Christian hate-preacher Steven Anderson's kids are now speaking out against him

Three kids have now gone public about the abuse they suffered in the New IFB preacher's home

This newsletter is free, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can use the button below to subscribe to Substack or use my usual Patreon page!

---

Over the past few weeks, a couple of the children of Christian hate-preacher Steven Anderson have gone public about the physical abuse they suffered growing up. Given that Anderson routinely tells Christians to marry young and have as many kids as possible, the revelation that abuse may be rampant in his own home isn’t as much shocking as it is long overdue.

Who is Steven Anderson?

If you’re not familiar with Anderson, he’s someone with a long history of saying vile things. The Tempe, Arizona-based preacher celebrated the deaths of murdered LGBTQ people and called on the government to execute gay people with a firing squad. Anderson’s sermons have been so outrageously awful that 34 countries won’t allow him to step foot within their borders. His acolytes include Jonathan Shelley and Aaron Thompson, both of whom I spoke with this past summer.

More than anything, he’s the de facto leader of a movement called the New Independent Fundamentalist Baptists. New IFB preachers are, on paper, all about following the word of God as written in the KJV translation. In reality, they spend their time gleefully trashing LGBTQ people, Jews, “effeminate” men, and everyone else they deem heretics.

Pastor Steven Anderson

The troubling posts from Isaac Anderson

About a year ago, we learned that one of his kids, Isaac Anderson, was somehow taking his father’s hate even further. The second oldest of 12 children, Isaac admitted to being a full-blown Nazi, complete with a tattoo of a Nazi War Eagle across his chest.

Anderson himself has denied the realities of the Holocaust, but I never categorized him as a Nazi supporter. When I asked him for comment at the time, he deflected my questions and simply said that “attacking” his son was “unethical.” He insisted he wasn’t personally racist or “pro-Hitler,” but he refused to say that his son was wrong.

Was it fair game to talk about his children? If they were publicly saying vile things, I felt it was newsworthy, given the also-vile things he’s preached. People should see where his thoughtless sermons can lead. It was an indictment against New IFB preaching as well as the kind of sheltered home-school environment in which those kid were raised.

Isaac Anderson does an interview

The posts raised all kinds of questions, and this past January, a YouTuber named Dead Domain interviewed Isaac about how he came to his beliefs. A part of the answer involved the troubling home life in which he was raised. Isaac said he was still a Christian but spoke about being physically abused by his parents. He said he planned to hit his own children in the future while admitting that corporal punishment had its limitations.

If there was anything surprising about the video, it was that Isaac came across as a a normal guy with a tough upbringing—a stark contrast to the vile persona he projected online. But the thing about extremists that makes them so dangerous is that they can often seem sensible in other ways.

Isaac Anderson’s interview led to his brother speaking out

That interview had an interesting consequence, though. It spurred one of Isaac’s siblings to go public about his childhood.

In early September, John Anderson (the third oldest son) reached out to Dead Domain because he wanted to share his own story and make the case for why his parents shouldn’t have any contact with his siblings (specifically the eight who still lived at home with the Andersons).

John spoke even more bluntly about the abuse he suffered at the hands of Steven and Zsuzsanna Anderson. The allegations in the interview involved “closed fist beatings, whippings with electrical cords, insulting and belittling children as young as six, starvation as punishment, and exposure to the elements.”

John explained that once he began calling his parents out on “their bullshit,” he was effectively kicked out of the house and is currently not allowed to speak to his siblings. (He moved out when he turned 18.) John had reported his parents to local authorities, but he said they never did anything to protect the kids. He added that his parents “do not like each other,” something he attributed to them dating for a grand total of two weeks before getting married, not to mention their very different backgrounds, but people staying together even if they don’t appear to be in love (and constantly fight) is hardly unusual, especially in fundamentalist circles.

John then brought up how his 17-year-old sister was “very unsafe in that home” and “trying to get away, and my dad is trying to catch her right now and bring her back against her will.” (More on that in a moment.)

He said that despite all their differences and his criticisms, though, he was still “100% Christian.”

New IFB preachers came to Steven Anderson’s defense

Steven Anderson heard that interview and subsequently denied all these claims. In a now-deleted YouTube video, which you can still see excerpts of here, Anderson accused his son of telling “outright lies.”

Not long after that interview appeared online, on September 20, fellow New IFB preacher Jonathan Shelley attempted to defend Steven Anderson. On his “Baptist Bias” podcast, Shelley said he wanted to speak out because it was probably inappropriate for Anderson to say anything himself. But he said he spoke to Anderson about all the allegations that had been brought up, and he ultimately decided Anderson should not step down.

What about the abuse? Shelley said the Andersons’ kids were probably “exaggerating.” That they just didn’t like being punished. That they were being manipulated. They they suffered from insecurity. That they shouldn’t talk to YouTubers who are using them. The internet, he whined, “allows them to air out a lot of dumb stuff.”

Speaking of Dead Domain, Shelley wrote in the video’s description, “this reprobate is taking advantage of Pastor Anderson's kids and I hope they realize this and repent.”

One day later, John (the son) recorded and posted a phone conversation he had with Shelley, presumably to discuss everything he said in that podcast.

In their conversation, which Shelley did not know was being recorded, he appeared to admit that Anderson was violent and that his excuses didn’t “contradict anything you're saying.” But he appeared to downplay the seriousness of the allegations.

Shelley had requested the call in order to urge John to “seek some reconciliation” with his parents. But John said he wasn’t interested in that unless Anderson apologized for lying to his congregation about being abusive. That apology didn’t seem to be forthcoming. When it came to hitting his wife, Anderson told Shelley that anything he did to her “was consensual and that it was behind closed doors.”

Consensual?! It’s a ridiculous thing to say about physical abuse, and yet that seemed to be all that Shelley needed to hear in order to conclude that Anderson was still fit to be pastor.

John pointed out to Shelley that his mom had told some of the kids she’d like to get divorced and have custody of the children (despite the challenges that would entail), but the older siblings said they would not testify against their father and his abuse without also implicating her since she was equally as abusive toward them. That’s the reason she remained in the relationship.

Shelley’s response? “Every woman is irrational, and every woman runs her mouth, and every woman says the dumbest crap.”

It was a disturbing conversation for many reasons but the biggest was how Shelley just seemed to ignore what he acknowledged was physical abuse. If it was done in private, he implied, then anything goes.

Another Anderson child speaks out

And then, this past Thursday, Dead Domain posted an interview with a third Anderson child.

This was Mariam Anderson, the oldest daughter in the family, and the one John brought up earlier because she had been “trying to get away.”

Many of Miriam’s terrifying recollections echoed what her brothers said earlier about how abuse occurred at home, including mentions of specific pieces of equipment in their kitchen that were used against them. She talked how she had suicidal thoughts from the age of 11 onward because of everything she endured at home. Her brothers’ stories, she added, were “100% true.”

She also mentioned how, during a summer camp she attended, she let details about her home life slip out and a counselor there—by law, a mandated reporter—informed Child Protective Services.

It created more drama with her parents and she made the decision to live with her aunt and uncle in South Carolina. She told her parents she wasn’t returning back home but that she had no desire to go public with any of this (in the hopes it would ease their anger). In response, they locked her accounts on her phone and laptop and essentially cut ties with her. She was still 17.

Miriam also told a harrowing story about finding out her father had recently come to South Carolina to take her back home, and how she tried everything she could to escape from him, including hiding in a ditch and going to a hospital.

Miriam, too, was a Christian, but “not the kind of Christian that my parents were.” In fact, she added, she was a Christian despite her parents, since they made her doubt her faith more than connect with it. It wasn’t until she finally met decent Christians that she was drawn to the religion. It just didn’t happen within her family or in her parents’ church.

Steven Anderson responds to Miriam

Anderson has already responded to all this. Despite being banned on YouTube, he’s repeatedly created sock puppet accounts allowing him to get around the ban, and he said in a recent video that his brother “stole” Miriam. That’s not true. She chose to live with her uncle’s family instead of with Anderson.

“That is where I believe she is still being kept against our will. She is a minor and not old enough to consent,“ he wrote in the description. Throughout the video, he literally gives away her location and practically encourages people to harass his brother’s family.

Miriam is no longer in South Carolina. In a Facebook post made over the weekend, she also rebutted what Anderson said in his video while adding that she had to end a relationship due to her parents’ interference.

My uncle did not "steal me". I came to my uncle desperate for help and he and his family offered me refuge. In my months of living at their house, I gained nothing but respect for both my aunt and uncle . They time and time again proved their wisdom and Godliness and I will forever be grateful for the love they showed me. My uncle also complied with police and immediately told them where I was… It's sad to think that my parents knew that I was safe, doing well, and dating a godly Christian man, and ruined that.

Anderson is not handling this well. During his sermon on Sunday, he went on a typical tirade about how his kids were speaking with a “literal Satan-worshipping transvestite” about matters that should have been personal and private.

What Dead Domain says about all this

I spoke with that “literal Satan worshipping transvestite” earlier today to find out where we stand with all this now.

Jordan Black (a.k.a. Dead Domain) has done incredible work sharing the stories of the Andersons’ kids and offering separate commentary on everything that’s transpiring. We wouldn’t know these stories if not for Jordan’s work and the trust they’ve built with Anderson’s children.

Jordan laughed off the name-calling (they’re not a Satanist, for what it’s worth) but everything else remained serious because they’re not sure how any of this will be resolved. They’re still in contact with the Anderson kids, but that may not last. For all the positive support people like John Anderson have received for speaking out, there’s also targeted harassment. It may be easier for the kids to keep silent than subjecting themselves to danger. Revisiting a traumatic childhood is hard enough; imagine how much worse it is when your own father is condemning you to his cult followers in real time.

Because the next oldest child is still a minor, we may not see more video interviews anytime soon, but Jordan hopes these stories will pierce Anderson’s armor among his most ardent followers. And maybe they’ll do even more than that. “I really hope that these allegations can get law enforcement or CPS to do a proper investigation so these kids, and their stories, and their safety can be taken more seriously,” Jordan told me.

The takeaway… for now

In a way, these stories, as heartbreaking as they are, are also uplifting. Uplifting because at least two of these kids don’t share the worst characteristics of their father. They want the public to know what their lives have been like, bursting the bubble their father has kept around them for years. It turns out his version of Christianity has been the nightmare outsiders always suspected. His theology isn’t just awful to his ideological opponents but also to his own flesh and blood. If they can escape that environment—and they sure as hell are trying—perhaps there’s hope for others in similar situations.

At the same time, it’s awful that they still have to play it cautiously because of Steven Anderson’s wrath. No one should have to fear harm from their own parents. But when their parents place their idea of God’s Word over common sense and decency, we can only hope they find solace and safety somewhere else.

Steven Anderson did not return an immediate request for comment, but I’ll update this post if and when I hear back.

---