“In my research for my forthcoming book, [Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church (Zondervan, 2022)] I was a bit surprised to discover how many people think that the harm caused by spiritual abuse is a distant second (or even third) to other kinds of abuse (whether physical or sexual).
“Indeed, some seemed to view the heavy-handed behavior of pastors as one of those “regrettable” things that happen, but not really that big a deal. It’s just an inevitable part of church life that people should just be willing to ‘get over.'”