I was just reading the Time magazine cover story on Opus Dei, the ultra-conservative Catholic group that gets the "bad guy" treatment in the Da Vinci Code. Seems they deserve it. I thought this sidebar about a former member would be something any ex- (or current) witness could identify with:
Dubro eventually grew frustrated with the assumption that questioning the organization was the same as questioning God's will and that leaving Opus would result in eternal damnation. He says he felt constantly pressured to recruit new members. He began to speak openly about his grievances and within a couple of years was asked to move out of the center. He left the group in 1987. "There is no ability to complain," he says. "It's absolute control, absolute obedience."
Sidebar: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1184045,00.html
Main Story (sorry, you'll have to be subscriber for the main story, but some of the sidebars are free): http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1184078,00.html
I have a perverse need to know rational people get completely duped by religious extremism. Makes me feel a bit less stoopid.