- Religious convictions are stated as black and white
- Isolation from people who do not share the same beliefs
- Think of the world and flesh as inherently evil
- Obsessive about praying, going to church, reading the Bible, attending crusades, watching television evangelists, sending money to missions1
- Excessive fasting
- Hearing messages from God
- Judging others; often angry and violent toward “heathens” (pagans)
- Brainwashing2 – attempt to persuade family and significant friends to their way of thinking
- Compulsively talking about God, religion or quoting from Scripture
- Conflict of ideology with hospitals and schools
- Discourage thinking for oneself, doubting or questioning
- Sexuality seen as dirty or bad
- Cannot accept criticism
- Suffer tension, stress, often develop physical illnesses, such as eating disorders, depression and anxiety
- Often stare, go into trances
- Erratic personality changes
~Taken from: When God Becomes A Drug: Breaking the Chains of Religious Addiction and Abuse, by Leo Booth
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Footnotes by ESN:
1 For those in WCG or authoritarian offshoots, the words “attending crusades, watching television evangelists, and sending money to missions,” can be replaced with: “attending all of the holy days, listening to the leader of their group on TV or the Internet (if he has a program), and sending large amounts of money to the group’s headquarters.”
2 A more accurate term than “brainwashing” to explain this process would be mind manipulation or thought reform.