Toxic Faith by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton
10/10/2005 12:25 Filed in: Books & Literature
Guest review by Jason Snyder
Toxic Faith: Experiencing Healing from Spiritual Abuse
by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton
2001, Shaw
How do you boil a frog? The answer is as simple as it is sinister: put it in a kettle of warm water and turn up the heat slowly. A frog pitched into boiling hot water will always jump out.
I recently left a church environment that grew in toxicity over a long period of time. It wasn't until I left that I could fully see the spiritual bankruptcy and leadership failure that enabled a toxic faith.
The authors of Toxic Faith detail 10 key characteristics of a toxic faith system as well as describing key beliefs and players in the system. Is the faith environment you live in characterized by...
1) Special Claims: the leader has some special knowledge, ability, or wisdom that makes him unique or special.
2) Authoritarianism: the leader is dictatorial and beyond question.
3) An "Us vs. Them" Mentality: members always set themselves in sharp contrast to other religious movements.
4) Punitive Nature: critics and those who question are isolated, removed from leadership, and even asked to leave.
5) Overwhelming Service: members are asked to give arduous service, to sacrifice, to be totally committed.
6) Follower in Pain: members are often physically ill, emotionally troubled and spiritually dead.
7) Closed Communication: communication is controlled at the top level and moves down, going only one way.
8) Legalism: the system is based on rules which bypass a meaningful relationship with God and distort God's purposes.
9) No Objective Accountability: the leader asserts he is only accountable to God.
10) Labeling: labels are used to discount those who may question or oppose the toxic faith system.
Arterburn and Felton share real world experiences and give hope that there can be health and healing on the other side of spiritual abuse.
Contact Jason Snyder at snymo@mac.com .