Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
I Fired God
I Fired God: My Life Inside---and Escape from---the Secret World of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Cult | Jocelyn Zichterman
3 posts | 4 read | 11 to read
A compelling memoir and account of the Independent Fundamental Baptist church and its shocking history of religious abuse. Jocelyn Zichterman was born, raised, married into, and finally, with her family, fled the Independent Fundamental Baptist church. Founded by the fiery preacher Bob Jones, with several hundred thousand members, IFB congregants are told they must not associate with members of other Baptist denominations and evangelicals, with an emphasis on secrecy, insular marriages within the church, a subservience for women, and unusual child raising practices. In I Fired God, Jocelyn Zichterman systematically details the IFB's disturbing history, exposing a cult-like atmosphere of corruption, greed, and abuse. Having been initiated into its innermost circles, Zichterman knows that the gentle demeanor America sees in the form of the Duggar clan on 19 Kids and Counting disguises the truth about the darker side of the church. With written documentation and sources so thorough that law enforcement has used her work as a foundation for criminal prosecutions, Zichterman exposes the IFB with revelations including: - The disturbing world of abuse within the IFB and doctors and teachers who cater exclusively to church members and fail to report physical and sexual abuse - The IFB-controlled Bob Jones University, which issues degrees of questionable value while making vast sums of money for its founders - The way the IFB influences politics on the local, state, and national level, and protects its abusive culture under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
JenlovesJT47
post image
Pickpick

As someone who went to an IFB school for my entire life, including 2 different colleges, this was very hard for me to read at times and brought up so many repressed memories from my college days. Thankfully, I never suffered the awful abuse like the author, but I agree there are definite branches of the IFB that are a cult. Some parts just flowed in the writing, others were like reading a boring term paper. Still, I admire her for telling her ⬇️

JenlovesJT47 Story and it is definitely worth reading. The title can be offputting to Christians but I recommend ignoring that and reading the book if you‘re interested. 4⭐️ 5y
Megabooks Thanks. It sounds really interesting. 5y
JenlovesJT47 @Megabooks it is! Unfortunately they didn‘t have it at any of my libraries so I broke down and bought it on kindle for $8.99 5y
JanuarieTimewalker13 My mind spins regarding religion. I had been a practicing Catholic (for about 4 years), yet I still believed in reincarnation. I think Jesus is groovy, so is Mary. It‘s just that it‘s so patriarchal, I want to barf. And the big three are like that. So I live my life in peace, do as many good deeds as possible, and believe that God is within me. We ARE made of star stuff. I do have an Angels habit that will not go away. I do believe in Angels. Lol 5y
JanuarieTimewalker13 Angels have never been human, I love something about that🦚 5y
72 likes3 stack adds5 comments
review
Jana
Mehso-so

Don't know how to properly review this. The abuse she suffered was horrible and brutal, and she makes a strong case that the IFB is a cult with increasing mainstream political power, and I'm glad she managed to escape and is doing something to help others and educate about IFB. But the writing is poor and repetitive and the structure of the book is more like a high school term paper than a memoir and that irked me. Did finish it in 2 days, though.

blurb
ReadingEnvy
post image

l think the book looks interesting in itself but I was more tickled by the academic library that had it in their collection. It came with their link disclaimer sticker but they are pretty much a branch of Baptists themselves! I love leaving-cult narratives and this looks promising... I think I first saw it in Litsy!

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Looks very interesting! 8y
ReadingEnvy @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I can't put it down... It's an extreme version of how I was raised! Insane. 8y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @ReadingEnvy I felt the same way when I listened to Troublemaker earlier this year. Great book, but insane! 8y
31 likes5 stack adds4 comments