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When Anne A Johnson Davis was just three years old, her mother and stepfather began to physically, sexually and mentally torture her in the name of Satan. Until she ran away from home at 17, her parents and other cult members subjected her to satanic ritual abuse (SRA), a criminally inhumane and bizarre form of devil worship. Read more

"Growing Up in Mama's Club" is a compelling, coming-of-age story about a boy who is a victim of sixteen years of emotional, religious abuse. His day-to-day life and his attempts to conform to a belief system at odds with his intellectual skills are at times both heart-rending and humorous. But his ultimate triumph over religious indoctrination should be inspirational for people of all ages, especially for anyone growing up in an abusive environment. Read more

The bestselling, devastating account of three sisters torn apart, abused and exploited at the hands of a community that robbed them of their childhood. It reveals three lives, separate but entwined, that have experienced unspeakable horror, unrelenting loyalty and unforgettable courage. Read more

For over twenty-five years, charismatic Pentecostal evangelist Brother Tony Leyva used Christianity, the Bible, and his status as an "anointed prophet of God" to gain access to, seduce, and sexually assault the young sons of his enthralled followers in twenty-three states. How could such heinous acts continue undetected for over two decades? Read more

Leaving the Fold is a self-help book that examines the effects of authoritarian religion (fundamentalist Christianity in particular) on individuals who leave the faith. The concrete steps for healing are useful for anyone in recovery from toxic religion. Read more

The Spanking Room is the true story of a young boy's upbringing, and how the unorthodox doctrines of the Watchtower Society encourage violence against its most helpless members--the children. Read more

Clergy sex abuse, polygamy, children dying from faith healing, companies that refuse to do business with same-sex couples, and residential neighborhoods forced to host homeless shelters - what do all of these have in common? They are all examples of religious believers harming others and demanding religious liberty regardless of the harm. This book unmasks those responsible, explains how this new set of rights is not derived from the First Amendment, and argues for a return to common-sense religious liberty. In straightforward, readable prose, God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty sets the record straight about the United States' move toward extreme religious liberty. Read more

Abraham on Trial questions the foundations of faith that have made a virtue out of the willingness to sacrifice a child. Through his desire to obey God at all costs, even if it meant sacrificing his son, Abraham became the definitive model of faith for the major world religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this bold look at the legacy of this biblical and qur'anic story, Carol Delaney explores how the sacrifice rather than the protection of children became the focus of faith, to the point where the abuse and betrayal of children has today become widespread and sometimes institutionalized. Read more

Worship and Sin: Religion-Related Crime in the United States raises provocative questions about the role of religion in crime and criminal behavior. Arguing that religion-related crime should be classified as a distinct subset of crime worthy of continued investigation by scholars, this book brings together for the first time the disparate scholarly research related to various types of religion-related crime, presents numerous examples, and considers the practical and legal issues facing practitioners of various disciplines. Recommended: chapter on crimes against children chapter (p. 49) Read more

The dramatic true story of how the author ultimately escaped and has been fighting against frustrating obstacles with hard fought successes in rescuing women and children from the FLDS. Read more

Since founding ECPAT, an international organization working to end child prostitution and pornography, in 1991, the author has sadly come to recognize that church leaders and representatives are not exempt from involvement in the sexual abuse of children. Although working in a secular and apolitical organization, the author's Christian belief and experience have informed this study of a deeply disturbing phenomenon. He seeks through unsensational language to expose the truth of the church's involvement and by so doing start the search for solutions. Read more

The relentless crescendo of revelations of sexual abuse in the nation's Catholic churches has rocked the nation. Just how widespread is child sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy? And why hasn't the Catholic church done more to stop it? Read more

What sets this book apart from the many others on the topic is the emphasis on how a church congregation can begin to work to heal the wounds of sexual abuse and prevent further abuses from happening. Church members often must, at the same time, offer love, understanding, and healing to survivors while confronting (and still loving) the perpetrator. Includes a forward by Marie M. Fortune. Read more

An investigative reporter offers a portrait of Andrea Yates and her drowning of her five young children, incorporating the information from more than two hundred interviews to reveal the inner workings of the case. Read more

Janet Heimlich, author of Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment, was the guest speaker at Atheists United. Her book is the first to take an in-depth look at child abuse and neglect caused by religious belief. Bethany Brittain joined Ms. Heimlich on stage to share her personal story about being abused as a child in the name of religion. (1:20:00) Read more

How to discipline one’s child, like decisions to treat “by faith alone,” run deep in religious and cultural belief systems. State regulation of child rearing not only impacts parents’ liberty but a community’s ability to maintain identity and transmit norms. Often, state solicitude for parental autonomy dictates children’s fate. This Chapter explores the limits of parental autonomy, showing that constitutional cases grant autonomy when no harm would result. Read more

High-profile cases such as the child sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church and “faith healing” child death cases in some fundamentalist congregations have drawn attention to a serious yet misunderstood problem: religious child maltreatment or RCM. (1:04:00) Read more

Are you a survivor of religious child abuse or neglect? Which children are at risk today? These are questions our speaker answered during this enlightening Sunday Gathering. (26:00) Read more

Janet Heimlich is the founder of the Child-Friendly Faith Project and author of Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment, both of which examine child abuse and neglect that is enabled by religious belief in the United States. Janet is also a reporter who has worked for NPR and written for a variety of publications. (Full disclosure, I’m on the advisory board for the Child-Friendly Faith Project.) I spoke with her about the way children suffer at the hands of religion, whether teaching kids about Hell constitutes abuse, and what atheists can do to help. Read more

Dr. Paul Offit talks about the importance of ensuring that all children are permitted needed medical care, even if their caretakers assert that their religious beliefs conflict with that need. (2:00) Read more

On February 11, 2016, experts on faith, medicine, and children's rights gave a presentation in Boise, Idaho, to discuss the problem of "faith healing" child medical neglect and the need to repeal dangerous religious exemptions. (1:05:00) Read more

Mr. Singer discusses strategies that he employs to help the faith and child protection communities work together to help children and families struggling with issues of abuse and neglect. (48:00) Read more

Law professor Marci Hamilton, a leading expert on such legal issues, will explain how statutes such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and its state counterparts have lowered legal barriers on religious believers’ illegal conduct. (1:00:00) Read more

Therapy is an essential part of the healing process for those who have suffered the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. Yet many survivors don’t know where to turn to find those services. David Pittman—a survivor himself—founded Together We Heal for that very purpose. (45:00) Read more

In this interview, Janet Heimlich, author of Breaking Their Will, discusses religious abuse and mistreatment of children. (20:00) Read more

Janet Heimlich spoke at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, on the topic of religious child maltreatment. (30:00) Read more

Dr. Carla Cheatham spoke at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, on the topic of religious child maltreatment. (13:00) Read more

We discuss the ways in which religion serves as both a locus and a veil for child abuse, how victims can heal from such abuse, and how we can prevent it from happening in the first place. (46:00) Read more

A questioning of what should be considered as religious freedom or child endangerment. Read more

Discussion of the experience of mothers in cults and its impact to the mother-child bond, the methods used in cults to control and limit this bond, and the responses of mothers to these controls. Read more

Presentations given by national and international experts in child protection and abuse. Read more

Presentations given by national and international experts in child protection and abuse. Read more

An examination of the hypothesis that Conservative Protestants are more likely to physically abuse children than Mainline Protestants, Catholics, or the religiously unaffiliated. Read more

Graphic first hand descriptions by a Rabbi detailing long standing, open, and systematic sexual abuse of minors by high powered individuals in the Jewish community. Read more

This organization helps families understand and accept their LCBTQI children and others in the community. Read more

This video exposes problems of child sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Read more

Susan Cottrell offers a Christian-based workbook to help LGBTQ individuals heal from wounds left by families and church communities. Read more

The late Rev. Keith Wright examines the many abuses that the Christian Church inflicts on its congregants, clergy, and children. Read more

Michele Ulrickson's memoir about spending time in a fundamentalist Baptist reform school. Read more

Memoir from popular blogger Amber Cantorna, detailing her coming-out experience as a young, gay woman in an evangelical Christian community. Read more