The Community preaches a God who, above all, must be worshipped and obeyed. This god demands constant sacrifice and speaks through the leaders, as the teaching has it. One woman was forced to separate from her husband and live in Bemuda for 13 years. Some members are put on silence "disciplines" where they are not allowed to speak for months. (I was put on one for 3 months.) There is physical abuse and even sexual abuse. This is a very sick place.
It did not start out that way, but the stress on "authority" and inveighling against "idolatry" (even affection shown to anyone other than the Community), and the like has turned the place into something hellish.
