At Tears of Eden, we seek to empower survivors to connect with their own agency to pursue the healing process from Spiritual Abuse. Tears facilitates connection to other survivors and provides language and resources to name the experience of Spiritual Abuse.

What is Spiritual Abuse?

In its simplest form, Spiritual Abuse is invoking a deity or religious text to retain power and control. However…

Spiritual Abuse can be an umbrella term, with other sorts of abuse falling under it, or a term for its own sort of abuse.

Spiritual Abuse is an umbrella term when any abuse (sexual, verbal, emotional, psychological, physical, etc.) occurs within a religious context (a family, a place of worship, a campus ministry, a support group, with a Christian-identifying counselor, etc.).

 Spiritual Abuse is its own sort of abuse when someone leverages the Bible or their position of spiritual authority to manipulate, exploit, coerce, or control.

 Spiritual Abuse can come from someone deliberately using their position and the Bible to abuse their power over others.

 Spiritual Abuse can also come from someone with good intentions—who really believes they are doing the right thing—when they leverage the Bible or God to manipulate, coerce, exploit, or control. This person does not necessarily need to be in a position of authority to cause harm. When they invoke God or the Bible to shame and control, they are placing themselves in a position of perceived power, even if just temporarily.

Spiritual Abuse, and the trauma it can cause, is complex and nuanced. Please explore our blog, podcast, and resource page for further understanding.

Tears of Eden serves the community of survivors who have experienced abuse in the evangelical community. While many of our members and volunteers identify as Christian, we are not a faith-based organization claiming affiliation with any doctrine, denomination, or theological viewpoint.

We acknowledge each person is on a personal journey. We are all at different places with our faith, church, God, etc. We try to reflect that in our resources and, at the same time, allow our community to be where they are.

For example, someone might describe their relationship with Jesus as more vibrant and deeper than ever. Someone else might not be sure if God is real, or they might not want anything to do with God. We are about allowing both avenues in either space (and anywhere in between).