MK forum

I wanted to introduce myself to everyone. I have been wanting to introduce myself since I posted the article regarding NTM and Fanda on my blog. For those that have not read it, here is the link: http://religionscell.wordpress.com/2013 ... -and-fanda. I am not a MK, nor have I ever been part of NTM. I am a religious abuse survivor that spent almost 20 years in a legalistic and abusive cult. The teachings and abuses mirror what many of you have experienced. The cult I came out of was an Independent Fundamental Baptist cult.

I am a mother of four, an author and, currently have a blog for victims of religious abuse to tell their stories of abuse. My blog is also a resource, in addition to my book, Religion’s Cell, of information that can be used in the deprogramming process. The articles written on this blog use history and scholarship to untwist the lies of the religious system used to subjugate and control women and children throughout history; as well as the masses. By exposing these lies and helping victims of religious abuse to rebuild new foundations, healing can begin. Most victims of Religious Abuse are silenced, shamed and shunned by their respective institutions. Many of the perpetrators of these abuses against the women and children have never been held accountable for their crimes. Many are still serving in churches across America and the world. This blog is dedicated to getting their voices heard in the hope that lawmakers will realize that sexualized violence, physical abuse, spiritual and emotional abuse against women and children in religious institutions is huge. Many churches today are hiding countless abusers while blaming and silencing victims. This enables these abusers, under the “cloak” of the “church,” to continue to abuse other women and children. It also enables the abusive institution to continue to emotionally and spiritually abuse and manipulate its followers. For some unknown reason, the “church” has never been held accountable for the abuses that are perpetrated in the “name of God”. It is time for victims of abuse within the church to be heard and their stories as well. It is time for the “church” to be held accountable for the numerous crimes that have been hidden and the lives that have been destroyed as a result of those crimes. For centuries, the church has used the Bible to subjugate and abuse women and strip them of equality, honor and dignity. This inequality has led to their abuse and sexual exploitation. My blog and my book are meant expose the history behind the church system and the lies of the religious system that lead to inequality, abuse, violence and bondage. My blog is a platform for victims to have their voices heard all in one place, no matter the denomination. The goal is to affect changes in law here in the U.S. that will (1) bring stiffer penalties to churches who hide abuse or harbor abusers, (2) get rid of statute of limitations laws that prevent sexual assault victims from prosecuting their rapists and (3) bring boarding schools and behavior modification facilities under local and state government over site so that abuses cannot be hidden. I would be honored if any of you survivors of NTM and/or Fanda would allow me to put your stories on my blog. It is only through the multitude of our voices that we can affect changes in law to protect future victims within the religious system. You can email me at sct392@bellsouth.net if you are interested. Thank you for allowing me to introduce myself and my blog. // Cynthia McClaskey

And welcome to this little website, you'll enjoy partaking of our slightly offbeat ways. We're a collection of interesting individuals, from various parts of the globe (child abuse not being a particular respecter of borders). Some of us like to write in a humorous vein, sort of like MASH humour, where it only thing that maintains sanity in what is dire or insane circumstances. Some of us pass through occasionally and others sojourn on here for much longer periods of time.
And our goals are pretty much the same as yours: To stop child abuse, attain healing for those who have suffered the effects of it and to bring to justice those who perpetrated or protected those that perpetrated such crimes.
Some of our stories are harrowing, some are stories of healing and sometimes we talk about totally different things, just for a bit of a break.
So feel free to drop by any time you like, the more the merrier.

So I have thrown myself OUT THERE and sent my story...

I hope that it helps someone somewhere out there!!!!

Thank you Maire for telling your story. I am sure it is not easy. I appreciate your courage.

Than you Cynthia for your strong efforts and goal of preventing abuse in religious organizations. It is sick that the church is so abusive to women and children. Ironically I find that my Christ in the Bible respected women and children. He did not turn children away when they came to him. He spoke to the Samaritan woman. The Bible in both Old and New testaments shows respect of women, so yeah the abusive church to women and children is not Biblical and a horrible shame.

Thank you for your part in exposing it.

Hi Cynthia. You know I've been doing a lot of thinking and reading the last couple of weeks. I've read many of the stories on your site and I've read many of the stories on this site and I wonder why we even bother with religion.
Why do we turn up to church every Sunday and put our humble offerings in the plate, knowing it is going to support someone who has a nice easy life as a pastor, well much easier than those of us on struggle street. And we sing songs that I feel uncomfortable with because they take me to a past I'm trying to forget. And I look at my fellow church attendees and I think are they really happy. They say they are, but are they just going through the motions too? Are they like me, to scared to ask if any of this is true, or how much of it is really true and how much is tacked on by people with motives that have little in common with the basic principles that Christ taught, like love your neighbour and suffer the children to come unto me.
I look at my own life, what a mess religion has made of it, but guess where I go every Sunday, well the ones when I'm not to intoxicated to remember to turn up.
Perhaps our crazy Sympathetic Agnostic friend has got it more right than we have and we are just to darn scared to move out of our comfort zone and consider that possibility. And in a crazy way it actually makes sense, because you don't have to be right and you don't have to be wrong, you just have to admit that you don't have all the answers and lets face it, do really any of us have all the answers? Many of us have spent our lives being directed by dogmatic men who claim they have all the answers because they talk to some god directly and what a mess that has made.
I'm not saying we should all give up on our churches and join our Sympathetic Agnostic friend as he wanders wherever he is. What I am suggesting is that we radically think about where we are and where we are going. That we embrace any element of doubt that we have, because to doubt is to be human. After all how can something that is supposedly so good and holy, create such a path of destruction in so many lives.
You're right my friend Cynthia, women and children are the usual victims of men who tell them they have all the answers. Let us not trust holy men who claim to have all the answers, but let us embrace all people who walk the path of honest doubt, knowing that one day all will be revealed, and until that time it is o.k. to be a little bit agnostic, because that is being honest with oneself.

Participating in a forum is new to me. Please forgive me if I don't do this reply correctly. I want to say thank you to each of you that has put your story out there; whether on my blog or on this website. It does take courage--tremendous courage. I applaud each survivor of abuse that has spoken out.

Religious Abuse and the sexual exploitation of women and children is a worldwide problem. It is a blight on humanity as a whole. It has been for centuries, well hidden underneath the religious mantle of the church systems of the world. Exposing it will be a long hard process. It will take unity between victims everywhere in speaking out to affect the changes we all want.

Again, thank you for being courageous.
Cynthia

@Aussie: I agree with you. I do not attend church and, never will entrust my life and my family to another human being ever again. Yet, I have the most intimate and joyous relationship with the God I never knew as a Christian. Along the lines of thought you have mentioned, you will enjoy this article that I wrote that says it well: http://religionscell.wordpress.com/what ... -occurred/

Oh that last paragraph is music to my ears. For years I struggled with the guilt of not attending any church, yet when I put in an appearance, it just wasn't me and I felt uncomfortable and that I was doing it to expunge my guilt.
I grew up with the mantra "you must be in The Word" everyday of my childhood and much of my previous life as an adult. And yet the person who said this over and over and over was so wrapped up in his private religious world that he was extracting the most strange and bizarre ideas from "The Word".
I'm not sure about God, but I know I feel closer to believing in a world that He probably created, which has trees and animals and waterfalls and lakes and sunshine, than I do within the confines of four manmade walls. But that is just my personal journey and for me it works, sort of .

@Bemused: If only you knew the history behind "the Church" and the doctrines taught to manipulate and control people, you would be freed from so much mental bondage. I highly recommend you download a copy of my book, Religion's Cell: Doctrines of the Church that Lead to Bondage and Abuse. Trust me when I say it will open new worlds for you:)

@Aussie: You have much more insight and wisdom than you realize. I believe you are already "thinking" and "seeing." As I said to Bemused, my book would help you in a way that "religion" cannot.

Here's a link to a free chapter of it:) I hope it gets the wheels of thought turning for you. http://religionscell.wordpress.com/free ... ions-cell/

Many thanks for you kind words of wisdom. For me the guilt ended when I dealt with the elephant in my room. Although he had been fading for sometime, it took one almighty push to get him totally out. He didn't want to go and he is knocking hard on the door to get back in, but he will never be allowed back!

Here's the account of the elephant saga:


I used to have an elephant
In my room it stomped about
It whispered in my little ear
Messages of hate and doubt

It told me I saw nothing
That I was an ungrateful child
And I had a wicked imagination
Which ran so very wild

Then I found other elephants
Were in rooms of many more
Each one magically disappearing
Behind some magic door

Then they'd reappear again
In dreams of nights of terror
But corner them at your peril
For they trumpeted Heresy and Error

So what became of my elephant?
I gave it an almighty whack
And it wandered off into the sunset
Muttering it was an unfair attack

Something strange then happened
The room felt whole again
And I gave thanks for my whacking tool
The mighty little pen

Here's to all who deal with their Elephants.