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Speaking Up Late in the Day

3 May 2014, 08:48

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Over the past two weeks and previous two Aprils, Recovering Grace has focused on personal narratives by former Advanced Training Institute (ATI) alumni who endured sexual assault, abuse, or harassment in the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) subculture, sometimes within a context of broader physical abuse, and almost always within a context of spiritual […]

Twelve Characteristics of Fundamentalist Societies that Shelter Sexual Abuse

30 April 2014, 09:00

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163

How could he have fooled so many people, so thoroughly? How did the abuse go on for so many years, unacknowledged? Whenever a leader at this level is ousted or steps down, questions like these come to mind. In the wake of revelations of sexual harassment and abuse pouring in from survivors of Bill Gothard’s […]

Readings on Acknowledging and Healing from Sexual Abuse

29 April 2014, 06:00

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Below are some links to readings that members of our community have found helpful on their paths to healing from physical and sexual abuse, especially abuse suffered at the hands of family members, authority figures, and other trusted individuals. In A Theology of Sexual Abuse: A Reflection on Creation and Devastation, Dr. Andrew Schmutzer describes […]

Finding the Words to Say, “No More”

28 April 2014, 05:58

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107

When I was fourteen years old I was diagnosed with a very rare, very aggressive cancer. To be able to start my treatment, we learned, I would need to go to a hospital in a different city. There we met the oncologist responsible for heading up my treatment protocol. He was my future abuser. At […]

There Is No Victim: A Survey of IBLP Literature on Sexual Assault and Abuse

25 April 2014, 21:59

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153

Today, Recovering Grace looks at past Advanced Training Institute (ATI) and Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) materials that address the topics of sexual abuse, child molestation within a nuclear family, and domestic violence. This is not presented as an exhaustive survey, but is the full range of printed Institute material on these topics that […]

A Long Night’s Journey Through the ATI / IBLP System

24 April 2014, 06:00

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213

I grew up in Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute of America (ATIA, later renamed ATI) home school program from 1985 through 2005 — twenty years! I worked at five different Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) training centers run by Bill Gothard and his staff, as well as working at IBLP Headquarters in Oak Brook, […]

Our Response to Bill Gothard’s Statement

22 April 2014, 10:30

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359

Bill Gothard released a long-awaited public statement last Thursday evening, April 17, 2014, regarding his resignation from the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP). We at Recovering Grace have spent several days processing this statement and considering our response. We see several positive aspects to this letter. Gothard generally acknowledges that the Christian life is […]

How Could This Happen Here?

15 April 2014, 08:42

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101

Recovering Grace will observe Sexual Assault Awareness Month for the remainder of April. In April 2012 and 2013, we published some very difficult stories of sexual abuse in ATI [Advanced Training Institute] families. Some critics objected that these families were extreme outliers within the program, and that ATI and IBLP have never condoned sexual […]

The GOTHARD Files: 1983 Transcript

26 February 2014, 06:00

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266

The following conference telephone call took place between approximately 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. (Portland, Oregon, time) on Tuesday, November 1, 1983. Those involved in the discussion were: [former IBYC staffer “Rebecca”], Mr. Larne Gabriel, Mrs. Ruth Gabriel, Reverend Richard Hagenbaugh, Dr. Earl Radmacher, and Dr. Gary Smalley. Dr. Earl Radmacher: …I am Earl Radmacher, and […]

The GOTHARD Files: The Basic Problem

24 February 2014, 06:00

Moderator

186

Editor’s Note: Previously, we explored events surrounding the Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts (IBYC) scandal that culminated in 1980 with Bill Gothard’s resignation and quick reinstatement as president of that organization, which would later be renamed the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP). You can read the Introduction here, Part One here, Part Two here, and a chronology of the scandal […]