The People of Praise, a secretive faith group, has reportedly hired a law firm to investigate claims of church abuse, including sexual assault and abuse, by former members.

According to the Guardian, former members spoke out after the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Barrett is reportedly a life-long member of the Christian group, along with her family. While Barrett and her family are not part of the abuse claims, members told reporters that the nomination of Barrett gave concerned them enough to speak out.

“I was OK with it being in a tiny little corner of Indiana, because a lot of weird stuff happens in tiny little corners in this country,” one anonymous former member told reporters. “But it’s just unfathomable to me – I can’t even explain just how unfathomable it is – that you would have a supreme court justice who is a card-carrying member of this community.”

Membership Requires Obedience and Devotion

According to the group’s website, it is a “charismatic Christian Community.” It is not church specific and, instead, blends people from various Christian churches, including Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian, and others. The group says that it admires early believers who pooled their possessions and lived communally.

“After a long period of prayer and participation in community life, many members of the People of Praise choose to make a lifelong commitment to the community—a covenant,” states the website. There are groups located in fourteen different states, as well as internationally.

Former members say that People of Praise is secretive and authoritarian. They report living a life tightly controlled by church leaders, including marriages, living arrangements, and how their children are raised.

“The basic premise of everything at the People of Praise was that the devil controlled everything outside of the community, and you were ‘walking out from under the umbrella of protection’ if you ever left,” one former member told the Guardian.

Indeed, according to advocacy group Spiritual Abuse Resources, a former member describes the group as increasingly authoritarian and closed off from its members’ churches. According to the member’s accounting of his and his wife’s time in the group, decisions in marriages were not made without the approval of group leaders.

Another former member told the Guardian that the group directed what foods her family could cook and eat, did not allow them to watch television for a period, and only let children listen to Christian rock.

Nomination Prompts Sexual Abuse Allegation

It was the nomination of one member of the People of Praise to the Supreme Court that reportedly prompted one former member to report sex abuse she suffered as a child. The Guardian reports that the former member emailed the current head of the group in September of this year. Her emailed claimed that from ages 4 to six years old she was molested by a male member of the faith group while he lived in her family home.

Single members of the group are placed in family homes, according to the Guardian, as part of communal living practices. The former member of the group says that her abuser eventually confessed to her father; however, he was simply moved to another household and eventually the group had a marriage arranged for him.

The Guardian reports that the allegations of sexual abuse have been substantiated, along with a psychological evaluation of the abuser conducted at the time that stated there had been additional victims and he presented a risk to children. Additionally, the victim says that she reported the abuse to members of the faith group, but was told not to talk about it because it could harm the community’s reputation.

Group Hires Trial Lawyer to Investigate Claims

People of Praise has reportedly hired a Silicon Valley-based trial lawyer to investigate claims of child sex abuse. The lawyer, Diane Doolittle of Quinn Emanuel, has reportedly assisted in internal corporate investigations into #MeToo cases.

The New York Law Journal reports that DooLittle’s firm, Quinn Emanuel, has other ties to Washington, including representing Steve Bannon against charges he skimmed charitable contributions.

For its part, a representative for the People of Praise issued a statement noting that the alleged child sexual abuse had taken place decades ago.

“We believe that one of our highest callings is the bond of trust around our community’s safety, and we take allegations of abuse or misconduct very seriously,” stated the representative, who also noted that in the time since, the group has instituted policies to prevent child abuse.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.