Exposing cults to the public eye.

Here is a preview of an opinion piece I'm writing to the Oregonian, they may or may not publish it:

"When is it necessary to label a church as a cult? It's a difficult issue, but a necessary one. If a church practices information control, manipulates people emotionally, dominates their time and finances, it becomes a detriment to the community.

I will be specific, the church in question is Abundant Life Pentecostal Church in McMinnville, Oregon. I walked away from it almost a year ago, after spending most of my life attending there.

They teach a person should give 10% of their gross income to the church, as a salvation issue, while also strongly encouraging giving 5% offerings in addition to that.

I have witnessed young couples with children lose their homes or apartments because they couldn't afford to pay their rent or mortgage, but they continue to hand over 15% of their joint income to the church.

What's worse than financial control, in my opinion, is information control. For years, the church discouraged people from having Internet access at home. To this day, they teach against Facebook and other social media.

If anyone stops attending the church, congregation members are told not to contact them. After I left, I remained in contact with perhaps 3 or 4 people, while over 150 people never spoke a word to me again.

What is truly puzzling, is that the church teaches against contacting members of other churches in the same belief system. Having friends in churches that teach the same doctrines, but aren't "approved", can be grounds for a lecture or worse.

Church members are taught to adhere to very strict dress standards and lifestyle requirements. No television or movies are permitted, jewelry of any kind is forbidden, women may not cut their hair or wear pants. Men cannot have facial hair of any kind.

I have witnessed public shaming, where a person that put coloring in their hair, or two young people caught making out, are put before the entire church and must ask to be forgiven for their sins.

The leadership shows little compassion, an elderly woman making $700 on social security is still asked to pay tithes, a young man caring for his mother in her last few months alive is chastised for not attending services.

A young man who passionately defended that very church in a debate was lectured because he was in contact with people that left the group. Any dating or courtship had to be approved by the pastor, and could be ended at any time at their whim.

All these stories are true, and only the tip of the iceberg. To this day, I feel ashamed that it took so long for me to see how wrong such things are.

For myself, I feel compelled to tell the story, to make the public aware that such places exist. In your neighborhood, there might exist a church that's only two steps away from being a commune."

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Some people people may not agree with me writing this letter, they may not understand.  To those, I simply say that unless you've walked a mile in my shoes, you won't ever grasp this issue.

There are many people across the country that are in similar situations.  They may not even realize how badly they have been misled.  Public awareness must be raised about these types of organizations.

People that abuse their position of power must be brought to reckoning.  It doesn't have to be an African warlord, a communist dictator in the Caribbean, or a despot in the Czech Republic, sometimes it's just a power and money hungry preacher.