Religious Shunning-Patricia Braine

See also The Committee on Religious Shunning.

Aida Thomas on Religious Shunning

Part 1, Religious Slander

Part 2, The Free Zone

See also The Committee on Religious Shunning.

Religious Shunning-Kelly Blanpied

Part 1

Part 2

See also The Committee on Religious Shunning.

Niece of Scientology's Leader Discusses Disconnection

There has been a lot of talk recently about Scientology with the leaked Tom Cruise video and a video by Anonymous promising to fight Scientology's brutal policies. Now the niece of Scientology's current leader, David Miscavige, is speaking out in favor of the new, controversial and unauthorised biography of Tom Cruise.

Here is an excerpt from a news article where she discusses the policy of disconnection:

"In particular she challenges Scientology's denial that it puts pressure on members to break all contact with relatives who do not support the movement -- a practice known as disconnection.

Hill said it was this policy that broke up her own family.

"As you well know, my parents officially left the church when I was 16 in 2000," she wrote. Having been separated from them since the age of 12, she decided not to go with them.

But she added: "Not only was I not allowed to speak to them, I was not allowed to answer a phone for well over a year, in case it was them calling me."

Hill goes on to detail how Scientology officials intercepted letters from her parents and her friends.

She was only allowed to visit her parents once a year for a maximum of four days, she wrote -- and then only after her parents threatened legal action to get access.

When she returned from these visits, she was questioned to see if her parents had said anything bad about the movement."

Religious Shunning-Dave Sweetland

Here's an interesting interview about shunning from a former Scientologist.

Religious Shunning

See also The Committee on Religious Shunning.

A Powerful Article on Shunning in The Wall Street Journal

It's Sunday Morning and a 911 dispatcher receives a call from a Baptist pastor who says a former member came to church, "And we need to, um, have her out A.S.A.P."

Why was the pastor so afraid of a 71 year old church going grandma with two artificial knees and a double hip replacement? Apparently, she criticised the pastor and claimed that he didn't follow the church bylaws. She was expelled. The other members were told to shun her and the pastor had her arrested when she returned to church.

Please read this article at the Wall Street Journal Website. It provides fascinating details about disciplinary practices at some conservative Protestant churches. I'm not saying that all church discipline is wrong, but it can easily turn abusive and trample on human rights. I enjoyed reading about how that grandmother stood her ground and eventually won a moral victory against the intolerant pastor.