The report reviews a number of legal cases where the term spiritual abuse is being applied (wrongly) to legitimate church functions. For example, if a pastor declares certain controversial behaviors to be sinful (for example, homosexuality), then some have insisted this is a form of spiritual abuse. Thus, according to the report, the term spiritual abuse should be avoided because it singles out religious contexts as the key factor in abuse, inadvertently giving ammunition to those who are eager to impugn the theology or activities of the church. Instead, we should just use terms like emotional
...more