Flying Out-Ellie Katerina’s Story

But the relieving truth of it all is, that you begin to stretch your wings. You begin to reach out and see that there are real things like love and support and healthy relationships.

Never a Helpmeet Part 2: The Cult of Lifestyle Christianity

A doctrine that requires complete 24/7 immersion with no outside input is no longer faith — it’s brainwashing.

The Hammer Drops: Dr. Kenneth Copley Exposed – Severe Homeschooling

CC image courtesy of Flickr, Kirill Ignatyev. HA Note: This is the third in a nine part series telling Ruth Burger’s, a plaintiff in the IBLP/Gothard lawsuit, story of abuse while in ATI. It is cross-posted from Joe Sands’ blog Incongruous Circumspection and was originally posted on June 3, 2012. Edited by Wende Benner, HA Editorial Staff  CW: Descriptions of physical abuse

The Hammer Drops: Dr. Kenneth Copley Exposed – Severe Physical Abuse

My parents believed the “rod” was the ONLY form of correction and they used it often throughout the day.

That Christian Man Selling Child-Training Whips Is Back

Child abuse advocate Steve Haymond is back—and he doesn’t want you to know.

Bill Gothard And The Dynamics Of Abuse

HA note: The following is reprinted with permission from Libby Anne’s blog Love Joy Feminism. It was originally published on Patheos on May 11, 2016. Yesterday I found out that a Catholic priest who was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl decades ago has been made director of a teen pregnancy center. This made me think about all of the ways abusers within the church

Oregon Refuge Children Hid the Guns before Running

Last Friday, as soon as their mother climbed in the shower, five Sharp children bolted down the driveway of their Auburn, Kan., home.

Before they left, according to testimony in a Wednesday hearing, they took the guns out of a cubbyhole in the house and stashed them at the end of the drive. Then they got a ride from a neighbor to the Shawnee County sheriff’s office in Topeka.

Do You Love God More than You Love Your Children?

CC image courtesy of Flickr, Jon Grainger. Editorial note: The following is reprinted with permission from Libby Anne’s blog. It was originally published on March 30, 2016. I’ve written a lot about the evangelicalism I grew up in. I’ve written about patriarchal ideas about male leadership and female submission, and about what it was like to believe demons were literal beings I might encounter.

Don’t Let The Devil In: Samantha’s Story

When we were kids she and Terry drilled us on how to argue religious points with him.

We regurgitated the dogma on topics such as Calvinism, baptism, and Old Testament law that was seared in our hearts

The Nightmare is Over: James’ Story

You know those occasional news stories about mothers who ‘go crazy’ and drown all their kids in the bathtub? My mother was one of those—she just never managed to kill us properly