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What if you were taught: Reason and questioning can take our faith away, contraception is a sin, homosexuality is a sin, wearing any makeup is a sin, having a TV is a sin, however many children God gives you is what you were meant to have…. These are just a few of the teachings of Laestadianism. My conversation with Helena was a chilling, but inspiring discussion. Prior to our conversation I had never heard of Laestadianism. I now analogize the Laestadian church to the town that Kevin Bacon moved to in Footloose, except this is real, and there is no dancing at the end.
I am inspired by Helena’s courage and strength, and urge everyone to please listen with an open mind to this controversial episode. If you are uncomfortable listening to discussions involving the criticism of religion, or sexual abuse, then this is not the episode for you. However, this is a fascinating true story about Helena’s struggle with Laestadianism and her journey.
Disclaimer: I am not a writer. I do not claim to be. Apologies for grammatical mistakes, long drawn out run on sentences, and anything else that drives you crazy. I promise it was not my intention. Be lenient, please!
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I was born and raised into the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church. The stories are endless and my eyes are finally wide open to the abuse I took. One being a massive cover up of sexual violence
This was a difficult listen, I’m happy I’ve stumbled upon it. I experienced much of the same traumas expressed here as a young girl in the laestadian Lutheran Churches I attended. In Minnesota and Saskatchewan. I’m only 22 now, and I didn’t fully speak up until recently at the age of 19 when I was going to end my pain. I wish she(19 year old me) had seen this and known there was another way to get help. She was so focused on her personal shot comings that it didn’t matter if she lived or died. Helena, thank you so much for speaking out. This is the least only I’ve felt in a very long time. You are so brave to leave, earlier today I made the decision to cut my family out as they only seek to perpetuate false narratives about who I am and what I have been through. I am encouraged by your strength and wisdom on the topic. Thank you, thank you so much.
Thank you for your kind comments. Helena is truly amazing!
This is a great podcast! A gifted interviewer and interviewee always make make the minutes fly by. I wish it would’ve been longer.
I think Helena must have been a member of the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church (a Laestadian church ). There were a few comments here and there about the church culture that didn’t sound quite like the Laestadian Lutheran Church, but 90% of it was the same.
I grew up without sexual abuse in my family but knew that it occurred in the Laestadian Lutheran Church fairly often. The Laestadian doctrine creates a perfect environment sexual predators to flourish. But since I didn’t experience it myself and didn’t know any victims personally that I was aware of, I always thought it was a problem that some families had and the church organization couldn’t do anything about it.
Boy was I wrong. I’ve recently learned from a few people who would never speak lightly about these things that many of the ministers in the LLC been covering up horrific abuse for decades. They put tremendous pressure on young victims to forgive their abusers and actively pursue family members who they think might report to the police, using their position within the church to dissuade them from contacting law enforcement. In some cases where law enforcement has gotten involved, they’ve interfered with the investigation by pressuring witnesses not to say anything to the police. Its disturbing.
But the worst case is that one (maybe two) of the ministers themselves are sexual predators and many of the others have known about it all along. In one instance they forgave a future minister for molesting a family member and then recommended him to the congregation for the position of a minister less than a year later. How on earth can you vouch for someone to be a minister when you’ve heard about their depraved sexual behavior directly from their victims? It makes me sick to my stomach.
Unlike others who have left the church, my path never led me to recoil from the church. I respected the people who believed in the church’s message and I respected the church itself. My personal beliefs are far removed from the LLC’s, but I’ve always figured to each their own.
Now I just think the LLC is a sick organization led by people who have some real serious problems with honesty. If the church leaders can’t do the right thing and then lie about it over and over again then what’s the point of it all?
Thank you for your sharing your experience and comments. I have the utmost respect for Helena and am honored she shared her story with me.
Thanks Helena for breaking the silence! My experience has lots of similarities to yours. I appreciate the reference between the damage to the psyche from both being in the religion as well as being abused.
I have a blog as well. http://www.imperfectlady.typepad.com
We can all learn from each other and be each other’s cheerleaders.
I applaud you!
Thanks for interviewing and sharing your story. It will help others to know that they are not alone. I appreciate your referencing the similarities between the religious abuse and the other abuses. It is the combination that keeps so many unable to create boundaries.
I also have a blog about my experience of sexual abuse and how the church (First Apostolic Lutheran Church deals with it – or doesn’t.
I also love how we are taught that the body is sinful (that we at our core are sin) and how it is difficult to be self loving from that vantage point.
Thanks for sharing!
Beth Jukuri
I was raped and tortured and my church allowed it. I have now finally left but the pain is great. I’ve lost my family and much more. However I have my life back and I can heal, educate myself and be human.
I am so sorry you had such a horrible experience as well. Sending strength
Thanks to you and Helena for making this excellent podcast. It should be mentioned that the roots of Laestadianism began in the forced Christianization of our ancestors. I’ve shared it over on extoots.org where we talk about all things Laestadian.
Thank you very much for the information and the clarification. Helena’s story was fascinating and I admire her so much for her strength and courage. I appreciate you sharing to your blog for others to hear!
Its totally false to say it was forced Christianization of our ancestors. I’m a former Laestadian who lived for several years less than a hundred miles from where the whole movement started. My whole doubting process started when I lived in that area so I did a lot of research and talking to people who still lived in the area – who were not Laestadians – but had ancestors who converted at the time of the revival.
The State Church of the time had tried for over 100 years to get the Sami (I’m 75% Sami) to convert to Christianity using various methods, mostly good old fashion proselytizing through preaching.
Laestadius came along and got many of the Sami to willingly give up alcohol with his hardline message. No matter how you feel about Laestadius there is little doubt that the Sami pivoted in a positive direction as a result of his influence. Alcoholism, criminal activity, and violence were ubiquitous amongst the Sami prior to the Laestadian revival.
Laestadius was a rebel pastor in the State Church who embraced the Sami in a way that no one else had ever done before. He didn’t force anyone to convert, they did it willingly.