convinced that tendencies toward abusive styles of leadership are far more prevalent than most Christians realize. If we are honest with ourselves, we might admit that at least the potential for authoritarianism may exist in some of our own backyards.” In his book Religious Abuse: A Pastor Explores the Many Ways Religion Can Hurt as Well as Help, Presbyterian minister Keith Wright says, “Only when we are aware of the capacity of religion to abuse can we guard against that abuse and take steps to curb it where it exists. Only when we recognize the ambiguity of our own religious community can we assess the merits of remaining a part of that community or leaving it.”

     Today we need to go a step further. We need to ask if the wounds inflicted by religion extend far wider than these familiar forms. Is it abusive to expose children to lurid images of hell and the devil, to tell them that they risk eternal hellfire for the smallest of sins, to force them to live in terror of a vindictive and sadistic God? I believe it is. It is one thing to teach children that their actions have moral consequences and quite another to instill a profound, nameless, and unquenchable sense of guilt in them.

     To these cases we can add religious wounding in a milder sense—when it is not a matter of victimization but of loss of faith, of disillusionment with spirituality as a whole. If all human beings have a spiritual aspect to their natures, this disillusionment amounts to an alienation from a profound and essential part of themselves. Still others have been ostracized because of their sexual orientation. Whether or