An archive of news items related to child abuse or neglect, or infringement of children's rights, in a religious context. Copyrighted materials appearing on this blog are provided under Fair Use provisions to facilitate education and further research into the issues documented in these news reports.
Judith Herman describes the way in which perpetrators seek to control the disclosures and discourses of abuse:
“In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator’s first line of defense. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure no-one listens... After every atrocity one can expect to hear the same predictable apologies: it never happened; the victim lies; the victim exaggerates; the victim brought it on herself; and in any case it is time to forget the past and move on.”
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No comments is a good sign, indicating they are obviously not interferring with anyones' life or in anyones'face, yet are an intregal part of the community and having a positive influence. They have a lovely charming bakery and holistic store in Plymouth and I believe in Hyannis. My impression was "yes, I like this, this is a good thing for this town and I hope they succeed." I did hear some had been singled out and physically hurt by, I guess, locals. They are interesting and I knew immediatly they were from Vt. They dance to a different drum and that is always a threat.
ReplyDeleteTheir image represents the toleraable lifestyle of Vt., combined with ambition and competence,yet not afraid to sacrifice profit for down time on a Saturday, no less, to observe their faith.
You are extremely naive, or perhaps willfully ignorant, if you think that no comments on this article means that this cult does not interfere with anyone's life. This patriarchal, authoritarian, totalitarian group is very similar to cults such as the Exclusive Brethren, the Children of God/Family International, and other fundamentalist, evangelical, bible-based groups. They present one face to the public, but the reality behind closed doors is something else. They are wolves in sheep's clothing, conning and deceiving people like you.
ReplyDeleteAnd as always with dangerous religious groups, it is the children who suffer abuses of various kinds -- physical/sexual/psychological/emotional/spiritual/intellectual, etc. -- related to their forced indoctrination.
But I guess as long you get your fresh baked buns you're happy to look the other way, and hide behind your anonymity.
Dear Anonymous, I thought the same thing at first until my son in law just abandoned my daughter and my grand daughter to join this group. They were a wonderful couple with no major marital issues until this group convinced him that unless he hates his father, mother, brothers, sisters, wife and children that he is not worthy to be a disciple (luke 14:26). Having been Christians for years, we are familiar with this verse and can see clearly how distorted their interpretation is and how utterly devastating this is to families.
ReplyDeleteIf it was a wonderful life, over half of their children would not later leave, and would not be shunned for doing so. I used to be a member. It's impossible to really understand this group unless you live there for several months or talk to people who grew up in the Tribes. Both those who stayed and those who left. If you live in the Tribes, you are not allowed to say anything negative about the lifestyle or any of the teachings. Once you leave, you again have freedom of speech. This is a very complicated group. They have a right to exist and live the way they wish. They also have a responsibility to report pedophiles to law enforcement when some get into their group and abuse is evident. The tribes never, never call the police, when they should. They'll kick a person out of the community, but will never call the police. And, concerning their child and baby discipline, do you really think it helps a child or baby to be hit with the balloon sticks. And, do you agree with the TT Cham teaching that black people should still be slaves to white people, if they don't join the Tribes? The TT has some really messed up teachings. That's why I'm no longer there. If you just look at the cafe's and baked goods and working together, and that's all, yes, it can seem like a wonderful life. I wish it were. But there's more to the picture. If a person in interested in a very conservative religious sub-culture to belong to to that is Christian, I'd suggest some of the Mennonite groups and possibly some of the more evangelical Hutterite groups, even though I now think all forms of communalism are generally a mistake. In the TT I've know people who have died for lack of proper medical care and seen people go without some basic needs for a long time. This is a lifestyle that is wise to carefully examine before giving them all your money and everything you own. Did Jesus say to give the Twelve Tribes all your money and possessions? Think about it.
ReplyDeleteI reply to this as someone who has a friend from high school in the group and visits off and on. They had a pedophile join at the Hyannis community and they did call and report it to the police, quietly. I'm not entirely supportive of how they raise their children- obviously along with the regular "discipline," the lack of knowledge from the outside world is what I find particularly disconcerting, being a scientist- but if someone had taught them a better way to teach their children 'obedience' instead of discipline (aka beating them), I think they'd follow that instead. They do care about their children, they've just been taught that this is how you're supposed to show love and they're so entirely wrong. When they figured out that someone had joined basically as a way to access kids and started putting the pieces together, they did call the police.
DeletePlease don't take my comment as an endorsement of everything that's done there, but as someone who visits trying to observe the life. I'm trying to read things from ex-members who obviously saw everything. I'm a scientist and an atheist, and I think the denial of knowledge is appalling. I go to visit my friend and I respect the amount of discipline that they put into their lives and they do seem to put a lot of effort into meeting everyone's needs, but that involves so much suspension of disbelief, an entire lack of thought and critical thinking. It's very sad and I really wonder how many people are brainwashed and how many people there think "this couldn't be what God actually wanted."
I agree with the last comment. After living there for 14 years you really see the truth behind the lies. Not all are bad in there. But the ones who take there authority to the level of self gain, self glorification to the point they be little you and others is sick.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, spanking a 6mth old baby does not do any good!It's true the police are not phoned when it is needed.And those in Authority who do bad things get away with it.Because they don't have to account for their own sins.Why? Because they know how terrible it is to have to stand in front of the 'body' and be told by whom ever wants to; how bad a person you are!And that you need to repent. Basicly the whole thing is to put fear in you and belittle you as a human being.Squashing any independence left in you. They also do this in front of your childern making them feel ashamed,afraid and embaressed for their parents.This also creates hate and just a negative influence on childern.
And let me tell you when you decide to leave any friends you may have had will be told they can not talk to you.Even guests that we made friends with were not allowed our contact details and were told lies about us.My family left with very little money no home, and had to start all over from scratch. After 14 years not one of my so called friends even wrote us or tried to contact us. (and the ones who did all left the community after we did).That is what they give you after you gave every moral fiber of your being to their twisted deranged cult.
So yes the community does look good and they offer dreams that no person can give you.Like they say a rotten apple will spoil the bunch.They have far to many rotten apples for their basket!
I've been visiting and have lived from time with these people for years. They're not perfect people, but most i've known love God and one-another and area far better example of how Jesus said to live than what i've seen in mainstream society or weekly churchianity. And they're much more loving in real life than all the "cult experts" put together.
ReplyDelete“Unless your son has blue wounds, by this standard, you know what kind of a standard is in you — it is the spirit that hates your son. If one is overly concerned about his son receiving blue marks you know that he hates his son and hates the word of God.” (Twelve Tribes Pope: Elbert Eugene “Gene” Spriggs aka “Yoneq”)
ReplyDeleteThe 12 tribes are a group of people who are brainwashed into believing falsehoods about the bible. Many of the members are emotionally or mentally ill. Stay away from them or you will be sorry.
ReplyDeleteIm an ex member who saw to much in the Tribes, all of which I would be ashamed to put on this site...I only wish there was a bigger movement to stop this cult...i sometimes cry when i think about the kids and how i cant do anything for them..
ReplyDeleteI grew up there and still have a sister there...all I have to say is fuck everyone and everything they have ever had anything to do with
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