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Wikipedia

Religious abuse

Religious abuse is abuse administered through religion, including harassment or humiliation that may result in psychological trauma. Religious abuse may also include the misuse of religion for selfish, secular, or ideological ends, such as the abuse of a clerical position.[1][2]

Religious abuse can be perpetuated by religious leaders or other members of a religious community, and it can happen in any religion or faith.[3] Some examples of religious abuse include using religious teachings to justify abuse, enforcing strict religious rules and practices that are harmful, shaming or ostracizing individuals who do not conform to religious norms, using religious authority to manipulate or control others, and denying access to medical care or other basic needs in the name of religion.[4][5]

Religious abuse can have serious and long-lasting effects on individuals and communities, including trauma, emotional distress, loss of faith, and even physical harm. It is important for individuals and religious communities to be aware of the signs of religious abuse and to take steps to prevent it from happening.[6][7]

Psychological abuse edit

One specific meaning of the term religious abuse refers to psychological manipulation and harm inflicted on a person by using the teachings of their religion. This is perpetrated by members of the same or similar faith that includes the use of a position of authority within the religion.[8] It is most often directed at children and emotionally vulnerable adults, and the motivations behind such abuse vary, and can be either well-intentioned or malicious.[1]

Even well-intentioned religious abuse can have long-term psychological consequences, such as the victim developing phobias or long-term depression. They may have a sense of shame that persists even after they leave the religion. A person can also be manipulated into avoiding a beneficial action (such as a medical treatment) or to engage in a harmful behavior.[1]

In his book Religious Abuse, pastor Keith Wright describes an example of such abuse. When he was a child, his Christian Scientist mother became very ill and eventually was convinced to seek medical treatment at an inpatient facility. Members of her church went to the treatment center to convince her to trust prayer rather than treatment, and to leave. She died shortly thereafter. While the church members may not have had any malicious intent, their use of their religion's teachings to manipulate Wright's mother ultimately resulted in her death.[1]

A more recent study among 200 university students has shown that 12.5% of students reported being victimized by at least one form of religious or ritual abuse (RA). The study, which was published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, showed that religious/ritual abuse may result in mental health issues such as dissociative disorders.[9]

Against children edit

Religiously-based psychological abuse of children can involve using teachings to subjugate children through fear, or indoctrinating the child in the beliefs of their particular religion whilst suppressing other perspectives. Psychologist Jill Mytton describes this as crushing the child's chance to form a personal morality and belief system; it makes them utterly reliant on their religion and/or parents, and they never learn to reflect critically on the information they receive. Similarly, the use of fear and a judgmental environment (such as the concept of Hell) to control the child can be traumatic.[10]

Physical abuse edit

Physical abuse in a religious context can take the form of beatings, illegal confinement, neglect, near drowning or even murder in the belief that the child is possessed by evil spirits, practicing sorcery or witchcraft, or has committed some kind of sin that warrants punishment. Such extreme cases are, though, rare.[citation needed]

In 2012, the United Kingdom's Department for Children, Schools and Families instituted a new action plan to investigate the issue of faith-based abuse after several high-profile murders, such as that of Kristy Bamu.[11] Over a term of 10 years, Scotland Yard conducted 83 investigations into allegations of abuse with faith-based elements and feared there were even more that were unreported.[12]

Survivors edit

Survivors of religious abuse can develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in response to their abusive religious experiences.[13] Dr. Marlene Winell, a psychologist and former fundamentalist, coined the term religious trauma syndrome (RTS) in a 2011 article she wrote for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies.[14] Winell describes RTS as "the condition experienced by people who are struggling with leaving an authoritarian, dogmatic religion and coping with the damage of indoctrination."[14]

In the article, Winell identifies four categories of dysfunction: cognitive, affective, functional, and social/cultural.[14]

  • Cognitive: Confusion, difficulty with decision-making and critical thinking, dissociation, identity confusion
  • Affective: Anxiety, panic attacks, depression, suicidal ideation, anger, grief, guilt, loneliness, lack of meaning
  • Functional: Sleep and eating disorders, nightmares, sexual dysfunction, substance abuse, somatization
  • Social/cultural: Rupture of family and social network, employment issues, financial stress, problems acculturating into society, interpersonal dysfunction

It is important to note that these symptoms can occur for people who have simply participated in dogmatic expressions of religion, such as fundamentalism. It is easy to validate traumatic responses to religious abuse in more extreme cases such as authoritarian cult membership, clergy sexual abuse, or mind control tactics used to extremes like the mass suicide at Jonestown. However, individuals can experience chronic religious abuse in the subtle mind-control mechanics of fundamentalism that leads to trauma.[15][16] While many extreme traumatic experiences associated with religion can cause simple PTSD, scholars are now arguing that chronic abuse through mind control tactics used in fundamentalist settings, whether intentional or not, can induce C-PTSD or developmental trauma.[17][18]

Exposure therapy or staying in religiously abusive settings may not be conducive to healing for survivors of religious abuse.[19] Healing can come through support groups, therapy, and psychoeducation.[20] Survivors have many opportunities to recover and live vibrant lives after they leave religiously abusive settings.

Religious violence edit

Religious violence and extremism (also called communal violence[21]) is a term that covers all phenomena where religion is either the subject or object of violent behavior.[22]

Human sacrifice edit

Human sacrifice (sometimes called ritual murder), has been practiced on a number of different occasions and in many different cultures. The various rationales behind human sacrifice are the same that motivate religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice is typically intended to bring good fortune and to pacify the gods. Fertility was another common theme in ancient religious sacrifices.

Human sacrifice may be a ritual practiced in a stable society, and may even be conducive to enhance societal unity (see: Sociology of religion), both by creating a bond unifying the sacrificing community, and in combining human sacrifice and capital punishment, by removing individuals that have a negative effect on societal stability (criminals, religious heretics, foreign slaves or prisoners of war). However, outside of civil religion, human sacrifice may also result in outbursts of blood frenzy and mass killings that destabilize society.

Archaeology has uncovered physical evidence of child sacrifice at several locations.[23] Some of the best attested examples are the diverse rites which were part of the religious practices in Mesoamerica and the Inca Empire.[24][25][26] Psychologists Alice Miller and Robert Godwin, psychohistorian Lloyd deMause and other advocates of children's rights have written about pre-Columbian sacrifice within the framework of child abuse.[27][28][29]

Plutarch (c.46–120 AD) mentions the Carthaginian's ritual burning of small children, as do Tertullian, Orosius, Diodorus Siculus and Philo. Livy and Polybius do not. The Hebrew Bible also mentions what appears to be child sacrifice practised at a place called the Tophet (roasting place) by the Canaanites, and by some Israelites.[30]

Children were thrown to the sharks in ancient Hawaii.[31]

Sacrificial victims were often infants. "The slaughtering of newborn babies may be considered a common event in many cultures" including the Eskimo, the Polynesians, the Ancient Egyptians, the Chinese, the Scandinavians, and various indigenous peoples of Africa, the Americas and Australia.[32]

Initiation rites edit

Artificial deformation of the skull predates written history and dates back as far as 45,000 BCE, as evidenced by two Neanderthal skulls found in Shanidar Cave.[33] It was usually started just after birth and continued until the desired shape was achieved. It may have played a key role in Egyptian and Mayan societies.[34]

In China some boys were castrated, with both the penis and scrotum cut.[35] Other ritual actions have been described by anthropologists. Géza Róheim wrote about initiation rituals performed by Australian natives in which adolescent initiates were forced to drink blood.[36]

Modern practices edit

In the rituals of some tribes in Papua New Guinea, an elder "picks out a sharp stick of cane and sticks it deep inside a boy's nostrils until he bleeds profusely into the stream of a pool, an act greeted by loud war cries."[37] Afterwards, when boys are initiated into puberty and manhood, they are expected to perform fellatio on the elders. "Not all initiates will participate in this ceremonial homosexual activity but, about five days later, several will have to perform fellatio several times."[37]

Individual cases of ritual murder have been recorded in Brazil,[38] the United States,[39] and Singapore (See Toa Payoh ritual murders).

See also List of satanic ritual abuse allegations

Witch-hunts edit

To this day, witch hunts, trials and accusations are still a real danger in some parts of the world. Trials result in violence against men, women and children, including murder.[40] In The Gambia, about 1,000 people accused of being witches were locked in government detention centers in March 2009, being beaten, forced to drink an unknown hallucinogenic potion, and confess to witchcraft, according to Amnesty International.[41][42] In Tanzania thousands of elderly Tanzanian women have been strangled, knifed to death and burned alive over the last two decades after being denounced as witches.[43] Ritualistic abuse may also involve children accused of, and punished for, being purported witches in some Central African areas. A child may be blamed for the illness of a relative, for example.[44] Other examples include Ghana, where alleged witches were banished to refugee camps,[45] and the beating and isolation of children accused of being witches in Angola.[46][47][48]

Psychohistorical explanation edit

A small number of academics subscribe to the theory of psychohistory and attribute the abusive rituals to the psychopathological projection of the perpetrators, especially the parents.[49][50]

This psychohistorical model claims that practices of tribal societies sometimes included incest and the sacrifice, mutilation, rape and torture of children, and that such activities were culturally acceptable.[51][52]

Spiritual abuse edit

Spiritual abuse includes:

Background edit

The term spiritual abuse was purportedly coined in the late twentieth century to refer to alleged abuse of authority by church leaders,[54][failed verification] albeit some scholars and historians would dispute that claim, citing prior literary appearances of the term in literature on religion and psychology. Lambert defines spiritual abuse as "a type of psychological predomination that could be rightly termed—religious enslavement".[55] He further identifies "religious enslavement" as being a product of what is termed in the Bible "witchcraft" or "sorcery".[56] A key element of the experience of spiritual abuse is the perceived 'divine position' of the abuser, in which the 'divine positioning' of the abuser leads to an environment of infallibility.[57]

Characteristics edit

Ronald Enroth in Churches That Abuse identifies five categories:[citation needed]

  1. Authority and power: abuse arises when leaders of a group arrogate to themselves power and authority that lacks the dynamics of open accountability and the capacity to question or challenge decisions made by leaders. The shift entails moving from general respect for an office bearer to one where members loyally submit without any right to dissent.
  2. Manipulation and control: abusive groups are characterized by social dynamics where fear, guilt or threats are routinely used to produce unquestioning obedience, group conformity or stringent tests of loyalty. The leader-disciple relationship may become one in which the leader's decisions control and usurp the disciple's right or capacity to make choices.[1]
  3. Elitism and persecution: abusive groups depict themselves as unique and have a strong organizational tendency to be separate from other bodies and institutions. The social dynamism of the group involves being independent or separate, with diminishing possibilities for internal correction or reflection, whilst outside criticism.
  4. Life-style and experience: abusive groups foster rigidity in behavior and belief that requires conformity to the group's ideals.
  5. Dissent and discipline: abusive groups tend to suppress any kind of internal challenge to decisions made by leaders.

Agnes and John Lawless argue in The Drift into Deception that there are eight characteristics of spiritual abuse, and some of these clearly overlap with Enroth's criteria. They list the eight marks of spiritual abuse as comprising:[citation needed]

  1. Charisma and pride
  2. Anger and intimidation
  3. Greed and fraud
  4. Immorality
  5. Enslaving authoritarian structure
  6. Exclusivity
  7. Demanding loyalty and honor
  8. New revelation

The author of Charismatic Captivation, Steven Lambert, in a post on the book's website delineates "33 Signs of Spiritual Abuse",[58] including:

  1. Apotheosis or de facto deification of the leadership.
  2. Absolute authority of the leadership.
  3. Pervasive abuse and misuse of authority in personal dealings with members to coerce submission.
  4. Paranoia, inordinate egotism or narcissism, and insecurity by the leaders.
  5. Abuse and inordinate incidence of "church discipline" particularly in matters not expressly considered to be church discipline issues.
  6. Inordinate attention to maintaining the public image of the ministry and lambasting of all "critics".
  7. Constant indoctrination with a "group" or "family" mentality that impels members to exalt the corporate "life" and goals of the church-group over their personal goals, callings, objectives or relationships.
  8. Members are psychologically traumatized, terrorized and indoctrinated with numerous fears aimed at creating an over-dependence or codependence on their leaders and the corporate group.
  9. Members may be required to obtain the approval (or witness) of their leader(s) for decisions regarding personal matters.
  10. Frequent preaching from the pulpit discouraging leaving the religion or disobeying the leaderships' dictates.
  11. Members departing without the blessing of the leadership do so under a cloud of suspicion, shame, or slander.
  12. Departing members often suffer from psychological problems and display the symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Research and examples edit

Flavil Yeakley's team of researchers conducted field-tests with members of the Boston Church of Christ using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. In The Discipling Dilemma Yeakley reports that the members tested "showed a high level of change in psychological type scores", with a "clear pattern of convergence in a single type".[59] The same tests were conducted on five mainline denominations and with six groups that are popularly labeled as cults or manipulative sects. Yeakley's test results showed that the pattern in the Boston Church "was not found among other churches of Christ or among members of five mainline denominations, but that it was found in studies of six manipulative sects."[59] The research did not show that the Boston Church was "attracting people with a psychological need for high levels of control", but Yeakley concluded that "they are producing conformity in psychological type" which he deemed to be "unnatural, unhealthy and dangerous."[60]

This was not a longitudinal study and relied on asking participants to answer the survey three times; once as they imagined they might answer five years prior, once as their present selves and once as they imagined they might answer after five years of influence in the sect. The author insists that despite this, "any significant changes in the pattern of these perceptions would indicate some kind of group pressure. A high degree of change and a convergence in a single type would be convincing proof that the Boston Church of Christ has some kind of group dynamic operating that tends to produce conformity to the group norm." However it could instead indicate a desire on the part of the respondents to change in the direction indicated. To determine actual changes in MBTI results would require a longitudinal study, since the methodology here was inherently suggestive of its conclusion. This is also amply borne out in its instructions: "The instructions stated clearly that no one was telling them that their answers ought to change. The instructions said that the purpose of the study was simply to find out if there were any changes and, if so, what those changes might indicate."[61][2]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Wright, Keith T. (2001). Religious Abuse: A Pastor Explores the Many Ways Religion Can Hurt As Well As Heal. Kelowna, B.C.: Northstone Publishing. ISBN 9781896836478.
  2. ^ "Abuse in Religious Contexts". University of Kent. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Child protection in religious organisations and settings investigation report: Abuse of power by religious leaders". Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  4. ^ "Signs of Spiritual Abuse". WebMD. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  5. ^ Kippert, Amanda (10 January 2018). "5 Ways to Recognize Religious Abuse". DomesticShelters.org. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Effects of Religious Practice on Society". Marripedia. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  7. ^ Matthews, Cyndi; Snow, Kevin C. "Spiritual Abuse Resources - The Dangers of Spiritual Abuse: Clinical Implications and Best Practices". Spiritual Abuse Resources. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  8. ^ Meyer, Joyce (28 April 2021). "Bringing attention to exploited obedience, spiritual abuse in religious communities". Global Sisters Report. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  9. ^ Nobakht, Habib Niyaraq; Yngvar Dale, Karl (2018). "The Importance of Religious/Ritual Abuse as a Traumatic Predictor of Dissociation". Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 33 (23): 3575–3588. doi:10.1177/0886260517723747. ISSN 0886-2605. PMID 29294860. S2CID 44617940.
  10. ^ "YouTube - Jill Mytton Interview - Richard Dawkins". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  11. ^ Taylor, Jerome (1 March 2012). "Couple guilty of horrific witchcraft murder". The Independent. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  12. ^ "Witchcraft-based child abuse: Action plan launched". BBC News. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  13. ^ Tarico, Valerie (27 March 2013). "Religious Trauma Syndrome: How Some Organized Religion Leads to Mental Health Problems". Truthout. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  14. ^ a b c Winell, Marlene. . British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. Archived from the original on 2 October 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  15. ^ Hartz, Gary W.; Everett, Henry C. (1989). "Fundamentalist Religion and Its Effect on Mental Health". Journal of Religion and Health. 28 (3): 207–217. doi:10.1007/BF00987752. ISSN 0022-4197. JSTOR 27506023. PMID 24276911. S2CID 1095871.
  16. ^ Winell, Marlene. "Religious Trauma Syndrome: Trauma from Religion". British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  17. ^ Winell, Marlene. . British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  18. ^ Winell, Marlene; Talarico, Valerie (2 November 2014). "Psychological Harms of Bible-Believing Christianity". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  19. ^ Panchuk, Michelle (3 July 2018). "The Shattered Spiritual Self: A Philosophical Exploration of Religious Trauma". Res Philosophica. 95 (3): 505–530. doi:10.11612/resphil.1684 – via Philosophy Documentation Center.
  20. ^ Bevan-Lee, Donna (11 November 2018). "Religious Trauma in Childhood". Donna J. Bevan-Lee, Ph.D. MSW. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  21. ^ Horowitz, Donald L. (2000). The Deadly Ethnic Riot. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520224476.
  22. ^ Wellman, James; Tokuno, Kyoko (2004). "Is Religious Violence Inevitable?". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 43 (3): 291. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2004.00234.x.
  23. ^ Milner, Larry S. (2000). Hardness of Heart / Hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide. Lanham: University Press of America. pp. 16–22. ISBN 9780761815785.
  24. ^ Reinhard, Johan; Stenzel, Maria (November 1999). "A 6,700 metros niños incas sacrificados quedaron congelados en el tiempo". National Geographic (in Spanish): 36–55.
  25. ^ Allingham, Winnie (14 April 1999). . EXN. Archived from the original on 6 March 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  26. ^ de Sahagún, Bernardino (1950–1982). Florentine Codex: History of the Things of New Spain, 12 books and 2 introductory volumes. Translated and edited by Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles Dibble. Utah: University of Utah Press.
  27. ^ deMause 2002, p. 312, 374, 410.
  28. ^ Godwin 2004, p. 168f.
  29. ^ Miller, Alice (1991). Breaking down the walls of silence. New York: Dutton/Penguin Books. p. 91. ISBN 9780525933571.
  30. ^ Brown, Shelby (1991). Late Carthaginian Child Sacrifice and Sacrificial Monuments in their Mediterranean Context. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 9781850752400.
  31. ^ Davies, Nigel (1981). Human Sacrifice in History and Today. New York: William Morrow & Co. p. 192. ISBN 9780880292115.
  32. ^ Grotstein, James S. (2000). Who is the dreamer who dreams the dream?. Relational Perspectives Book Series. Vol. 19. Hillsdale: The Analytic Press. pp. 247, 242. ISBN 9780881633054.
  33. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (April 1982). "Artificial Cranial Deformation in the Shanidar 1 and 5 Neandertals". Current Anthropology. 23 (2): 198–199. doi:10.1086/202808. JSTOR 2742361. S2CID 144182791.
  34. ^ Rousselle, Aline (1983). Porneia: On Desire and the Body in Antiquity. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 54. ISBN 1610975820.
  35. ^ Tompkins, Peter (1963). The Eunuch and the Virgin: A Study of Curious Customs. NY: Bramhall House. p. 12.
  36. ^ Róheim, Géza (1950). Psychoanalysis and Anthropology. New York: International Universities Press. p. 76. OCLC 894357265.
  37. ^ a b Herdt, Gilbert (2005). The Sambia: Ritual, Sexuality, and Change in Papua New Guinea (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology) (2nd ed.). Longmead: Wadsworth Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 9780534643836.
  38. ^ Lewan, Todd (17 February 1993). "Satanic Cult Killings Spread Fear in Brazil". Tulsa World. Retrieved 29 June 2023 – via Associated Press.
  39. ^ Hamilton, Matt (18 July 2013). "Man given 25 years in mother's 'satanic' killing". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  40. ^ Kelly, Kim (5 July 2017). "Are witches the ultimate feminists?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  41. ^ "The Gambia: Hundreds accused of "witchcraft" and poisoned in government campaign". Amnesty International. 18 March 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  42. ^ Rice, Xan (19 March 2009). "Gambian state kidnaps 1,000 villagers in mass purge of 'witchcraft'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  43. ^ Migiro, Katy (21 March 2017). "Despite murderous attacks, Tanzania's 'witches' fight for land". Reuters. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  44. ^ "Vejan en África a 'niños brujos'" (Press release) (in Spanish). Reforma. 19 November 2007.
  45. ^ Didymus, Johnthomas (17 October 2011). "Ghana to send 'witches' banished to refugee camps back home". Digital Journal. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  46. ^ . IRIN News. 12 December 2006. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  47. ^ Salopek, Paul (28 March 2004). "Children in Angola tortured as witches". Chicago Tribune.
  48. ^ . BBC. 13 July 2005. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  49. ^ deMause 2002, pp. 258–262.
  50. ^ Godwin 2004, p. 124–176.
  51. ^ deMause, Lloyd (January 1982). Foundations of Psychohistory. Creative Roots Publishing. pp. 132–146. ISBN 9780940508019.
  52. ^ Rascovsky, Arnaldo (1995). Filicide: The Murder, Humiliation, Mutilation, Denigration and Abandonment of Children by Parents. Northvale: Aronson. p. 107. ISBN 9781568214566 – via Internet Archive.
  53. ^ a b c Lambert 1996, p. 5.
  54. ^ VanVonderen, Jeff. . Recovery from Spiritual Abuse. Archived from the original on 8 January 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2023. Spiritual abuse occurs when someone in a position of spiritual authority, the purpose of which is to 'come underneath' and serve, build, equip and make a deity's or a god's people MORE free, misuses that authority placing themselves over a god's people to control, coerce or manipulate them for seemingly godly purposes which are really their own.
  55. ^ Lambert 1996, p. 253.
  56. ^ 2 Chronicles 33:6; Galatians 5:20; Revelation 18:23; et al.
  57. ^ Ruth Oakley, Lisa; Susan Kinmond, Kathryn (1 January 2014). "Developing safeguarding policy and practice for Spiritual Abuse". The Journal of Adult Protection. 16 (2): 87–95. doi:10.1108/JAP-07-2013-0033.
  58. ^ . Charismatic Captivation. 15 November 2008. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  59. ^ a b Yeakley 1988, p. 39.
  60. ^ Yeakley 1988, pp. 44, 46–47.
  61. ^ Yeakley 1988, pp. 30–31.

Cited sources edit

  • deMause, Lloyd (2002). The Emotional Life of Nations. NY, London: Karnak. ISBN 9781892746986.
  • Godwin, Robert W. (2004). One cosmos under God. St. Paul: Paragon House. ISBN 9781557788368.
  • Lambert, Steven (1996). Charismatic Captivation, Authoritarian Abuse & Psychological Enslavement in Neo-Pentecostal Churches. Real Truth Publications.
  • Pasquale, T. (2015). Sacred Wounds: A Path to Healing from Spiritual Trauma. Chalice Press.
  • Yeakley, Flavil (1988). The Discipling Dilemma (2nd ed.). Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company. ISBN 0-89225-311-8.

Further reading edit

  • Massi, Jeri, The Lambs Workbook: Recovering from Church Abuse, Clergy Abuse, Spiritual Abuse, and the Legalism of Christian Fundamentalism (2008)
  • O'Brien, Rosaleen Church Abuse, Drugs and E.C.T. (2009)

religious, abuse, abuse, administered, through, religion, including, harassment, humiliation, that, result, psychological, trauma, also, include, misuse, religion, selfish, secular, ideological, ends, such, abuse, clerical, position, perpetuated, religious, le. Religious abuse is abuse administered through religion including harassment or humiliation that may result in psychological trauma Religious abuse may also include the misuse of religion for selfish secular or ideological ends such as the abuse of a clerical position 1 2 Religious abuse can be perpetuated by religious leaders or other members of a religious community and it can happen in any religion or faith 3 Some examples of religious abuse include using religious teachings to justify abuse enforcing strict religious rules and practices that are harmful shaming or ostracizing individuals who do not conform to religious norms using religious authority to manipulate or control others and denying access to medical care or other basic needs in the name of religion 4 5 Religious abuse can have serious and long lasting effects on individuals and communities including trauma emotional distress loss of faith and even physical harm It is important for individuals and religious communities to be aware of the signs of religious abuse and to take steps to prevent it from happening 6 7 Contents 1 Psychological abuse 2 Against children 3 Physical abuse 4 Survivors 5 Religious violence 5 1 Human sacrifice 5 2 Initiation rites 5 3 Modern practices 5 4 Witch hunts 5 5 Psychohistorical explanation 6 Spiritual abuse 6 1 Background 6 2 Characteristics 6 3 Research and examples 7 See also 8 References 9 Cited sources 10 Further readingPsychological abuse editOne specific meaning of the term religious abuse refers to psychological manipulation and harm inflicted on a person by using the teachings of their religion This is perpetrated by members of the same or similar faith that includes the use of a position of authority within the religion 8 It is most often directed at children and emotionally vulnerable adults and the motivations behind such abuse vary and can be either well intentioned or malicious 1 Even well intentioned religious abuse can have long term psychological consequences such as the victim developing phobias or long term depression They may have a sense of shame that persists even after they leave the religion A person can also be manipulated into avoiding a beneficial action such as a medical treatment or to engage in a harmful behavior 1 In his book Religious Abuse pastor Keith Wright describes an example of such abuse When he was a child his Christian Scientist mother became very ill and eventually was convinced to seek medical treatment at an inpatient facility Members of her church went to the treatment center to convince her to trust prayer rather than treatment and to leave She died shortly thereafter While the church members may not have had any malicious intent their use of their religion s teachings to manipulate Wright s mother ultimately resulted in her death 1 A more recent study among 200 university students has shown that 12 5 of students reported being victimized by at least one form of religious or ritual abuse RA The study which was published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence showed that religious ritual abuse may result in mental health issues such as dissociative disorders 9 Against children editReligiously based psychological abuse of children can involve using teachings to subjugate children through fear or indoctrinating the child in the beliefs of their particular religion whilst suppressing other perspectives Psychologist Jill Mytton describes this as crushing the child s chance to form a personal morality and belief system it makes them utterly reliant on their religion and or parents and they never learn to reflect critically on the information they receive Similarly the use of fear and a judgmental environment such as the concept of Hell to control the child can be traumatic 10 Physical abuse editPhysical abuse in a religious context can take the form of beatings illegal confinement neglect near drowning or even murder in the belief that the child is possessed by evil spirits practicing sorcery or witchcraft or has committed some kind of sin that warrants punishment Such extreme cases are though rare citation needed In 2012 the United Kingdom s Department for Children Schools and Families instituted a new action plan to investigate the issue of faith based abuse after several high profile murders such as that of Kristy Bamu 11 Over a term of 10 years Scotland Yard conducted 83 investigations into allegations of abuse with faith based elements and feared there were even more that were unreported 12 Survivors editSurvivors of religious abuse can develop symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder PTSD in response to their abusive religious experiences 13 Dr Marlene Winell a psychologist and former fundamentalist coined the term religious trauma syndrome RTS in a 2011 article she wrote for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 14 Winell describes RTS as the condition experienced by people who are struggling with leaving an authoritarian dogmatic religion and coping with the damage of indoctrination 14 In the article Winell identifies four categories of dysfunction cognitive affective functional and social cultural 14 Cognitive Confusion difficulty with decision making and critical thinking dissociation identity confusion Affective Anxiety panic attacks depression suicidal ideation anger grief guilt loneliness lack of meaning Functional Sleep and eating disorders nightmares sexual dysfunction substance abuse somatization Social cultural Rupture of family and social network employment issues financial stress problems acculturating into society interpersonal dysfunction It is important to note that these symptoms can occur for people who have simply participated in dogmatic expressions of religion such as fundamentalism It is easy to validate traumatic responses to religious abuse in more extreme cases such as authoritarian cult membership clergy sexual abuse or mind control tactics used to extremes like the mass suicide at Jonestown However individuals can experience chronic religious abuse in the subtle mind control mechanics of fundamentalism that leads to trauma 15 16 While many extreme traumatic experiences associated with religion can cause simple PTSD scholars are now arguing that chronic abuse through mind control tactics used in fundamentalist settings whether intentional or not can induce C PTSD or developmental trauma 17 18 Exposure therapy or staying in religiously abusive settings may not be conducive to healing for survivors of religious abuse 19 Healing can come through support groups therapy and psychoeducation 20 Survivors have many opportunities to recover and live vibrant lives after they leave religiously abusive settings Religious violence editMain article Religious violence Religious violence and extremism also called communal violence 21 is a term that covers all phenomena where religion is either the subject or object of violent behavior 22 Human sacrifice edit Main articles Human sacrifice Child sacrifice and Child sacrifice in pre Columbian cultures Human sacrifice sometimes called ritual murder has been practiced on a number of different occasions and in many different cultures The various rationales behind human sacrifice are the same that motivate religious sacrifice in general Human sacrifice is typically intended to bring good fortune and to pacify the gods Fertility was another common theme in ancient religious sacrifices Human sacrifice may be a ritual practiced in a stable society and may even be conducive to enhance societal unity see Sociology of religion both by creating a bond unifying the sacrificing community and in combining human sacrifice and capital punishment by removing individuals that have a negative effect on societal stability criminals religious heretics foreign slaves or prisoners of war However outside of civil religion human sacrifice may also result in outbursts of blood frenzy and mass killings that destabilize society Archaeology has uncovered physical evidence of child sacrifice at several locations 23 Some of the best attested examples are the diverse rites which were part of the religious practices in Mesoamerica and the Inca Empire 24 25 26 Psychologists Alice Miller and Robert Godwin psychohistorian Lloyd deMause and other advocates of children s rights have written about pre Columbian sacrifice within the framework of child abuse 27 28 29 Plutarch c 46 120 AD mentions the Carthaginian s ritual burning of small children as do Tertullian Orosius Diodorus Siculus and Philo Livy and Polybius do not The Hebrew Bible also mentions what appears to be child sacrifice practised at a place called the Tophet roasting place by the Canaanites and by some Israelites 30 Children were thrown to the sharks in ancient Hawaii 31 Sacrificial victims were often infants The slaughtering of newborn babies may be considered a common event in many cultures including the Eskimo the Polynesians the Ancient Egyptians the Chinese the Scandinavians and various indigenous peoples of Africa the Americas and Australia 32 Initiation rites edit Main article Initiation rite Artificial deformation of the skull predates written history and dates back as far as 45 000 BCE as evidenced by two Neanderthal skulls found in Shanidar Cave 33 It was usually started just after birth and continued until the desired shape was achieved It may have played a key role in Egyptian and Mayan societies 34 In China some boys were castrated with both the penis and scrotum cut 35 Other ritual actions have been described by anthropologists Geza Roheim wrote about initiation rituals performed by Australian natives in which adolescent initiates were forced to drink blood 36 Modern practices edit In the rituals of some tribes in Papua New Guinea an elder picks out a sharp stick of cane and sticks it deep inside a boy s nostrils until he bleeds profusely into the stream of a pool an act greeted by loud war cries 37 Afterwards when boys are initiated into puberty and manhood they are expected to perform fellatio on the elders Not all initiates will participate in this ceremonial homosexual activity but about five days later several will have to perform fellatio several times 37 Individual cases of ritual murder have been recorded in Brazil 38 the United States 39 and Singapore See Toa Payoh ritual murders See also List of satanic ritual abuse allegations Witch hunts edit Further information Witch hunt Further information Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa To this day witch hunts trials and accusations are still a real danger in some parts of the world Trials result in violence against men women and children including murder 40 In The Gambia about 1 000 people accused of being witches were locked in government detention centers in March 2009 being beaten forced to drink an unknown hallucinogenic potion and confess to witchcraft according to Amnesty International 41 42 In Tanzania thousands of elderly Tanzanian women have been strangled knifed to death and burned alive over the last two decades after being denounced as witches 43 Ritualistic abuse may also involve children accused of and punished for being purported witches in some Central African areas A child may be blamed for the illness of a relative for example 44 Other examples include Ghana where alleged witches were banished to refugee camps 45 and the beating and isolation of children accused of being witches in Angola 46 47 48 Psychohistorical explanation edit Main article Psychohistorical views on infanticide A small number of academics subscribe to the theory of psychohistory and attribute the abusive rituals to the psychopathological projection of the perpetrators especially the parents 49 50 This psychohistorical model claims that practices of tribal societies sometimes included incest and the sacrifice mutilation rape and torture of children and that such activities were culturally acceptable 51 52 Spiritual abuse editSpiritual abuse includes Psychological abuse and emotional abuse Physical abuse including physical injury e g tatbir and deprivation of sustenance Sexual abuse Any act by deeds or words that shame or diminish the dignity of a person Intimidation and the requirement to submit to a spiritual authority without any right to dissent Unreasonable control of a person s basic right to exercise freewill in spiritual or natural matters False accusations and repeated criticism by labeling a person as for example disobedient rebellious lacking faith demonized apostate an enemy of the church or of a deity Isolationism separation disenfranchisement or estrangement from family and friends outside the group due to cult religious or spiritual or indigenous beliefs Esotericism hidden agendas and requirements revealed to members only as they successfully advance through various stages of a faith 53 Enforced practice of spiritualism mysticism or other ideologies peculiar to members of that religion 53 Financial exploitation or enslavement of adherents 53 Background edit The term spiritual abuse was purportedly coined in the late twentieth century to refer to alleged abuse of authority by church leaders 54 failed verification albeit some scholars and historians would dispute that claim citing prior literary appearances of the term in literature on religion and psychology Lambert defines spiritual abuse as a type of psychological predomination that could be rightly termed religious enslavement 55 He further identifies religious enslavement as being a product of what is termed in the Bible witchcraft or sorcery 56 A key element of the experience of spiritual abuse is the perceived divine position of the abuser in which the divine positioning of the abuser leads to an environment of infallibility 57 Characteristics edit Ronald Enroth in Churches That Abuse identifies five categories citation needed Authority and power abuse arises when leaders of a group arrogate to themselves power and authority that lacks the dynamics of open accountability and the capacity to question or challenge decisions made by leaders The shift entails moving from general respect for an office bearer to one where members loyally submit without any right to dissent Manipulation and control abusive groups are characterized by social dynamics where fear guilt or threats are routinely used to produce unquestioning obedience group conformity or stringent tests of loyalty The leader disciple relationship may become one in which the leader s decisions control and usurp the disciple s right or capacity to make choices 1 Elitism and persecution abusive groups depict themselves as unique and have a strong organizational tendency to be separate from other bodies and institutions The social dynamism of the group involves being independent or separate with diminishing possibilities for internal correction or reflection whilst outside criticism Life style and experience abusive groups foster rigidity in behavior and belief that requires conformity to the group s ideals Dissent and discipline abusive groups tend to suppress any kind of internal challenge to decisions made by leaders Agnes and John Lawless argue in The Drift into Deception that there are eight characteristics of spiritual abuse and some of these clearly overlap with Enroth s criteria They list the eight marks of spiritual abuse as comprising citation needed Charisma and pride Anger and intimidation Greed and fraud Immorality Enslaving authoritarian structure Exclusivity Demanding loyalty and honor New revelation The author of Charismatic Captivation Steven Lambert in a post on the book s website delineates 33 Signs of Spiritual Abuse 58 including Apotheosis or de facto deification of the leadership Absolute authority of the leadership Pervasive abuse and misuse of authority in personal dealings with members to coerce submission Paranoia inordinate egotism or narcissism and insecurity by the leaders Abuse and inordinate incidence of church discipline particularly in matters not expressly considered to be church discipline issues Inordinate attention to maintaining the public image of the ministry and lambasting of all critics Constant indoctrination with a group or family mentality that impels members to exalt the corporate life and goals of the church group over their personal goals callings objectives or relationships Members are psychologically traumatized terrorized and indoctrinated with numerous fears aimed at creating an over dependence or codependence on their leaders and the corporate group Members may be required to obtain the approval or witness of their leader s for decisions regarding personal matters Frequent preaching from the pulpit discouraging leaving the religion or disobeying the leaderships dictates Members departing without the blessing of the leadership do so under a cloud of suspicion shame or slander Departing members often suffer from psychological problems and display the symptoms associated with post traumatic stress disorder PTSD Research and examples edit Flavil Yeakley s team of researchers conducted field tests with members of the Boston Church of Christ using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator In The Discipling Dilemma Yeakley reports that the members tested showed a high level of change in psychological type scores with a clear pattern of convergence in a single type 59 The same tests were conducted on five mainline denominations and with six groups that are popularly labeled as cults or manipulative sects Yeakley s test results showed that the pattern in the Boston Church was not found among other churches of Christ or among members of five mainline denominations but that it was found in studies of six manipulative sects 59 The research did not show that the Boston Church was attracting people with a psychological need for high levels of control but Yeakley concluded that they are producing conformity in psychological type which he deemed to be unnatural unhealthy and dangerous 60 This was not a longitudinal study and relied on asking participants to answer the survey three times once as they imagined they might answer five years prior once as their present selves and once as they imagined they might answer after five years of influence in the sect The author insists that despite this any significant changes in the pattern of these perceptions would indicate some kind of group pressure A high degree of change and a convergence in a single type would be convincing proof that the Boston Church of Christ has some kind of group dynamic operating that tends to produce conformity to the group norm However it could instead indicate a desire on the part of the respondents to change in the direction indicated To determine actual changes in MBTI results would require a longitudinal study since the methodology here was inherently suggestive of its conclusion This is also amply borne out in its instructions The instructions stated clearly that no one was telling them that their answers ought to change The instructions said that the purpose of the study was simply to find out if there were any changes and if so what those changes might indicate 61 2 See also editCatholic Church sexual abuse cases Christina Krusi Exorcism Forced conversion Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment Infanticide List of satanic ritual abuse allegations Religious persecution Religious trauma syndrome Scientology controversies Shunning Social abuse The Dark Pictures Anthology Little Hope Theological veto Shukyō niseiReferences edit a b c d Wright Keith T 2001 Religious Abuse A Pastor Explores the Many Ways Religion Can Hurt As Well As Heal Kelowna B C Northstone Publishing ISBN 9781896836478 Abuse in Religious Contexts University of Kent Retrieved 9 March 2023 Child protection in religious organisations and settings investigation report Abuse of power by religious leaders Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse Retrieved 10 March 2023 Signs of Spiritual Abuse WebMD Retrieved 10 March 2023 Kippert Amanda 10 January 2018 5 Ways to Recognize Religious Abuse DomesticShelters org Retrieved 10 March 2023 Effects of Religious Practice on Society Marripedia Retrieved 10 March 2023 Matthews Cyndi Snow Kevin C Spiritual Abuse Resources The Dangers of Spiritual Abuse Clinical Implications and Best Practices Spiritual Abuse Resources Retrieved 10 March 2023 Meyer Joyce 28 April 2021 Bringing attention to exploited obedience spiritual abuse in religious communities Global Sisters Report Retrieved 29 June 2023 Nobakht Habib Niyaraq Yngvar Dale Karl 2018 The Importance of Religious Ritual Abuse as a Traumatic Predictor of Dissociation Journal of Interpersonal Violence 33 23 3575 3588 doi 10 1177 0886260517723747 ISSN 0886 2605 PMID 29294860 S2CID 44617940 YouTube Jill Mytton Interview Richard Dawkins YouTube Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 Retrieved 26 May 2009 Taylor Jerome 1 March 2012 Couple guilty of horrific witchcraft murder The Independent Retrieved 25 January 2017 Witchcraft based child abuse Action plan launched BBC News 14 August 2012 Retrieved 15 August 2012 Tarico Valerie 27 March 2013 Religious Trauma Syndrome How Some Organized Religion Leads to Mental Health Problems Truthout Retrieved 21 May 2020 a b c Winell Marlene Religious Trauma Syndrome It s Time to Recognize it British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Archived from the original on 2 October 2014 Retrieved 21 May 2020 Hartz Gary W Everett Henry C 1989 Fundamentalist Religion and Its Effect on Mental Health Journal of Religion and Health 28 3 207 217 doi 10 1007 BF00987752 ISSN 0022 4197 JSTOR 27506023 PMID 24276911 S2CID 1095871 Winell Marlene Religious Trauma Syndrome Trauma from Religion British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Retrieved 21 May 2020 Winell Marlene Religious Trauma Syndrome Trauma from Leaving Religion British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Archived from the original on 25 December 2014 Retrieved 21 May 2020 Winell Marlene Talarico Valerie 2 November 2014 Psychological Harms of Bible Believing Christianity Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies Retrieved 21 May 2020 Panchuk Michelle 3 July 2018 The Shattered Spiritual Self A Philosophical Exploration of Religious Trauma Res Philosophica 95 3 505 530 doi 10 11612 resphil 1684 via Philosophy Documentation Center Bevan Lee Donna 11 November 2018 Religious Trauma in Childhood Donna J Bevan Lee Ph D MSW Retrieved 21 May 2020 Horowitz Donald L 2000 The Deadly Ethnic Riot Berkeley University of California Press ISBN 9780520224476 Wellman James Tokuno Kyoko 2004 Is Religious Violence Inevitable Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43 3 291 doi 10 1111 j 1468 5906 2004 00234 x Milner Larry S 2000 Hardness of Heart Hardness of Life The Stain of Human Infanticide Lanham University Press of America pp 16 22 ISBN 9780761815785 Reinhard Johan Stenzel Maria November 1999 A 6 700 metros ninos incas sacrificados quedaron congelados en el tiempo National Geographic in Spanish 36 55 Allingham Winnie 14 April 1999 The mystery of Inca child sacrifice EXN Archived from the original on 6 March 2008 Retrieved 25 January 2017 de Sahagun Bernardino 1950 1982 Florentine Codex History of the Things of New Spain 12 books and 2 introductory volumes Translated and edited by Arthur J O Anderson and Charles Dibble Utah University of Utah Press deMause 2002 p 312 374 410 Godwin 2004 p 168f Miller Alice 1991 Breaking down the walls of silence New York Dutton Penguin Books p 91 ISBN 9780525933571 Brown Shelby 1991 Late Carthaginian Child Sacrifice and Sacrificial Monuments in their Mediterranean Context Sheffield Sheffield Academic Press ISBN 9781850752400 Davies Nigel 1981 Human Sacrifice in History and Today New York William Morrow amp Co p 192 ISBN 9780880292115 Grotstein James S 2000 Who is the dreamer who dreams the dream Relational Perspectives Book Series Vol 19 Hillsdale The Analytic Press pp 247 242 ISBN 9780881633054 Trinkaus Erik April 1982 Artificial Cranial Deformation in the Shanidar 1 and 5 Neandertals Current Anthropology 23 2 198 199 doi 10 1086 202808 JSTOR 2742361 S2CID 144182791 Rousselle Aline 1983 Porneia On Desire and the Body in Antiquity Oxford Basil Blackwell p 54 ISBN 1610975820 Tompkins Peter 1963 The Eunuch and the Virgin A Study of Curious Customs NY Bramhall House p 12 Roheim Geza 1950 Psychoanalysis and Anthropology New York International Universities Press p 76 OCLC 894357265 a b Herdt Gilbert 2005 The Sambia Ritual Sexuality and Change in Papua New Guinea Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology 2nd ed Longmead Wadsworth Publishing p 85 ISBN 9780534643836 Lewan Todd 17 February 1993 Satanic Cult Killings Spread Fear in Brazil Tulsa World Retrieved 29 June 2023 via Associated Press Hamilton Matt 18 July 2013 Man given 25 years in mother s satanic killing Los Angeles Times ISSN 0458 3035 Retrieved 21 November 2015 Kelly Kim 5 July 2017 Are witches the ultimate feminists The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 5 December 2017 The Gambia Hundreds accused of witchcraft and poisoned in government campaign Amnesty International 18 March 2009 Retrieved 5 December 2017 Rice Xan 19 March 2009 Gambian state kidnaps 1 000 villagers in mass purge of witchcraft The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 5 December 2017 Migiro Katy 21 March 2017 Despite murderous attacks Tanzania s witches fight for land Reuters Retrieved 5 December 2017 Vejan en Africa a ninos brujos Press release in Spanish Reforma 19 November 2007 Didymus Johnthomas 17 October 2011 Ghana to send witches banished to refugee camps back home Digital Journal Retrieved 25 January 2017 Witchcraft an excuse for child abuse IRIN News 12 December 2006 Archived from the original on 3 November 2014 Retrieved 25 January 2017 Salopek Paul 28 March 2004 Children in Angola tortured as witches Chicago Tribune Angola witchcraft s child victims BBC 13 July 2005 Archived from the original on 17 April 2023 Retrieved 5 December 2017 deMause 2002 pp 258 262 Godwin 2004 p 124 176 deMause Lloyd January 1982 Foundations of Psychohistory Creative Roots Publishing pp 132 146 ISBN 9780940508019 Rascovsky Arnaldo 1995 Filicide The Murder Humiliation Mutilation Denigration and Abandonment of Children by Parents Northvale Aronson p 107 ISBN 9781568214566 via Internet Archive a b c Lambert 1996 p 5 VanVonderen Jeff Recovery from Spiritual Abuse Recovery from Spiritual Abuse Archived from the original on 8 January 2011 Retrieved 29 June 2023 Spiritual abuse occurs when someone in a position of spiritual authority the purpose of which is to come underneath and serve build equip and make a deity s or a god s people MORE free misuses that authority placing themselves over a god s people to control coerce or manipulate them for seemingly godly purposes which are really their own Lambert 1996 p 253 2 Chronicles 33 6 Galatians 5 20 Revelation 18 23 et al Ruth Oakley Lisa Susan Kinmond Kathryn 1 January 2014 Developing safeguarding policy and practice for Spiritual Abuse The Journal of Adult Protection 16 2 87 95 doi 10 1108 JAP 07 2013 0033 The Signs of Spiritual Abuse Charismatic Captivation 15 November 2008 Archived from the original on 29 July 2010 Retrieved 25 January 2017 a b Yeakley 1988 p 39 Yeakley 1988 pp 44 46 47 Yeakley 1988 pp 30 31 Cited sources editdeMause Lloyd 2002 The Emotional Life of Nations NY London Karnak ISBN 9781892746986 Godwin Robert W 2004 One cosmos under God St Paul Paragon House ISBN 9781557788368 Lambert Steven 1996 Charismatic Captivation Authoritarian Abuse amp Psychological Enslavement in Neo Pentecostal Churches Real Truth Publications Pasquale T 2015 Sacred Wounds A Path to Healing from Spiritual Trauma Chalice Press Yeakley Flavil 1988 The Discipling Dilemma 2nd ed Nashville Gospel Advocate Company ISBN 0 89225 311 8 Further reading editMassi Jeri The Lambs Workbook Recovering from Church Abuse Clergy Abuse Spiritual Abuse and the Legalism of Christian Fundamentalism 2008 O Brien Rosaleen Church Abuse Drugs and E C T 2009 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Religious abuse amp oldid 1217399320, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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