In this episode, Rachel shares her story of being immersed into the IBLP (Institute in Basic Life Principles), where the teachings of Bill Gothard shaped her understanding of faith, identity, and community in deeply controlling ways. She reflects on how the subtle mechanisms of spiritual abuse left lasting impacts on her ability to trust, belong, and feel secure in herself, even after leaving. As Rachel traces her gradual disentanglement from the IBLP framework, she sheds light on the resilience required to unlearn harmful teachings and rebuild a life outside of rigid religious control. Her honesty offers listeners both insight into the lingering effects of spiritual abuse and hope in the possibility of healing, as she speaks to the ongoing process of reclaiming identity, truth, and freedom on her own terms. Connect with Rachel - https://www.instagram.com/rachellees_author/ Your Host You can find out more about Sam on her website - www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au To connect with Sam on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/anchoredcounsellingservices/ Want to contact with Sam about the podcast or therapy? Email [email protected] Also check out https://www.thereligioustraumacollective.com/

In Part 2 of our conversation with author Tia Levings, we go even deeper into what it actually takes to leave a high-control Christian fundamentalist marriage and rebuild a life on the other side. Tia shares more about how religious doctrine, patriarchy, and fear were used to justify control, submission, and abuse, and how difficult it can be to recognize harm when it’s framed as God’s will or “biblical womanhood.” We talk about spiritual abuse, domestic abuse in religious communities, and the psychological gymnastics required to survive when obedience is treated as virtue and autonomy is treated as sin. Tia unpacks the long-term impact of purity culture, religious trauma, and coercive control, especially for women and children raised inside authoritarian belief systems. We also dig into grief, anger, and the slow, radical work of reclaiming agency after leaving a marriage and a faith structure that demanded self-erasure. As always, we look at the bigger patterns: how fundamentalist Christianity and other high-demand belief systems create conditions where abuse is normalized, victims are silenced, and leaving comes at an enormous personal cost. Tia’s voice is clear, compassionate, and unflinching—and her story is a powerful reminder that survival itself can be an act of defiance. Paperback copies of A Well-Trained Wife (https://amzn.to/4r80cNA) are available February 20, and you can pre-order Tia’s upcoming book, I Belong to Me (https://amzn.to/49DRYXR) , coming May 5. Follow her at tialevings.com (http://tialevings.com) and on social media @tialevingswriter. Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of domestic and spiritual abuse, religious trauma, and misogyny. Also…let it be known that: The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad. **PRE-ORDER Sarah and Nippy's newest book here (https://checkout.square.site/merchant/MLR16M1R576DP/checkout/25UI2OVABMV3RD4YF55WQ755) Check out our amazing sponsors (https://alittlebitculty.com/sponsors) Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/alittlebitculty) Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag (https://my-store-c9bd2a.creator-spring.com/) Support the pod and smash this link (https://donorbox.org/support-a-little-bit-culty) Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources (https://alittlebitculty.com/resources) Watch Sarah's TED Talk (https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_edmondson_how_to_spot_a_cult?language=en) and buy her memoir, Scarred (https://amzn.to/48PlcAT) CREDITS: Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames Production Partner: Citizens of Sound (https://www.citizensofsound.com/) Co-Creator: Jess Tardy Audio production: Will Retherford Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore Writer: Sandra Nomoto Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp. In this episode, Tia Levings—bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife and survivor of Christian fundamentalism who appears in the Amazon docuseries Shiny Happy People (https://amzn.to/3Z2f04t) —returns to dig deeper into what happened after escaping her high‑control marriage and the broader world of Christian patriarchy and homeschooling that enabled it. She talks about navigating the court system and custody battles with an abuser who knew how to weaponize “godly fatherhood,” how churches and pastors closed ranks around him, and what it really takes to rebuild a life, parenting, and identity after years inside complementarian theology, Quiverfull‑style gender roles, and domestic violence justified with Bible verses. Tia also shares how writing, advocacy, and connecting with other survivors of religious abuse, authoritarian homeschooling, and Christian nationalist culture have become part of her healing—and why she believes telling messy, complicated stories about faith, family, and freedom is one of the most powerful ways to push back on the systems that trained her to stay small and silent in the first place. Paperback copies of A Well-Trained Wife (https://amzn.to/4r80cNA) are available February 20, and you can pre-order Tia’s upcoming book, I Belong to Me (https://amzn.to/49DRYXR) , coming May 5. Follow her at tialevings.com (http://tialevings.com) and on social media @tialevingswriter. Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of domestic violence, religious and spiritual abuse, child and family trauma, and brief mentions of suicidal thoughts. Also…let it be known that: The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad. **PRE-ORDER Sarah and Nippy's newest book here (https://checkout.square.site/merchant/MLR16M1R576DP/checkout/25UI2OVABMV3RD4YF55WQ755) Check out our amazing sponsors (https://alittlebitculty.com/sponsors) Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/alittlebitculty) Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag (https://my-store-c9bd2a.creator-spring.com/) Support the pod and smash this link (https://donorbox.org/support-a-little-bit-culty) Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources (https://alittlebitculty.com/resources) Watch Sarah's TED Talk (https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_edmondson_how_to_spot_a_cult?language=en) and buy her memoir, Scarred (https://amzn.to/48PlcAT) CREDITS: Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames Production Partner: Citizens of Sound (https://www.citizensofsound.com/) Co-Creator: Jess Tardy Audio production: Will Retherford Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore Writer: Sandra Nomoto Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: You’re going to love Hungryroot as much as we do. For a limited time, get 40% off your first box PLUS get a free item in every box for life. Go to Hungryroot.com/culty (http://hungryroot.com/culty) and use code culty. Get organized, refreshed, and back on track this new year for WAY less. Head to Wayfair.com (http://wayfair.com) right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style. Every home. Make this Valentine's Day one to remember with matching underwear from MeUndies. To get exclusive deals up to 50% off, go to MeUndies.com/culty (http://meundies.com/culty) and enter promo code culty. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to Quince.com/culty (http://quince.com/culty) for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/culty (http://betterhelp.com/culty) .  Ready to stop paying more than you have to? New customers can make the switch today and for a limited time, get unlimited premium wireless for just $15 per month. Switch now at MintMobile.com/culty (http://mintmobile.com/culty) . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fear lives in the stories we tell ourselves, the categories we cling to, and the way we decide who is safe and who is “other.”In this episode, Amanda and Kyle examine how fear quietly shapes worldviews in cults, families, belief systems, politics, and everyday thinking. Amanda reflects on a question listeners have asked for years: How did your parents end up in a cult? Her answer is simple, but unsettling: fear.Together, Amanda and Kyle explore how fear and high-control systems operate in strikingly similar ways. They simplify complexity. They demand certainty. They divide the world into clean categories: good and bad, safe and dangerous, us and them. Over time, those categories harden into ideology and, eventually, into identity.This conversation also looks inward. How does fear get internalized? How do we inherit beliefs without examining them? How does learned fear turn into a “cult of one,” where data no longer penetrates and unhelpful beliefs go unquestioned?This episode invites listeners to slow down, notice what fear is doing inside them, and gently interrogate the beliefs they’ve been taught to protect.If you’ve ever wondered how people come to believe what they believe, this episode offers language, clarity, and a slower, steadier way of noticing what fear is doing inside us.Send us text! Please note this platform only supports one-way communication. Support the show

What happens when you grow up believing obedience = safety… and then a therapist tells you the truth? In today’s Tuesday survivor story, Faith Elizabeth Hunter opens up about growing up in the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) world—where there was no TV, no secular music, no makeup, no dating, and even your future could be chosen for you. She describes an “umbrella of authority” that taught her that if she disobeyed her dad—even something as small as speeding—God would “remove protection” and she could die. And when she shared a childhood story in therapy, her therapist didn’t hesitate: “That’s child abuse… and your religious group is a cult.” Then we move into a second survivor’s account that’s devastating and important: a woman describing discovering she experienced FGM (female genital mutilation)—and the complicated, painful reality of unlearning something framed as “normal” in a cultural context. Finally, we connect the dots to a third clip: someone describing what it felt like to leave MAGA, and why fear + anger are the most powerful tools for manipulation—whether it’s a cult, an abusive system, or a political identity built on “us vs. them.” This video is about one thing: naming it—because when you can name it, you can start to heal. ⚠️ Content warning: child abuse, religious trauma, coercive control, FGM/sexual violence themes, political extremism/deconstruction. 👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and drop your thoughts in the comments! If you’re looking for help leaving a high-control group, consider searching for: “cult exit support” / “high-control group resources” local/domestic abuse hotlines and legal aid clinics trauma-informed counseling (licensed providers) DISCLAIMER: This video is for entertainment purposes only. It is not meant to malign anyone from any group, person, entity or organization. Erin presents many opinions, so please do your own research. Viewer discretion is advised.

We’re often told that exposure leads to change. That once harm is named, brought into the light, or made public, something will finally shift.But that hasn’t been Amanda's experience.In this episode, Amanda and Kyle talk through why exposure alone rarely produces real change and why, in many systems, it actually becomes a substitute for it. They look at how harm can be acknowledged over and over without anything structural changing, how public reaction creates the feeling of accountability without enforcing it, and why the same dynamics keep repeating even when everyone inside the system knows what’s happening.This conversation is about naming a pattern: the difference between awareness and transformation, and what gets lost when we confuse the two.If you’ve ever felt unsettled watching harm be exposed again and again with no meaningful consequences, or felt pressure to disclose while power remains untouched, this episode is meant to give you language for that dissonance, and a clearer way of understanding what you’re seeing.Send us text! Please note this platform only supports one-way communication. Support the show

Jackson Duggar, former TLC star and one of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s 19 children, recently defended the Duggar Family’s affiliation with the Institute of Basic Life Principles (IBLP), insisting…

Media inquiries: https://www.sonsofpatriarchy.com/contact Patreon: patreon.com/sonsofpatriarchy Website: sonsofpatriarchy.com Donate: https://donorbox.org/sons-of-patriarchy I had the opportunity to sit down with Tia Levings to talk about her 2024 memoir, A Well-Trained Wife, her journey through the Patirarchy. Our second-to-last episode of Season 1, Tia's story weaves through every theme we have covered in this series. She made stops in the IBLP, Gothard, SBC, PCA, and CREC circles. She was controlled, manipulated, silenced, abused, and more. She was nearly sacrificed to the Patriarchy, on the altar of the cult. But she got out. May her story help you too. Buy Tia's book, A Well-Trained Wife here: https://tinyurl.com/aw2ynk5r Follow Tia on Substack here: https://tinyurl.com/ypfm6h2h Find Tia's website here: https://tinyurl.com/y6v38dt3 Sons of Patriarchy is brought to you by: Producer, Writer, Editor, and Host: Peter Bell Original Music, Sound Design, and Mixing: https://aaronfeeneymusic.com/ Social Media: Sarah Bader Graphic Design: Anonymous Survivors SURVIVORS - THANK YOU, AND MAY YOU BE HEARD.

In 2024, as public conversations about abuse, grooming, and accountability unfolded again and again, Amanda found herself watching familiar patterns repeat. These patterns felt uncomfortably close to the high-control religious world she thought she had left behind. For Amanda, this was not just cultural commentary. It was personal.In this episode, Amanda and Kyle step away from sensationalism to offer something different: structure.Using the cases of Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Gothard, Amanda explains the architecture of abuse. She examines how power is built, protected, and normalized, how grooming operates long before it becomes criminal, and why systems so often defend themselves at the expense of survivors.Rather than focusing on graphic details or individual pathology, this conversation examines the conditions that allow abuse to flourish. It explores why the stories in the news feel eerily familiar, why true accountability and justice rarely occur, and why simply removing bad actors never fixes the underlying problem.By the end of this episode, you will have a clearer framework for recognizing grooming and power dynamics.This episode is for anyone who has felt disoriented watching recent narratives unfold, and for those who want language, clarity, and a steadier way of understanding what is really happening beneath the headlines.Send us text! Please note this platform only supports one-way communication. Support the show