The Christian broadcaster CBN ran a timely piece this week documenting a painful trend: more and more believers are carrying what therapists and pastors now call “church hurt,” and many are seeking help to untangle faith from spiritual abuse. Dallas therapist Dr. Kathryn Keller told CBN that religious trauma has become the number one issue clients bring to her, describing environments that repeatedly shame and frighten believers into silence.
Keller explained that constant messages of guilt and condemnation can create a trauma response in people who were meant to find refuge in worship, not fear, and that toxic power dynamics and emotional neglect are often at the heart of the problem. Those are sobering words for any congregation that still mistakes control for holiness; what passes for spiritual authority in some places is nothing more than psychological manipulation.
The story also profiles Natalie Runion, a pastor’s kid who nearly walked away from the church after her father’s public fall, only to find a renewed faith and a platform to help others. Runion’s book Raised to Stay argues that leaving abusive church systems does not mean abandoning Christ, and she insists that wisdom sometimes requires both separation and steadfastness in Jesus.
CBN notes a staggering cultural shift: studies cited in the piece show over a million Americans leave the church each year, many never to return, and that reality should alarm every believer who cares about the future of our communities. This isn’t merely a spiritual statistic; it’s a national crisis when families, moral instruction, and the social glue that holds neighborhoods together are being eroded.
Conservatives should welcome the honest confrontation of spiritual abuse, not dismiss it as merely “therapy talk.” At the same time, we must resist the temptation to outsource discipleship and discernment entirely to secular counseling models; healing needs Scripture, prayer, and accountability inside faithful communities, alongside wise professional help when appropriate.
Runion and Keller both stress boundaries as essential to recovery — not as cold walls but as biblical guardrails that protect the vulnerable and preserve the gospel’s integrity. Church leaders who refuse to learn this truth and who cling to unchecked power should be held accountable by their congregations and by the rule of law when necessary.
To patriotic Americans who still believe in the good of church life: don’t let the sins of men turn you from the Savior or from the vital role local churches play in civil society. Demand repentance and reform where it’s due, support healthy pastors and ministries, and create congregations where truth and mercy walk hand in hand.
If our communities are to be rebuilt, it will be because courageous believers stood for both holiness and compassion — teaching children the gospel, protecting the vulnerable, and refusing to let institutional pride or political posturing silence the truth. Our churches must be safe houses of sanctuary and strength, not places where the powerful prey on the weak, and it’s up to us to make sure they become that again.
