extensively on abusive practices within the Assemblies, including the promotion of political dominionism as part of their general patterns of subterfuge and abuse.

What I did not expect to find (outside of various survivor forums for folks who've escaped abusive Assemblies churches, anyways) was to find a website run by an ex-Assemblies pastor who was apparently run out of the denomination for expressing his concerns re spiritual abuse in the congregation.

Now, those of us who've escaped the Assemblies know that they can often be as bad as Scientology with specific practices in the church (especially when lawsuits come to mind--ask poor Laura Schubert how the Assemblies headquarters filed an amicus brief to try to prevent her from collecting court awards after an involuntary exorcism). Those familiar with Paul Yonggi Cho in particular know the abusive practices now common have sanction from the highest officials in the Assemblies. What is surprising (to me, anyways) is to have it confirmed directly by the ousted pastor, who has also apparently consulted an exit counselor re his concerns:
( Pastor ousted, talks to experts in coercive groups due to his concerns re systematic spiritual abuse )

The website also notes that there have been a pattern of recent ousters by Assemblies leaders of pastors critical of the main leadership and its direction. (Interestingly, one of these letters all but confirms that World Harvest Church in Ohio is yet another "daughter church" of the Assemblies.)

Another interesting article shows, possibly in the most damning light I've ever seen, how the Assemblies has many, many unofficial policies and how dominionism is explicitly promoted unofficially:
( The 'written law' versus the 'oral law' of the Assemblies, from an ex-pastor )

There is also interesting confirmation of a major danger-sign of abusive practices--in a statement by the ousted pastor, there's info regarding an official Assemblies church bylaw that states that persons ousted from the church must be shunned even by family members:
( From Robert J. Lifton's writings on thought reform: 1. ENVIRONMENT CONTROL. Now demonstrated for you by Assemblies leadership )

Even other dominionist news organs have been targeted by the Assemblies when info critical of them was printed. When Agape Press reported on the NY scandal and quoted an ACLJ lawyer as noting this was an "epidemic problem" in certain Assemblies regional districts (Agape Press is the news wing of the American Family Association, and ACLJ is the American Center for Law and Justice, a dominionist legal group--and the lawyer in question was, at least at the time of writing, an Assemblies member himself (so you know it's bad when fellow dominionists are pointing this out), the head of the Assemblies literally accused their fellow dominionist newscasters of being agents of the Enemy:
( Assemblies leader flames AFA reporter. Dominionist Catfight! )
All in all, this should be *quite* interesting to those of us researching corruption in the very denomination that invented neopente dominionism in the first place.

From the following article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
( A new case of religiously motivated child abuse--warning, potentially triggering to walkaways )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY catvincent)

A relevant article, found by a friend on the LJ abusesurvivor community.
It discusses Biblical references to power-over and abusive parental relationships.
(NB - highly critical of Christianity in general. Also possible abuse triggers. Be sure you want to click on this first.)
"In retrospect it is rather obvious, but while I was there the cataract of denial was too great: the natural product of an abusive religion is an abusive household."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jaded_journeys)

Their Own Version of a Big Bang

From the article:

Evangelist Ken Ham smiled at the 2,300 elementary students packed into pews, their faces rapt. With dinosaur puppets and silly cartoons, he was training them to reject much of geology, paleontology and evolutionary biology as a sinister tangle of lies.

"Boys and girls," Ham said. If a teacher so much as mentions evolution, or the Big Bang, or an era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, "you put your hand up and you say, 'Excuse me, were you there?' Can you remember that?"

The children roared their assent.

"Sometimes people will answer, 'No, but you weren't there either,' " Ham told them. "Then you say, 'No, I wasn't, but I know someone who was, and I have his book about the history of the world.' " He waved his Bible in the air.

"Who's the only one who's always been there?" Ham asked.

"God!" the boys and girls shouted.

"Who's the only one who knows everything?"

"God!"

"So who should you always trust, God or the scientists?"

The children answered with a thundering: "God!"

A former high-school biology teacher, Ham travels the nation training children as young as 5 to challenge science orthodoxy. He doesn't engage in the political and legal fights that have erupted over the teaching of evolution. His strategy is more subtle: He aims to give people who trust the biblical account of creation the confidence to defend their views — aggressively. [Emphasis Mine]

My "favorite" line? "We're going to arm you with Christian Patriot missiles," Ham, 54, recently told the 1,200 adults gathered at Calvary Temple here in northern New Jersey.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY gairid)

I'm a regular reader of Pam's House Blend. Pam Spaulding posts timely and interesting news stories , mostly centered around LGBT issues, but often including issues that we discuss in this community--one of today's posts is a very good example:

Bishop Earl Paulk believes little things like marital fidelity were for "the little ones...commoners."

Bishop Paulk has a special interpretation of the scriptures that seems to involve a lot of extramarital sex. The leader of Chapel Hill Harvester Church in Decatur, GA is being sued by Mona Brewer, a former member of the church, charging sexual misconduct and acts of sexual coercion.

Click the link for the whole story:

http://www.pamspaulding.com/weblog/2006/01/another-perverted-pastor.html

Pam gets the skinny on quite a few of our buddies; the blog is excellent reading.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Is your faith toxic? Or are you sliding down a slippery slope that leads to such a belief set? I found a Self Test from a book entitled "Toxic Faith" that might be of use in determining if this is indeed true.

( Take the test )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY cheap_laugh)

Jewish Fundies re no better than Khristian one. Or Islamic ones.... And the genus Kahane Chai are perhaps the worst. These "righteous men" have invoked a death sentence that is reserved for the Angels: "Pulsa Dinoura" or Lash of Fire...

The Pulsa is God's Capital Sentence against Angels - so, was there really a Fall?

sources: http://jewishwhistleblower.blogspot.com/2005/05/new-ruling-by-rabbi-yosef-shalom.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsa_diNura has tihs quote from my Rav:

The Pulsa D’Nora has wrongfully been associated with a certain school of Kabbalah known as Kabbalah Ma'asit (magic). The Pulsa D'Nora is not a magical formula. Torah and Judaism have no connection to or tolerance of magic in any form. Therefore, the consideration of anything in holy Kabbalah, an integral part of [God's] Torah from Sinai to have any ties to magic is a spurious and offensive suggestion. The Pulsa D'Nora is actually not a "curse of death" as many mistakenly believe. No Rabbi or Kabbalist has the right or authority to curse another to death. In accordance to Torah Law, the only way a Jew is put to death is for violation of specific Biblical laws and then only after being tried and condemned by a kosher and authoritative Sanhedrin, the likes of which have not existed in Israel and among the Jewish people since the days of the Temple.

- Ha Rav Ariel bar Tzadok ( who by the way was also a student of Rav Berg of what is now the Kabbalah Cneter when it was originally know as the Yeshiva (School)

Several people--both on Dark Christianity and on Talk2Action--have asked in part what we can do in regards to dominionists (especially in relation to the spiritual abuse inherent in dominionism).

Some have even asked how we can persuade dominionists to, well, not be dominionists.

The problem is that--because dominionism is, at its core, a spiritually abusive movement with political aspirations it isn't that simple at all...because you have to fight the programmed mindset.

( Dominionism and the cultic mindset )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY multiclassgeek)

The Times (UK): "Police fear for children abused by religious sects"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1921773,00.html

Basically, it's an article about the growing number of child abuse cases coming to light where the children have been the victims of "exorcisms". The main reason I'm flaggin this here is because it sounds a lot like the sort of thing that goes on in Dominionist "deliverance" circles... Though in the US, from what I've seen/heard/read, most of the damage tends to be mental and emotional, rather than physical, as it is in this case (please correct me if I'm wrong)

Most of the cases seem to be African evangelical churches, which are often not affiliated with any other "church-groups" (such as the Church Of England, or the Roman Catholic church). The "small independent" church concept... It has a "Westboro Baptist" feel to it.

Thought you guys might like to know...

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY gleef)

I originally posted this as a link in a comment, but the more I think about it, the more I think it deserves its own post.

As I've mentioned before, the Salvation Army is among the Dominionist Churches. Yes, many people's reactions are "What, that charity that helps the poor? I didn't even know they were a church group." They are not only a church group (set along strict Calvinist/Methodist lines), but a coercive church group. They also are a multi billion dollar international business masquerading as a charitable organization. I would also say that they represent the business model that many Dominionists would like to see as the standard for how business should be done.

Wealth & Power: Assets or Addictions? — Chapter 6: Religious Corporation

( Some excerpts... )

Keep this in mind as you pass by the person in the red apron ringing a bell in front of your supermarket or mall this holiday season. This is what you are paying for if you toss a coin into the bucket, or give your old coat to their donation boxes.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY gairid)

I wonder how many gays and lesbians raised in families that practice the varied dominionist forms of christianity submit to this psycological and emotional torture? I am a lesbian who spent far too much time in the closet and as a result I was severely depressed. My reasons stemmed from guilt associated with my Catholic upbringing, which, compared to these sorts of tactics, seems pretty tame to me at this point.

(AgapePress) - Ex-homosexuals and "reparative therapy" advocates recently gathered in Marina del Rey, California, for the 13th annual conference of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, or NARTH. Reparative or reorientation therapy is designed to help men and women in conflict with their homosexuality attain the goal of reaching their heterosexual potential.

Here is the rest of the article:

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/182005a.asp

Here is the most chilling paragraph:


But Chambers feels it is the councilman and the other protesters who are promoting persecution and prejudice. "It's the ultimate of hypocrisy among the small minority of the gay community and this local politician who is denying people the right to their self-determination -- denying the right for someone to choose their path in life," the Exodus International spokesman says, "and I think that's not only un-American, it's inhumane."

Recently (in reference to this recent post on Dark Christianity) I stumbled upon the following series of articles on "Christian Counseling" aka "Theophostic Counseling", which is promoted heavily in the dominionist community as an alternative to "secular" psychiatry:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic1.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic2.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic3.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic4.htm

In these articles I found characteristics in addition to those aspects of "deliverance ministry/spiritual warfare" in dominionist churches that I am personally familiar with (being a walkaway from a coercive AoG church into "Third Wave" theology, which incorporates "deliverance ministry/spiritual warfare" as part of its integral theology, and having also done some research on churches in the dominionist movement with similar theology such as Ted Haggard's New Life Church in Colorado Springs) that are especially troubling, as they show that the basic coercive tactics used in these churches are substantially identical to those used in a group much better known for being coercive--specifically, Scientology.

For comparisons between the practices of "Christian Counseling" targeted towards dominionists and Scientology, I will rely on information from the sites listed above (and other sites where necessary) regarding "deliverance ministry" theology and will rely on various online sources regarding the latter (which will be documented).

( Warning: Long analysis ahead )

Religious Tolerance has grave concerns:

Of concern is that TheoPhostic counseling is performed in a religious setting, typically by conservative Christian counselors with no academic qualifications. Many believe that since prayer is involved in the sessions, that God will prevent any evil acts or false memories from emerging. It is our opinion that God is not responsible for any good effects of TPM nor is Satan responsible for any evil results. Rather, the impact of TPM -- whether good or evil -- is determined by the counselor, the client, and their interaction. During the 1980s and 1990s, RMT seriously harmed many tens of thousands of its victims, drove some to suicide, and disrupted tens of thousands of families of origin. Many of its victims were counseled in a conservative Christian religious setting. Since TPM and RMT are so closely related, we urge the reader avoid becoming involved in TPM or in any other similar experimental therapy. We suspect that TPM has the same potential for evil, if it becomes widely used.

Another area where they can be compared, sadly, is in involuntary attempts to "exorcise" people.

( Involuntary confinement and 'death by exorcism' in deliverance ministry and Scientology )

I had originally intended this as a reply to this post but due to the length of the post I am actually going to set up a dedicated post for this (also so, hopefully, it doesn't get lost in the clutter).

Dominionism, both in and of itself and in the religious and other groups associated with dominionism, share enough characteristics with groups traditionally considered coercive groups (or "cults", in the case of coercive religious groups) that the groups associated with dominionism, and likely the entire dominionist movement itself, are better seen as a coercive religious group *in and of itself* rather than as a strictly political movement. It is my belief (as a walkaway and as an informal researcher) that it is likely impossible to fully understand dominionism (as a political movement) unless one sees the political aspects of dominionism in a larger context of a general coercive mindset existing in the "parent" groups of the dominionist movement.

In this post, I will directly compare lists of coercive tactics used by four groups active in research of coercive groups (FACTnet's summary of research by Dr Margaret Thaler Singer, info from Rick Ross Institute, info from Steven Hassan's "Freedom of Mind", and lists from the International Cultic Studies Association (a group, ironically, that had to change its original name, the American Family Foundation, due to confusion with the dominionist group American Family Association)) in comparison with coercive tactics used in the dominionist community at large and with specific aspects of the dominionist community in particular.

( Comparison 1: Coercive tactics of dominionist groups as evaluated per Dr Margaret Thaler Singer's checklists )

( Comparison 2: Coerciveness of dominionist groups per Robert Lifton's models of thought reform )

( Comparison 3: Rick Ross's list of coerciveness as compared to dominionist groups )

Well, as the next two lists are fairly long, there'll be a part 2 to this. Part 2 will actually focus entirely on the BITE model (due to the fact the BITE model is a *very* extensive checklist).

(EDIT: Cleaned up the formatting. And hoooo boy, did the formatting need a cleaning!)

Apparently both CNN and Good Morning America (on ABC) have done segments on the "De-gaying camp" controversy and with Love In Action in particular (Reviews of both shows at http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/07/the_good_mornin.html)

http://www.washblade.com/2005/7-29/news/national/ex-gay.cfm has an interesting expose that shows--as frightening as it may seem--that "Love In Action" is actually *moderate* as far as de-gaying camps go (some use techniques that are akin to torture:

For example, Exodus will not work with aversion therapists who use penis rings that deliver shocks when subjects respond to inappropriate imagery. Exodus also seeks to distance itself from “holding therapists” who try to heal people of homosexuality by touching them.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200508120008 notes, among other things, the continued use of Fox News as a dominionist mouthpiece (this time for "intelligent design", aka young-earth creationism cleverly disguised and not to be confused with "guided evolution" (as formerly accepted in the Catholic Church pre-Pope Palpatine, erm, Benedict XVI) or other forms of creationism that are at least compatible with evolution). (It should be of note that Rupert Murdoch, CEO of Fox, *is* known to have been a member of the dominionist think-tank Coalition for National Policy.)

Interestingly, one of the ex-founders of "Love In Action" (and one of a number of "ex-ex-gays", aka those who discovered "de-gaying therapy" doesn't *work*) speaks out himself on the longterm harm: http://www.waynebesen.com/columns/2005/07/love-in-action-co-founder-my-ministry.html (This should give you some info on what poor Zach is going through)

Here's the letter in question: http://www.waynebesen.com/columns/2005/08/john-evans-im-sickened-by-attempts-to.html

As it turns out, Santorum *was* being a pander-bear (surprise, surprise): http://www.waynebesen.com/2005/08/sen-rick-santorum-is-anti-liberty.html has a link to an unfiltered radio interview with Santorum (whole show is available at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/08042005 or Santorum's excerpts from the same page). One has to wonder what his aide (whom is gay) thinks of all this...

Interestingly (and unsurprisingly) it seems all the "ex-gay" promoters are on active payrolls of dominionist groups: http://www.waynebesen.com/2005/08/still-no-unpaid-ex-gays-in-america.html and http://www.baywindows.com/media/paper328/news/2005/08/11/News/ExGay.Movement.Plans.Boston.Confab-966568.shtml
have more info.

http://www.waynebesen.com/2005/08/ex-gay-leaders-in-sexual-no-mans-land.html mentions the specifics of the coercive mindset engendered in "de-gaying" centers; this from an expose the BBC did (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article304446.ece) which is rather similar to the one that Salon Magazine did a month or so ago. Reportedly, BBC2 also did a report on this on 9 August (if anyone in the UK caught it, info, please?)

http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/06/afa_praises_par.html has info on how the AFA is now targeting gay/les/bi/trans acceptance clubs in school, with examples (http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/06/afa_praises_par.html) of how they're trying to form "de-gaying" clubs in schools.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Theocracy_Alert/070605Seesholtz/070605seesholtz.html has a *very* interesting article on dominionism and how the mental health system is often warped by dominionists (usually under the "Christian Counseling" canard, but often with dominionist-friendly mental health professionals and even quasi-professional associations like NARTH). (I would like to note, as an aside, this has gone on for a good twenty or more years, even more so as the recognition of "Bible-based" coercive religious groups has increased; the old USSR and other totalitarian regimes (and, from what little gets out, especially in North Korea) also have tended to abuse the mental health profession in this manner.)

For that matter, http://www.onlinejournal.com/Theocracy_Alert/theocracy_alert.html is a pretty darned good resource (and one we could stand to partner with). Many many good articles.

Speaking of coercive religious groups in "therapeutic" drag, here's some articles noting how Zach's mannerisms in his last blog entry show signs of coercion: http://www.sovo.com/2005/8-5/news/national/nationalnews_zachupdate.cfm and especially http://a_musing.blogspot.com/2005/08/breaking-zach-code.html

Ex-Gay Watch is presently compiling a list of media contacts--specifically, people who have had experience in coercive "de-gaying" facilities like Love In Action (http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/08/xgw_seeks_to_co.html).

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=6020
http://www.henryinstitute.org/commentary/read.php?article=20050601b (from the horse's mouth himself)

The senior VP for academic administration at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (which has been quite thoroughly turned dominionist by Al Mohler and his cronies) states flat out he's *training* his kids to be little sociopathic monsters:

Moore said a reader objected to an earlier column mentioning he took his two young sons to see “Stars War Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” because the film is “way too violent for children.”

Moore went on to say it is only the second movie the boys had ever seen.

“One was a tender, touching Christmas movie about a little boy who discovers that Christmas is all about believing in the miracles within,” he said. “The second was a cartoonishly violent movie in which men go face-to-face with evil aliens; often chopping off limbs in the heat of battle.”

Moore went on to quip that he repents of “taking them to the Christmas film.”

“This is because of my overall philosophy of childrearing,” he explained. “I am aiming to raise up violent sons.”

“I am not seeking to raise sons who are violent in the amoral, pagan sense of contemporary teenagers playing ‘Grand Theft Auto’ video games or carjacking motorists,” he explained. “I want them to be more violent than that.”

“I want them to understand that the Christian life is not a Hallmark Channel version of baptized sentimentality,” he continued. “Instead, it is a cosmic battle between an evil dragon and the child of the woman, an ancient warfare that now includes all who belong to the Child of the Promise (Rev 12).”

Sadly, this is *not* uncommon in dominionist households. They quite literally are instructing kids to be violent because in their mind they're breeding "Christian Soldiers".

And these are also the folks largely responsible for "Justice Sunday" and "Justice Sunday II" (Highview Baptist in Louisville is Al Mohler's church, and essentially the "home church" for the seminary)...

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY swisscelt)

...on the BBC's World Service tonight. I saw two reports, back to back: The first was on African Christians who are using ritual abuse against young children who are accused of witchcraft (!). The second was on African refugees in places such as Erie, PA, and how they face dwindling resources and some amount of local persecution.

I can't help but think the two are connected somehow. At the very least, it's not unthinkable that American churches, which historically have aided in assisting the world's persecuted to come to the US and be free, are now turning a deaf ear and blind eye to Africa. Thoughts? Can anyone find either of these reports on the Beeb's website (http://www.bbc.co.uk)?

Buried in the headlines (for obvious reasons, and my deepest sympathies and well wishes go out to those in the UK)...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4663719.stm

Three people who are apparently part of a dominionist church (targeting African-British nationals) have been convicted of child abuse for the torture of an eight year old child in attempted exorcisms. (Among other things, they claimed she was a witch.)

Info on the specific background (which IS dominionist, in fact can be tied to dominionist churches in the US who have targeted Africa to "claim dominion over the demons in darkest Africa") is at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4596127.stm

The UK is looking into a specific taskforce in regards to religiously-motivated child abuse, including "death by exorcism", due to the increasing number of complaints of child abuse involving dominionist churches in the UK practicing "deliverance ministry" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4607773.stm)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4602543.stm also has more info on the kid's ordeal.

(As some backgrounder/aside:

I have posted this in part to show that dominionism/"deliverance ministry" is *not* a problem that is restricted to the US alone, but to many countries worldwide. Among other things, Australia has a specific dominionist political party that is, for all intents and purposes, a political wing of the AoG ("Family First", http://www.familyfirst.org.au/) which is increasingly the subject of controversy in Oz.

Much of the blame for the rise in African-British abuse cases is *directly* attributable to dominionist groups here in the US--the AoG, and other pentecostal denominations that support dominionism, have been targeting countries outside the US heavily, and have had the most success in Africa, South Korea and Australia (which have the least regulations, incidentially, on monitoring of churches for abuse; often in African cases, they also claim to build schools and whatnot, but teach an explicitly dominionist platform).

"Deliverance ministry" (as practiced in the US) *already* has a belief that everything outside of the church is demonic and that everything outside the church has active possession by devils; in the case of Korea and Africa, this has sort of meshed with preexisting belief in witchcraft (or, more properly, is compatible enough with existing beliefs in witchcraft).

I will note that, again in the specific case of African and Korean dominionists, they are cross-pollinating with the US "deliverance ministry" folks (cref Paul Cho, who may have been the ultimate source of the whole "Toronto"/"Brownsville"/"Third Wave" madness--and who started it in an AoG church in the fifties in Seoul, South Korea). Not that the preexisting "deliverance ministry" stuff isn't scary enough, mind...

Anyways, now dominionist thought (in regards to "deliverance ministry"--trust me, the two are related; "deliverance ministry" *is by definition* dominionism, as part of the basic theology of "deliverance ministry" claims one must "take dominion of things away from Satan") is being imported to the UK, and the UK is starting to see the same problems as the US, Canada and Oz have seen for a while regarding child abuse and dominionism.

In other words--EVEN IF YOU DO NOT LIVE IN THE US, DO NOT THINK DOMINIONISM IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM. More than likely, it *is*, but it's not as developed in the US. (Oz and several countries in Africa are probably closest to having a US-scale dominionist problem, by the way. In fact, in the case of at least one African country (Uganda)...they have a homegrown dominionist group called the Army of the Lord that steals kids to use them as child soldiers. :()

As another direct aside, relating to the problem of dominionism and "deliverance ministry" in the US--much of the reason that the Convention on the Rights of the Child has never been ratified by the US is *because* of pressure by dominionist parents who wish to use "all methods biblically mandated" to "discipline" their child or otherwise raise claims of "being able to raise my child as I see fit according to my own religion". This doesn't just include legally being able to beat the kid with the "chastising rods" sold in dominionist parenting mags...but also sending kids to places like Love In Action, and being legally allowed to perform involuntary exorcisms on kids.

This is something that hits personally at home to me--I was unable to escape my situation as a kid because legal authorities in the US, by and large, do not yet recognise religiously-motivated abuse or religious abuse as a form of child abuse (partly from pressure by dominionist groups). I lived in fear for most of my life as a walkaway (and in fact still do to an extent, which is why my folks generally do NOT know I am a walkaway or transsexual, nor of my own religious beliefs) of involuntary exorcisms of this sort. I'm glad to see the British are being more sensible.)

I will post a separate post on the Australian dominionist party "Family First" (really, it behooves us all to know this is NOT a US-only problem).

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ellid)

Update on the crucified nun story from Romania:

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050624151109990013

At least someone's taking an interest now....

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY allisburning)

.

Waah! Scary stuff!
You really should read this carefully and now.

****************************************

"... 250 foreign children are locked up. Almost all are American, but though kept prisoner, they were not sent here by a court of law. Their parents paid to have them kidnapped and flown here against their will, to be incarcerated for up to three years, sometimes even longer. They will not be released until they are judged to be respectful, polite and obedient enough to rejoin their families. ...

The cost of sending a child here ranges from $25,000 to $40,000 a year. ...

Along with multiple guards known as 'chaperones', the "family mothers" and "-fathers" (note: these are job titles) control and scrutinise their children 24 hours a day. The only moment a student is alone is in a toilet cubicle; but a chaperone is standing right outside the door, and knows what he or she went in to do, because when students raise their hand for permission to go, they must hold up one finger for 'a number one', and two for 'a number two'.

Corporal punishment is not practised, but staff administer 'restraint'. Officially it is deployed as the name suggests, to subdue a student who is out of control. However, former students say it is issued more often as a punishment. One explains: 'It's a completely degrading, painful experience. You could get it for raising your voice or pointing your finger. ... They pin you down in a five-point formation and that's when they start twisting and pulling your limbs, grinding your ankles.' ...

The first most teenagers hear of Tranquility is therefore when they are woken from their beds at home at 4am by guards, who place them in a van, handcuffed if necessary, drive them to an airport and fly them to Jamaica. The child will not be allowed to speak to his or her parents for up to six months, or see them for up to a year. ...

Students are judged ready to leave only when they have demonstrated a sincere belief that they deserved to be sent here, and that the programme has, in fact, saved their life. They must renounce their old self, espouse the programme's belief system, display gratitude for their salvation, and police fellow students who resist."

(Part 2)

"... his father feels only awestruck gratitude for the treatment his son has received.

'Every time I come here I'm just so struck by the love of these people. You can't fake this kind of love'."


****************************************

These are IMHO very standard brainwashing techniques.


****************************************

The last resort (part one)
The Observer - Sunday June 29, 2003

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,987172,00.html

(Part 2)

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,987168,00.html


.

laraken posted this

http://www.livejournal.com/users/laraken/483094.html

-- says it was mentioned on antitheism but I don't know when/where

.

Xposted -- sorry if you've seen this before

.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

I've been reading about an organization called Love In Action, which is a Christian brain-washing 'camp' devoted to making gay Christian kids straight. Parents send their kids to this place, hoping to straighten out their gay children. Instead, it radically scars them.

One young man, Zach, made the potentially fatal error of coming out as gay to his Christian parents. Their solution- putting him into this program. His blog documents the horrors of what is happening to him. He is not allowed to blog- he somehow has managed to get these messages to friends of his, who do it for him.

Daily Kos, Ex-gay watch, Janus Online and many other places in the blogosphere are paying attention and shining light on this very nasty practice of the Christocrats.

Another site, "Anything But Straight documents the continual failure of "Love In Action" and other Christian-run 'ex-gay' ministries to change gay people into 'straight' people. They refuse to believe or acknowledge that homosexuality is something one is born with, and people cannot 'convert' to gay- or convert from gay to straight. All they see is what the bible has said about it, which gives them carte blanche to essentially- especially in the case of "Love In Action" (ironic name...)- destroy their own youngsters. If this isn't child abuse, I don't know what is.

I really feel for young Zach. He bemoans his inability to wait two years- which is practically forever for a sixteen year old- to tell his parents about his homosexuality, and he is paying the price for it. If you are a praying person, I believe that Zach, and people like him- young people who have been literally thrown away by their hateful 'god loving' parents- need all the prayers, energy, and if possible, real help you can give them.

They're doing this to their own children folks. Consider what would happen if these people actually gained real power- and had the ability to do that to you and your own children.

Here's a particularly chilling passage from "Love In Action":

"I would rather you commit suicide than have you leave Love In Action wanting to return to the gay lifestyle. In a physical death you could still have a spiritual resurrection; whereas, returning to homosexuality you are yielding yourself to a spiritual death from which there is no recovery." --The Final Indoctrination from John Smid, Director, Love In Action (LIA), San Rafael's "ex-gay" clan.

In other words, they would rather see gay people dead. Think about that.