'I grew up in a cult and was banned from reading Harry Potter - I was so scared'
A woman who was raised in the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist cult has described her difficult childhood and the impact it had on her as an adult. From the age of nine to 18, she lived by the cult's strict rules and obeyed her father without question.
One day, she and her sister were allowed to borrow books from the library - and they selected Harry Potter and Stephen King novels. The woman said: "In the summer of 2003, my parents gave my sister and I the freedom to walk to the library together and get books. My sister and I dominated that kid's reading contest. She read Harry Potter and I was reading Stephen King."
"One day during that summer, my sister, mother and I go visit another sister a few hours away. On the way home, my mom gets a call and she goes white as a sheet. I remember seeing her eyes in the rearview saying 'Sarah, how could you! ' We both were afraid."
The IFB cult has an estimated eight million members across 6,000 churches and has been accused of abuse, corruption and cover-up, sreports the Mirror US. The shocking secrets of the IFB church were revealed in the American TV documentary series, Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals. It exposed the physical and sexual abuse suffered by many members.
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The woman added: "The life most children in the IFB have is similar [life] to [people in] prison where your property and space get flip searches on a regular basis. My dad was searching her room and found the book. He beat her and took her down to the library, where he berated the librarians for allowing her to check out the book without calling for permission. He said, 'Don't you know who I am and how this makes me look!' I wasn't caught. But I was scared enough to return my books. I was still too afraid to read Harry Potter until 2012."
Commenting on her post, one user said: "That is f***ed up, I hope you and your sister got out and are recovering. Another user added: "If the widespread encouragement of child abuse isn't enough to get people to leave religion, I don't know what is. Those kids eventually grow up and be able to leave. How much love will you have for God if people have beaten you in his name your whole life?"
Offering their support, a third user said: "I am so sorry you had to go through that. I remember being so terrified if my dad found out I secretly read so much outside. Because the best way to make people stop using things is to ban them, right? Our rooms were also checked quite often, I just assumed it was the norm, especially coming from an Asian country where parents control your life a lot as kids.
"I hope you got out of all that safely. For me, it just turned me into a very avid reader as that's how I rebelled. Intensely reads Harry Potter in the dark thinking she's so cool. Message me if you need to talk about anything, it's a terrifying experience especially if no one around you is leading the same life as you are."
If you have been affected by issues of domestic violence or coercive control you can call Refuge's 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline for free. The number is 0808 2000 247.
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