The article details the church's long and horrific past of child abuse within it's ranks about talks about Jack Schaap's meltdown before his arrest and guilty plea, including one bizarre sermon called "Polishing the Shaft", which I wouldn't recommend anyone listen to around their boss or their children, unless they want some awkward explaining to do:
The story also includes statements to the estranged daughter of Jack Hyles, Linda Hyles Murphey, who was disowned by her family for rejecting the beliefs of the cult in her 20's. In one chilling statement in the article, she called the church followers "zombies", and said: "He (her father, Jack Hyles) used to joke around about ‘drinking the Kool-Aid,’ but that was never funny to me because I knew that those people really would have done anything he told them to do. Anything.”
The article also quotes documentary blogger Jeri Massey, of the site JeriWho, who is a valuable resource on abuse within the Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) organization as a whole.
Read the article, it's an incredible look into the organization, it will appears in the January 2013 print edition of Chicago magazine. It always encourages me to see when media organizations report on the IFB, more people need to know about them.
For more information on the IFB, check out my blog page dedicated to them, with my past articles, and resources. For more information on First Baptist Hammond/Hyles-Anderson, and my sister's personal experience with them, read my two part series on them.
Schaap's enormous ego and misogyny established him as a repugnant man to begin with, so the sexual abuse scandal didn't come as much of a surprise. Still, the sordid scandal was a reminder that the IFB has a LOT of work to do on accountability. Abuse is inexcusable.
ReplyDeleteNo, it didn't really surprise me at all that it happened.
DeleteI think the unwavering loyalty to leaders, the cult culture within the IFB is a horrible ingredient in this mix that makes it far worse.