Announcing My New Book — The Coercive Church
A Workbook for Healing from Religious Trauma
I’m thrilled (and a little nervous) to share something close to my heart: my new book, The Coercive Church, is finally here. This work is a deep excavation into what many survivors of religious trauma know but struggle to name—that much of what passes for spiritual formation in high-control religious environments is, in fact, coercive control.
What The Coercive Church Is About
This book takes a hard, honest look at how coercive dynamics in churches can damage the soul. While we often associate coercion with cults or political regimes, coercive control can be just as present in a pew, a pulpit, or a Bible study. When religious systems use fear, guilt, punishment, or manipulation to enforce conformity, they do more than just “train” behavior—they fracture identity, repress agency, and condition people to doubt their own thoughts and feelings.
In The Coercive Church, I explore how these systems:
Control information (what you can read, think, say)
Suppress autonomy through rules disguised as “God’s will”
Erode emotional safety through shaming, fear-based obedience, and judgment
Reward compliance over curiosity, performance over presence
But most importantly, I name the human cost.
What Religious Trauma Steals From Us
Those who walk away from coercive churches don’t just leave a building. They often leave behind an entire world—a world that may have once felt like home. Some of the core losses I examine in this book include:
Loss of community: The grief of losing friends, spiritual “family,” and support systems that once gave life structure
Loss of identity: When faith has shaped who you are from childhood, leaving it can feel like losing your very self
Loss of the Divine: Perhaps the most painful rupture—feeling abandoned or unsure how (or whether) to connect with God again
These losses are real and deserve to be treated with the same care as any form of trauma.
The Psychological Fallout
Religious trauma isn’t “just spiritual.” It impacts the nervous system, the psyche, and the body. Many survivors experience:
CPTSD or PTSD: Flashbacks, hypervigilance, and body-based fear
Depression and grief: Mourning both what was and what never was
Shame and self-doubt: Internalized voices that say “you’re bad” or “you’re broken”
Existential confusion: A deep fear that walking away from abusive faith is equivalent to walking away from God
Rebuilding Self-Agency (and the Right to Believe in Magic)
Religious trauma healing isn’t about replacing one belief system with another—it’s about reclaiming your right to choose what works for you. That includes the right to:
Reconnect with your own inner wisdom
Rebuild trust in your body and intuition
Explore new spiritual paths—or none at all
Keep believing in magic, mystery, dreams, and Divine presence—if that still resonates for you
Too many people, even in the therapy and healing spaces, say things like “you have to stop believing in magical thinking now” or “faith is inherently delusional.” But trading one dogma for another—whether it’s religious or secular—is not liberation. That’s just more control wearing a new outfit.
Rebuilding agency means giving yourself permission to believe in what you find sacred. No therapist, pastor, author, or influencer gets to tell you otherwise.
This Book Is for You If...
You’re navigating the complex grief of religious trauma
You’ve felt gaslit by your own religion, and you’re looking for language for what happened
You want to heal your relationship with the Divine without being told how to believe
You’re trying to reclaim your voice, your intuition, and your sacred autonomy
You’re done with being told who to be by anyone in authority—religious or otherwise
The Coercive Church is an invitation to name the harm, mourn the loss, and begin again—not with rules, but with reverence for your own knowing. Not with guilt, but with curiosity. Not with fear, but with freedom. Your intuition is sacred. Your story is valid. And your healing is yours to define.
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