Educational tool only. All groups exist on a spectrum of control. Individual experiences vary. Based on publicly available reports, ex-member accounts, court records, and expert analyses — not medical or legal advice.

BITE axis: Emotional

Spiritual Abuse

Coined by David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen (1991). Use of spiritual or religious authority — clergy, scripture, doctrine — to control, shame, or harm. Now recognised in safeguarding frameworks across the UK Church of England and US evangelical denominations.

Groups in the dataset that reference Spiritual Abuse

Auto-derived from body, summary, and red-flag text. Showing top 3 by CLCI score.

Maranatha Campus Ministries (defunct, 1972–89)
Mars Hill Church (Mark Driscoll, 1996–2014)
Focolare Movement / Work of Mary / Chiara Lubich

Blog posts that discuss this term

Auto-derived from blog post body, title, and description.

/blog/what-is-the-bite-model
/blog/helping-someone-leave-without-pushing-them-away
/blog/recovering-from-religious-trauma