Spiritual abuse rife in some churches

Cases of congregants being sexually abused in  the name of religion; or people being made to eat grass by the pastors; and even others being burned inside a church or coaxed into committing mass suicides, among other bizarre actions have been known to occur.While church is where most people go to for salvation, hope and peace of mind, some churches have failed to provide the sanctuary needed by their congregants and instead have led them astray, caused them pain, anguish and sometimes death.

Some churches abuse their followers through strict and unrealistic doctrines.  Sometimes followers are brainwashed to the extent that they suspend their own reasoning and docilely, without questioning accept what their leaders say. This experts say, is religious or spiritual abuse.

Five warning signs of religious abuse
According to Spirit Watch.com there are five common signs of religious or spiritual abuse.
1) Unchecked authoritarian leadership
Through a high-handed exhibition of its leadership’s authority, which often appears unnervingly legitimate.  spiritual abuse can take place in the context of doctrinally sound, Bible preaching, fundamental, conservative Christianity. All that is needed for abuse is a pastor accountable to no one and therefore beyond confrontation. Authoritarian leaders are ecclesiastical loners. They do not function well or willingly in the context of systematic checks or balances. To put it crudely, they operate a one-man (or one-woman) spiritual show. And God help the person who gets in the way or makes waves.”
Sometimes they will point to a board of elders or its equivalent, but more likely than not, this turns out to be a faithful inner circle of clones that implicitly accepts all that the leader sets forth. They are power hungry people who crave visibility. Such leaders will seem too quick to chastise members, often in harsh forums of public rebuke.

2) Imbalanced congregational life
Membership of authoritarian churches is frequently comprised of young, spiritually immature Christians. This kind of church is successful because it is meeting basic human needs — the need to belong, the need to be affirmed, to be accepted and to be part of a family. It is not unusual for the leaders to assume the role of surrogate parents, especially for those young adults who come from dysfunctional family backgrounds”. Abusive church leaders “foster an unhealthy form of dependency, spiritually and otherwise, by focusing on themes of submission and obedience to those in authority.
Do’s and don’ts found in church-supplied codes of conduct are taken so seriously that they have a stifling effect upon the spiritual liberty that Christians should enjoy and impose a dangerously controlling conformity upon the congregation.

3) Conscious threats of discipline and dis-fellowshipping
There is an obsession with discipline and excommunication. Beware of churches that warn of certain doom if you leave their ‘covering,’ or if you ‘break covenant. Once banished from the group, little compassion is shown the wayward one. Again and again, it has been observed that former members of aberrant churches, when contemplating  warnings that they were backsliding, compromising and facing judgment from God. Church members who are seen as stepping out of line will find themselves being shunned or criticised by the so-called “true believers” in public, and will usually face much harsher treatment in the larger abusive church congregation. Demeaning public rebuke, even ridicule from the pulpit is one means of religious abuse disguised as “discipline.”

4) Deliberate disruption of personal relationships
The church encourages complete isolation or strong distancing of its membership from family and friends not involved in the group.
Even family relationships within the group become severely disrupted and strained, since the demands for attention to be given to the “spiritual family” become all important. Parental and marital bonds may be strained or shattered over the need for individual family members to more fully identified with the church group, and non-member relations outside of the group are often stunned at how cold and distant their once loving family members became when they “got religious.” The abusive church’s “spiritual family” then appear to become the recipients of the warm family ties and affections that group members have withdrawn from their own family.

5) Withdrawal and isolation from the “outside”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   There is a tendency towards isolation from other churches. There is a conscious effort to limit input and contact with thoughts and ideas from outside the church’s own circle. This is what is known as “information control” and is a crucial element of what is known as mind control. Newspapers, television programming, and even ordinary social interaction with other members of the larger culture become strongly discouraged. 
Symptoms that someone has been brainwashed
The Centre for Enquiry says there are some tell tale signs that someone has been brainwashed. These include the following:
Emotional connection
The follower has found the leader inspiring for some reason. Perhaps the follower loves the leader at some level. This love blinds the follower to the leader’s flaws once they manifest.
Dependency
The follower, because of her or his adoration for the leader, builds her/his life around the leader. Given the follower’s emotional, and at times financial, investment, it is actually psychologically easier for the follower to deny the accuracy of clear evidence that reveals the leader’s flaws than it is to accept reality.
Suspension of critical thinking
The dependency ultimately leads to a near total suspension of the follower’s ability to analyze objectively and critically the leader’s pronouncements. Anything the leader says—even if it is contradicted by verifiable data—must be true. And instructions must be obeyed. To do otherwise would betray the leader—with whom the follower has now completely identified.
Dismissal of dissenters
Just as everything said by the cult leader is accepted as “gospel,” those who do raise questions or objections are dismissed peremptorily. Because these concerns often have merit, the typical approach is to avoid dealing with such concerns on their merits, and instead to attack the character or motives of the person presenting concerns. The dissenter is labelled disrespectful, a “troublemaker,” a liar, someone out for her/his own power, or someone in the pay of some outside interest.