Churches have done a great disservice in ignoring spiritual abuse for so long. For me, I see this tied to faulty measures of success. Oh, Pastor So-and-so brought in lots of people. Success was measured by how many butts were in the seats and how much money came in, and the church sucked it up and excused away the abuse because the church was getting the results that it wanted. It lost sight of why it existed. Add to that an abusive cycle that has existed in many churches - one of which came first: the church underpaid pastors and had ridiculous expectations on pastors, but gave them a ridiculous level of authority. They abused their pastors. And in return, the pastor used that authority and abused the congregation. Round and round it went. The sad reality is that this then became the expected norm for many church members because it's the only culture they ever knew. And when they are confronted with a healthier culture, they reject that healthier culture because they feel that it is a rejection of most of their faith life. No wonder so many are nostalgic for the past, it's a way to cover up the abuse that happened and only see the imaginary good things that existed in their minds while ignoring all the bad stuff. We've got decades of healing to do.