Looking at Jen Kiaba’s art and writing, you’d never guess that she grew up inside a religion that discouraged personal expression.
In this interview, Jen talks about her wedding to a virtual stranger within the Unification Church, and how breaking her vow to him meant vowing to move toward freedom.
You will learn:
- That oppressive religions and cults exercise similar control over members as abusers do over domestic abuse victims.
- That leaving the Unification church or similarly high-control groups can be dangerous and have many unintended consequences, including alienation from family members remaining inside the group.
- There is life after leaving, but the journey to freedom is difficult. Bio: Jen Kiaba is an artist and educator who grew up in the infamous Unification Church, a religious group referred to by popular media as “the Moonies” and a primary example of a cult. As an artist she uses photography to explore the failure of faith and the resulting loss of identity that occurs.