The Vashti Initiative

The Vashti Initiative A 501c3 non-profit providing support and services to victims of spiritual trauma and religious abuse.

"As an adult, I have found that many people with difficult / traumatic childhoods struggle around the holidays. I always...
11/27/2025

"As an adult, I have found that many people with difficult / traumatic childhoods struggle around the holidays. I always felt weird or alone in feeling sad or disconnected, but finding this truth gave me solidarity and validated my emotions." - Amber Schultz



READ MORE: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2023/12/19/blue-christmas/

"It’s taken twelve years to chip away at 20 years of brainwashing in the cult. I know many have moved to a different fai...
11/22/2025

"It’s taken twelve years to chip away at 20 years of brainwashing in the cult. I know many have moved to a different faith, became agnostic, or atheist. This process we are a part of is not an easy road. There are relatives, old church members, and others who will try and discourage you on your journey to find your true self and inner joy." - Jonathan Grisham

READ MORE: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2025/11/02/surviving-religious-abuse-led-me-to-advocacy/

"I’m still dealing with the aftermath of the Club Q shooting. That’s the first gay bar I ever went to. Club Q is only tw...
11/19/2025

"I’m still dealing with the aftermath of the Club Q shooting. That’s the first gay bar I ever went to. Club Q is only two blocks down Academy Boulevard from the first apartment I lived in after moving out.

"I can’t just ignore that pain. And in the same way, I can’t turn away from how my queerness is a big part of who I am."

READ MORE: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2024/04/08/growing-up-fundamentalist-and-queer/

"During daily chapel preaching, the whole student body is told that God doesn’t approve of quitters. Anything, even natu...
11/14/2025

"During daily chapel preaching, the whole student body is told that God doesn’t approve of quitters. Anything, even natural life causes and circumstantial situations, is a reason the devil will make us drop out of their college.

"They see my rare disease life and the disabilities I manage day to day and consider me “overcoming” the flesh by attending their Bible college." - Author Rebekah Palmer

READ MORE: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2024/05/09/ableism-in-the-church-part-two/

"I feel that it is one of the most human experiences, to feel that something like a disease, or health struggle is not f...
11/12/2025

"I feel that it is one of the most human experiences, to feel that something like a disease, or health struggle is not fair. You know why, because it is not fair. Especially if you have been through a hell of a lot already."

Read more of Laura Launderville's story here: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2023/07/24/its-not-fair/

"Life only exists now and never later in my mind.""The father of the teenage male who sexually abused me is the stand-in...
11/07/2025

"Life only exists now and never later in my mind."

"The father of the teenage male who sexually abused me is the stand-in youth pastor until my church and school hires someone else. And his son is in the youth group. They keep coming to sing to me in my hospital room and I can't even focus on songs meant to encourage me when they're all in the room with me."

"Anytime I report abuse, I am put under a microscope and the accused is given excuses as to why they hurt me this way. I lived like this for ten years after my cancer went into remission.

Read more of Rebekah Palmer's story here: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2023/06/12/this-is-me/

Five-point Calvinism or the TULIP acronym used to sum up John Calvin's teachings can harm children. "It doesn't take a r...
11/07/2025

Five-point Calvinism or the TULIP acronym used to sum up John Calvin's teachings can harm children.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that such odious theology breeds abuse and power struggles. The theology of an abusive God will no doubt lead to an abusive man. For what kind of a God would purposefully make a person evil, then condemn them for being what they were created to be?"

Read more of Ida's story here: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2023/08/28/too-many-tulips/

"When I left the ministry after 20 years, it felt like I was on fire. But eventually, different people convinced me to s...
11/05/2025

"When I left the ministry after 20 years, it felt like I was on fire. But eventually, different people convinced me to stop and slow down and heal. The flames of doubt, confusion, and other things began to subside." - Karl Forehand

Read More: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2024/01/23/stop-drop-and-heal/

"The reality is that I was a depressed child. I was an anxious child. I was a traumatized child.""And spiritual abuse on...
11/03/2025

"The reality is that I was a depressed child. I was an anxious child. I was a traumatized child."

"And spiritual abuse only added to those symptoms, if not being the root cause all along. I battled and suffered such crippling fear of hell, of the devil, of losing my family, of not being good enough, of being unworthy, of being a sinner, and never adding up to what I was taught a Christian should be."

From The Desk of Lydia Joy talks about her journey to healing from spiritual abuse.

READ MORE: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2023/05/05/how-religious-abuse-harmed-my-mental-health-and-how-i-healed/

"FreedFrom the creedI believed I’m relieved!Once devoutNow kicked outFull of doubtI’m calling outThe ploysOf your good o...
10/30/2025

"Freed
From the creed
I believed
I’m relieved!
Once devout
Now kicked out
Full of doubt
I’m calling out
The ploys
Of your good old boys
I’m making noise
With my big fat voice"

- BaptistAccountability / Megan Benninger

READ MORE: https://vashtiinitiative.org/2023/10/14/poem-holy-hell/

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Highland, IN

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+18334827484

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