Many people, adult and children alike have lived through the pain, humiliation, degradation, and sorrow of abuse from others in the guise of spiritual awakenings, rituals, beliefs, tenets, and what ever other name was used at the time to "make it right."

But it was and is not right. It is abuse. Be it from a Catholic Priest who sexually molests an alter boy or girl, or an overzelous parent who believies that they must "purify" their child through physical torture, or a cult member who refuses to allow a person contact with the outside world. These are just a few of the ways that spiritual abuse manifests. It is not just a Catholic problem, or a Cult problem, either Satanic, or New Age. It finds it's way into every religion, and belief system that exists. It is a problem brought on by the extremists in a given orginazation, that feel every perceived wrong must be punished. It is a problem brought on by the conformists that do nothing to stop the abuse. It is your problem. It is my problem. It is OUR problem.

There is much information out there on the Web about spiritual abuse, and whether or not it exists. This page, is not part of that debate. We know it exists, as the members that brought this page to life have lived it.

It is an abuse that encompasses many other forms of abuse. Many of these abuses are physical, and many are emotional. It is an abuse that encroaches on the mind and soul, along with the body. The person being spiritually abused is often told, and made to feel, that they are evil, be it for causing a "holy" person to lust, or for being everly ill, as in some cases of exorcism, or for just being born.

It is a weakening of the emotional and spiritual self brought on by these physical, mental and emotional abuses that leaves the person unable to know true emotional feelings, and spiritually confused, stagnated, and dead. They are taught that the abuses that happen to them are wrong, and then told that they must do and or accept these things in order to follow the tenets of the particular belief.

The survivors of these abuses have a long journey ahead of themselves. Healing from spiritual abuse, as with any intense, and or long-term abuse, is a difficult task. It is our hope, that SOSA will be of some help with that task.