Sample Letter of Resigation (Disassociation) to Prevent Shunning/Discipline

[insert your address]
[insert date]

[insert addressee information]

SENT BY US MAIL, REGISTERED, CERTIFIED, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED

To [insert name of church]:

In exercise of my rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I, [insert your name] hereby resign from [insert name of church, and include alternate names if there are any], effective immediately, [insert date].

I hereby declare myself no longer a member. 

As a non-member, I demand complete freedom from all religious practices, which include but are not limited to discipline and retaliation. Examples of such religious practices may include shunning, intentional infliction of emotional distress, harassment, slander, invasion of privacy, etc.  Should you engage in any such conduct towards me, I will immediately and fully utilize all legal means to stop those acts.

Please refer to the following:

• Bear v. Reformed Mennonite Church 
• Guinn v. Church of Christ of Collinsville
• Hadnot v. Shaw
• McNair v. Worldwide Church of God 

Furthermore, I request immediate, complete, and permanent cessation from all contact from church members. This includes but is not limited to mail, electronic communications, telephone,  and in-person visits taking place at my residence (address noted above), workplace, or elsewhere.  Please be aware that I will consider any in-person visits on private property henceforth to be trespassing, and should that occur, I will utilize all legal means to stop that act, including but not limited to citizen's arrest, civil and criminal complaints.

Thank you in advance for respecting my right to freedom from religion.

Signed, [insert your name and signature]

[insert notary stamp and signature, if you're using one]

Purge, rinse, repeat! The cult cycle

I was musing on the sick cycle cults have whereby they have a Salem witch trial-style inquest, “find” the evil influence (even if it means making up stories), purge it, have a period of catharsis and renewed affinity to each other, then repeat the cycle. If you’ve ever been in a cult, you know exactly what I mean.

While searching for background material for this post, I came across this excellent list of cult behaviors which is, as the Brits say, “spot on”.

It is as though some of the adherents are not aware of the cycle, or prefer to blindly trust their leaders that there is an actual threat, agreeing with their decision to investigate and expunge it, and feeling a sense of relief and renewed bonds to their fellow cultists. They even appreciate the leaders for providing this opportunity to feel that satisfying “lull after the storm” along with the sense of superiority provided by the opportunity to shun the outcast.

Others—strategists—foresee an upcoming vacancy in the cult family tree which provides them an opportunity to move up a rung on the social ladder.

Others feel powerless to stop it—that was me. I tried to talk sense into a few people and that resulted in suspicion being cast upon me.

It’s a very sick social convention and one that can damage a person well after disaffiliation.