The first book dealing with New Bethany children's ministries is out.
Right out the gate, let me warn you: This wasn't a story of the triumph of good over evil. Steven Spielberg didn't write this script, and there was no friendly alien/police chief/German sympathizer to swoop in and save the day. The stories are exclusively focused on the emotional survival of children who have been traumatized, and some of the details are almost too much to take.
My brother, in a casual conversation with his then-girlfriend several years ago, offhandedly mentioned a couple of the punishments I had to endure that I had related to him. After a minute or two of listening, she looked him in the eye and said "You're making this up - nobody would allow that. No parent would do that to their children".
This is a recurring song on the hit parade of reality that many survivors face: Object disbelief. Without fail, parents, siblings, spouses and friends are averse to facing a tenth of the horror we faced every day, some of us for years on end. The argument is always the same; No "Christian Ministry for Children" could REALLY be that cruel, that sadistic, that...insane.
Ah, but they can - and often do - with impunity. Which is the other point I wanted to make here: They got away with it. The people who did this are still running camps, abusing children, preaching hellfire and brimstone. No one was punished. When one camp was closed by the state, another was opened two states away UNDER THE SAME NAME. No closure was ever given. Rifts between families and their children grew to uncrossable proportions.
The point is that some of us managed to pick up the pieces and rebuild our lives. We learned to trust again. We learned to find strength within ourselves (as any true survivor does) and carry on in spite of our circumstances.
The stories are told entirely from the female resident's point of view, and that's perhaps partially my fault - of the male survivors, few of us are willing to bring the ghosts back to life (there is an alarming suicide rate amongst New Bethany survivors, and many more are emotionally traumatized into a kind of "willing amnesia").
Fewer still care to go on record about events within the compound, myself included. There are no heroes in the story of New Bethany, just residents. By the time I was convinced it was the right thing to do (thanks in no small part to Teresa Lynn Frye, a fellow survivor & friend) the book was out.
Still, it's a worthy read, and a rare look at the inside of the cultish southern religious camps that many families turn to for "help" when a son or daughter might be going through nothing more than typical adolescence...and the price those children pay.
Right out the gate, let me warn you: This wasn't a story of the triumph of good over evil. Steven Spielberg didn't write this script, and there was no friendly alien/police chief/German sympathizer to swoop in and save the day. The stories are exclusively focused on the emotional survival of children who have been traumatized, and some of the details are almost too much to take.
My brother, in a casual conversation with his then-girlfriend several years ago, offhandedly mentioned a couple of the punishments I had to endure that I had related to him. After a minute or two of listening, she looked him in the eye and said "You're making this up - nobody would allow that. No parent would do that to their children".
This is a recurring song on the hit parade of reality that many survivors face: Object disbelief. Without fail, parents, siblings, spouses and friends are averse to facing a tenth of the horror we faced every day, some of us for years on end. The argument is always the same; No "Christian Ministry for Children" could REALLY be that cruel, that sadistic, that...insane.
Ah, but they can - and often do - with impunity. Which is the other point I wanted to make here: They got away with it. The people who did this are still running camps, abusing children, preaching hellfire and brimstone. No one was punished. When one camp was closed by the state, another was opened two states away UNDER THE SAME NAME. No closure was ever given. Rifts between families and their children grew to uncrossable proportions.
The point is that some of us managed to pick up the pieces and rebuild our lives. We learned to trust again. We learned to find strength within ourselves (as any true survivor does) and carry on in spite of our circumstances.
The stories are told entirely from the female resident's point of view, and that's perhaps partially my fault - of the male survivors, few of us are willing to bring the ghosts back to life (there is an alarming suicide rate amongst New Bethany survivors, and many more are emotionally traumatized into a kind of "willing amnesia").
Fewer still care to go on record about events within the compound, myself included. There are no heroes in the story of New Bethany, just residents. By the time I was convinced it was the right thing to do (thanks in no small part to Teresa Lynn Frye, a fellow survivor & friend) the book was out.
Still, it's a worthy read, and a rare look at the inside of the cultish southern religious camps that many families turn to for "help" when a son or daughter might be going through nothing more than typical adolescence...and the price those children pay.
You can buy the book here: Inside New Bethany
4 comments:
Damn, Bobbe! that was an awesome review. Let me mention that Clark Word (from the boys home in Longstreet, La.- before they moved it to Walterboro, SC) did provide an entry in the book.
And let me also say that I deserve no credit in this book being published. I made no contribution to it at all. If anything, I can say with nothing but humility that I was only one of several who played a part in setting the platform for so many to find the courage to tell what happened. But I thank you. Clark Word, Cat Givens and Lenee Rider-Wilson came into the picture long before I did. THEY deserve the credit for helping ME find my way out of the black hole.....and realize that it was my place to try and help others. Again, many thanks, my survivor brother.
Matthew Grise also made a contribution to the book.
Just to let you know, a little late on the uptake, I've found out about New Bethany. I'm a survivor of a nasty ACE school in England, but nothing on New Bethany and similar schools. I will be working to expose them on my blog, and if you would like to contribute or offer advice about how I can help, please let me know.
Updates:
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/01/grand_jury_declines_to_indict.html
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/01/in_new_bethany_sex_abuse_case_incoming_da_says_he_will_review_grand_jury_proceedings.html
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