Investigating Alternative Spiritual Movements: What Experience and the Law Tell Us About Sexual Abuse in Alternative Spiritual Communities.

Citation:

Merchasin, Carol, Jens Augspurger, and Angela Gollat. 2023.“Investigating Alternative Spiritual Movements: What Experience and the Law Tell Us About Sexual Abuse in Alternative Spiritual Communities.”. in Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Abstract:

Abstract: Drawing on court cases and client testimonies, as well as the presenters’ personal experiences from the worlds of law, academic research, and as activists and former spiritual community members, this panel presents a synoptic overview of religious movements accused of sexually abusing their members and considers how the legal system is dealing with these inherently abusive practices.

Presenter bios: Carol Merchasin is an attorney who leads a practice group litigating sexual misconduct in religious, faith-based and spiritual communities at McAllister Olivarius. She was previously a partner in the Philadelphia office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and director of Morgan Lewis Resources, where she conducted dozens of workplace investigations and taught investigative techniques to human resource professionals at many Fortune 50 companies.

Jens Augspurger is a dissenting former member of the ISYVC (Sivananda Yoga), a PhD candidate in Religious Studies at The School of African and Oriental Studies in London (SOAS) and a doctoral fellow of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (German Academic Foundation).

Angela Gollat is also a dissenting former member of ISYVC and together with Jens Augspurger, a founder of Project Satya, a grassroots community group dedicated to supporting women who came forward with allegations of sexual assaults by teachers within Sivananda Yoga. She has a master’s degree in Women’s Studies from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Presenter affiliation: McAllister Olivarius (Merchasin); The School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) (Augspurger); and Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (German Academic Foundation) (Augspurger)

Last updated on 04/14/2023