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A Word of Life Christian Church Tragedy

(This powerful video is from Sarah Ferguson’s sentencing last fall; Judge Dwyer and District Attorney McNamara, we were told, have since learned a good deal about how people can be unduly influenced by high-demand groups.)

On Monday, Bruce and Deborah Leonard received prison sentences (he: 10 years, she: 5 years) for participating in an assault in 2015 which killed their son Lucas and injured their other son Christopher. Teenagers Lucas and Christopher were beaten with an electrical cord by their parents and other members of the Word of Life Christian Church after they voiced their desire to leave the group. Lucas and Christopher were also accused of witchcraft and child molestation.

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My Appearance on Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, and Other Updates

2017 is off to an exciting start!

This Tuesday, January 17th, A&E’s Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath aired a special Reddit AMA show that I taped the week before along with Mike Rinder, Lawrence Wright (who wrote the book Going Clear that became an HBO documentary) and attorney Ray Jeffrey. Ray successfully represented former top FLAG executive Debbie Cook and her husband in a lawsuit brought by Scientology. After Ray put Debbie Cook on the stand in open court and she started recounting the horrific abuse, Scientology wisely dropped the suit and settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

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Freedom of Mind for LGBTQ Youth

Freedom of Mind, as an organization and as a meme is grounded in a commitment to basic human rights as expressed by the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Please take a moment to look at these profound statements.

It’s not surprising that many cults hold doctrines and practices which are intolerant and even violent towards the LGBTQ community. Just combine absolutist, black-and-white, rigid thinking with tight control over members’ sexuality. A young person asserting their own individual desires (which may be unconventional, complex, or constantly evolving) presents a threat to a cult leader who seeks to mold their followers into obedient, dependent clones of themselves.

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Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

JW Leadership Fails to Protect Children

When I was a Jehovah’s Witness, I prided myself on knowing I was part of the only true Christian organization on the planet earth because of the love shown in “Jehovah’s Organization.” I told myself and others this for decades. One of the largest “comforts” to me was knowing that Jehovah’s anointed spirit was directly with the Governing Body, as the “earthly” connection to God and the leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I thought these men were scholars, theologians, and well-read individuals. Most of all, I felt they cared for the wellbeing of all mankind. Now, as a person who is no longer associated with the group, I discovered that their “love” is conditional and that the Governing Body is a group of men with no credentials or qualifications other than skillfully recruiting people into the group and maintaining control over them. A recent review by the Australian Royal Commission reminded me of my disillusionment. In 2013, the land down under created a government sponsored committee to investigate instances of child sexual abuse in institutions like schools, churches, sports clubs, and government organizations. The goals of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse can be found here. So far, they have reviewed hundreds of organizations.

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