February 2013 – Once a vocal
spokesperson against cult groups like those in her novel, S.R.Claridge goes
silent, leaving fans to wonder why.
To her regular readers it
seems strange that Claridge has stopped blogging about the International House
of Prayer (IHOP), one of the many groups she admits to studying prior to
writing the controversial novel, House of Lies, which generated death threats
and hate mail for the author.
Up until last month, Claridge
had been staunch in her stance against the group, labeling them a “dangerous
cult.” Now, her silence has some
concerned.
Ironically, this silence comes
at the same time that Claridge’s sister, Director of the Gateway House of
Prayer (GHOP) in St. Louis, withdrew her request to turn a vacant firehouse
into a rectory for students; a request that stirred dissention within the small
St. Louis community.
We’ve now learned that at the
center of the dissention was Claridge’s novel, House of Lies, once again
prompting people to wonder how much truth is on the pages.
Residents near the Gateway
House of Prayer objected to the expansion, signing a notarized petition and
placing signs in their front yards; after which they experienced acts of
vandalism which resulted in police intervention. No charges have been filed against GHOP
members, though many residents remain skeptical of their innocence.
“Nothing like this ever
happened in our neighborhood until we said we were against this (GHOP
expansion),” one resident told the South County Journal.
“This isn’t the type of group
we want in our backyard,” another resident shared back in October with a local
television station.
“We read about the Deaton murder at IHOP in Kansas City and had questions about the connection between
IHOP and GHOP,” one resident told reporters.
She explained how they followed the trail from the Deaton murder to
House of Lies to Claridge being related to the Director of GHOP. It was this coincidence that led residents to
take their concerns to Claridge, who responded in an email that residents later
forwarded to the press.
In the email Claridge stated, “IHOP
and GHOP are one in the same. They are
not financially or legally linked, but relationally, in belief, practice and
methodology they are one.” Also in the
email Claridge encouraged residents to “educate yourself on their theology,”
calling the group a “dangerous end-times Apocalyptic movement.”
Upon finding out that her
letter had been forwarded, Claridge drafted a second letter to the Board of
Alderman and the Mayor’s office. “House
of Lies is fiction and should not influence your decision regarding GHOP’s
permit request,” Claridge wrote . “I
encourage you to educate yourself on IHOP/GHOP and base your decision upon the
facts.”
We finally caught up with
Claridge via email and asked her if her recent silence on the subject was indicative
of a change in stance concerning IHOP. She wrote:
“My stance against the International House of Prayer movement has not
changed. I still believe they are one of
several misguided groups with dangerous, cult-like tendencies. I encourage everyone to study these types of
movements before getting involved.”
Claridge ended her email by
stating that she wanted it made clear that her stance was against IHOP and not
against her sister, who happens to be a leader in the movement. “I love my sister and she has a beautiful
heart,” Claridge wrote.
Though there is speculation that Claridge is somehow being coerced into silence, the author denies the allegation. "Sometimes you just get tired of beating your head against a wall," she wrote. "When you become so obsessed about standing against something, you lose sight of all of the wonderful things in life that you stand for."
