International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 3 2022 6
Most religions offer the promise of salvation in the
form of an afterlife. This assurance is an extremely
potent motivator in terms of religious behaviors—
especially for those individuals with high levels of
commitment to their faith. As Anson Shupe notes,
“the power of religion as a symbolic, salvation-
promising enterprise resides in its authority to create
and shape reality for believers and command their
obedience” (Shupe, 1998, p. 1). The anxiety of not
acting in accordance with the requirements of one’s
faith and hence jeopardizing one’s place in heaven may
foster compliance to grooming and subsequent abuse.
Children often are fearful of disappointing adults and
incurring punishments. When the punishment is the
withholding of the rewards of heaven, then one can
imagine the trauma that children might experience.
God or other deities supposedly grant access to heaven
or other supernatural dimensions, and the presumed
presence of a higher power is a significant feature of
most religions. One cannot overstate the importance
of it in guiding religious members’ behaviors and
fostering compliance in them.
Prakashanand Saraswati, leader of the Barsana Dham
ashram in Texas in the United States illustrates these
features well. At his trial, the court heard that two of
the underage girls he abused revered Saraswati as a god
and could not question his acts. The first accuser, age 30
by the time of the trial, said that the abuse began when
she was twelve years old. She said that “‘she thought
it was impossible to outcry against a god’” (Assistant
Criminal District Attorney Amy Lockhart, quoted in
Kimmons, 2011). Furthermore, “‘she was told that
it was a test and if she failed she would go to hell’”
(Lockhart, quoted in Kimmons, 2011). The children of
the ashram loved Saraswati. A former member recalls,
“. ..he seemed like an Indian version of Santa Claus,’”
and “‘. ..he was really, like, cuddly and he’d give you
hugs and kisses that just felt like your grandpa. But
then sometimes his kisses got weird’” (Kate Tonnessen,
quoted in CNN, 2015).
3.3 Compliance in Authoritarian Religions
Authoritarian religions in particular may foster
conditions that instill high levels of compliance during
the grooming process. Such religions are extremely
conservative, adhere to literal readings of religious
texts, self-identify as uniquely legitimate, require
absolute obedience and loyalty to authority (and
may use fear to engender conformity), and place the
standing of the religion over the needs of individual
members. Hierarchal and comprising many regulations
(Heimlich, 2011), in this context, leaders may identify
members of their community as ‘specially chosen’ for
particular tasks and roles. Fear of religious punishments
for rejecting this role may be devastating. Religious
obedience to patriarchy is a compelling feature and
almost all religions are patriarchal to a lesser or greater
extent, but authoritarian religions are especially so.
A compelling illustration of the power of religious
authority and patriarchy occurred in the grooming
of young girls in the Branch Davidian movement led
by David Koresh (b. Vernon Howell, 1959-1993).13 In
this group, almost all members lived communally near
Waco, Texas. Kiri Jewell grew up in the group, and at
age 14 gave testimony to U.S. Congress, describing the
way in which her mother had prepared her to become a
child bride (at 10 years of age) of Koresh’s, considering
it an honor. Koresh raped her in a motel room to which
her mother had taken her (ABC News, 2003). During
her testimony, Jewel also spoke of the rapes of other
young girls (Committee on Government Reform and
Oversight, 1995 Jacobs, 2000).
One member of the religious community explained
her reservations about the ages of Koresh’s child wives,
noting that they looked “really young.” She rationalized
his abuses by saying that at the time, she thought he
was just “getting them ready” (ABC Primetime, 2003,
p. 4). The adults in the community appeared to
accept his sexual relationships with children. Koresh
used scripture and his religious status to groom the
parents: in this case, not to make Koresh seem likeable
or helpful (as is often the case with child predators),
but instead to ensure that the parents consented to
his sexual abuse of the minors—framing it as he
did as a religiously significant event. Koresh had
proclaimed that, as a messiah, God had ordained him
to take multiple wives.14 Koresh used many religious
13 See Janet L. Jacobs (2000) for a discussion of the relationship
dynamics between charismatic authority, power, and “male entitlement” in
religious movements. She proposes that such conditions can foster an array
of sexual abuses.
14 In 1984, Koresh legally wed a fourteen-year-old. Subsequently,
he illegally “married” another fourteen-year-old and a twelve-year-old.
Additionally, he married other teens—a sixteen and seventeen-year-old as
well as a twenty-year-old young woman (Tabor and Gallagher, 1995, pp. 41-
43).

ISSN: 2710-4028 DOI: https://doi.org/10.54208/0003 7
justifications whilst grooming his community to accept
his abuses, such that they became “gatekeepers of
access” (McAlinden, 2012, p. 18). In one sermon he
stated that, “As the lamb of God he was entitled to have
all the women and girls sexually” (Tabor &Gallagher,
1995, p. 86). Worth noting here is the religious history
of regarding both women and children as sexual
property. During earlier periods in both Judaism and
Christianity, men engaging in sexual acts with girls was
normalized (Rush, 1980, cited in van Dam, 2001), and
it seems clear that in many religious settings this legacy
continues.
David Finkelhor (2008) notes that a “generally
overlooked but very important reason that children are
at high risk for victimization, one that has to do with
the conditions of children’s social lives and their living
arrangements: children have comparatively little choice
over whom they associate with” (Finkelhor, 2008, p. 10).
This situation is applicable in terms of their families,
schools, and other institutions, including religious
ones. This inability to make specific choices regarding
affiliation—in this case religious communities—means
that children like Kiri Jewell and countless others may
have to endure contact with their sexual offenders
on a regular basis and over a protracted period,
especially when the importance of religious belief
and community to the children’s families are high.
Moreover, as we discuss, in some cases (including the
Branch Davidians and the Children of God), children
are raised in families that reside in, and are a part of,
the religious community. In these cases, the religious
group may be relatively or even totally socially and or
geographically isolated from society, thus decreasing
the child’s opportunity to reach out to others for help.
3.4 Family Rhetoric
Sometimes the religious group also even may mimic
aspects of and operate in similar ways to the institution
of family (Cartwright and Kent, 1992). The use of
familial language may be especially prominent and
even institutionalized, as in Roman Catholicism:
‘father,’ ‘brother,’ ‘sister,’ ‘mother’ etc. (Pilgrim, 2018).
Informal familial language is just as powerful in its
consequences—for example, David Berg as ‘grandpa’
in the Children of God and Donn Ketchum as ‘uncle’
in Association of Baptists for World Evangelism
(both discussed later). During the grooming process,
the convergence of religious and perceived familial
authority may be especially formidable: the abuser
as both religious figure and ‘family member’ may
command obedience and respect and foster love and a
certainty that this person could do no wrong.
Together, these aforementioned features of religion: the
presumed presence of a powerful God or other entity
in the supernatural realm, religiously defined meaning-
making, worldviews, theodicies and legitimations,
as well as salvational status, familial language and
practices, power, patriarchy, obedience and loyalty,
and fear of incurring spiritual punishments—are a
part of all religions to greater or lesser extents. The
perceived unquestionable authority of religious figures
and their claimed unique and vital relationships to
the divine realm is a feature of religious authority—
one that plays an important role in the grooming of
children in religious settings. Finally, the way in which
religious identity acts as a powerful master status for
many individuals, coupled with the often over-arching
presence of religious teachings and ideas at all levels of
one’s life, truly sets it apart from other institutions.
4. Case Studies
4.1. Definitional considerations
Thus far, we have referred to ‘religion,’ ‘religious
institutions,’ and ‘religious movements and groups’ in
the very broadest of terms, but of course, religions are
not homogenous. It is beyond the scope of this article
to articulate the entire spectrum of religious categories
in detail, and not all religions neatly fall into such
classifications. Moreover, academics and others often
disagree on the labelling process, and, more generally,
scholars of religion are familiar already with the
limitations of the conceptual boundaries of religious
categories.15 Nonetheless, to aid in the understanding
of different religious dynamics, we classify our case
studies into Church (the Roman Catholic Church),
Denomination (e.g. Conservative Protestantism), Sect
(Seventh-day Adventists), and Cult/New Religious
15 For example, the Branch Davidians are a schism of the Seventh-
day Adventist faith, which in turn is a Christian sectarian movement. Media
and many scholars typically label the Branch Davidians a cult. Likewise,
one can identify the Children of God as a Christian sect given, however,
many of its characteristics scholars often label it a cult or new religious
movement (as we do here).