Andrew Pledger was raised in a religious cult in the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement (IFB). He was homeschooled K-12 with the intent of indoctrination. After graduation, he became involved with another cult, Bob Jones University. During his senior year, he was excommunicated for sharing his experiences of religious trauma from abusive teachings, and how it impacted him as a queer person.
Since his escape, Andrew has publicly denounced BJU as a cult on his limited podcast, Surviving BJU, which has been featured in MSN, Yahoo News, The Roys Report and Religion News Service. The podcast has over 100,000 listens on Apple Podcasts. He continues to share survivors' stories through his weekly podcast Beyond BJU: Exposing Fundamentalism. He now dedicates his time to studying cults and using digital platforms to warn others about these damaging groups.
Andrew works insocial mediafor cult experts. He works for the NYT-featured podcast, IndoctriNation, with Rachel Bernstein LMFT, Cult Specialist. He also works for the non-profit organization, the Lalich Center, which was started by renowned cult expert, Dr. Janja Lalich. This organization helps survivors of cults and coercive situations. Andrew perseveres in raising his voice to inspire and empower fellow survivors.Learn More
