Summary
I chose an article from Cult Recovery 101, focusing on dysfunctional churches by Dr. Ronald Enroth in 1992. Churches, much like any group or family style environment can grow to be dysfunctional for several reasons. This dysfunction can manifest itself in the church/church leader(s) to being spiritually abusive, taking advantage of the dedication members of the church may have in the church/religion. The complicated thing about this type of abuse is mainly how difficult it can be to detect, much of the time going undetected. Just like any leader, a church leader can grow to be abusive, demand submission, and extreme loyalty where if questioned the individual may be cast aside or shamed, possibly worse. While many religious leaders in their respective communities are viewed in a good light, religion is so vast with so many branches, and these leaders are still human, and can be prone to the same issues and obsession with perceived power. This article was interesting to me and It makes me wonder how many smaller groups of people sharing in a religious practice go through something like this without notoriety, because it seems to walk that line between an abuse of power from a member of a community, and those qualities we do associate with cults. Also, the responsibility that each individual witnessing this and conforming to it holds, while much focus can be put on a leader, which makes sense due to the position they hold in the establishment, other members of “prominence” in the same establishment seem to also relish a bit in the same power fantasy and usually partake in those type of dysfunctional environments, it is intriguing to see how that mentality can permeate the psyche of others so deeply.
