About Us

Mission Statement

Inside Voices Collective is an independent digital publication dedicated to responsible reporting and first-person accounts from individuals who have left insular religious groups.

We provide a structured editorial platform where former members can document, verify, and publish their experiences with clarity and professional standards. By combining lived experience with rigorous publishing practices, Inside Voices Collective contributes to a more accurate public understanding of closed religious systems and the realities of life inside them.

Through occasional public seminars, the Collective also promotes media literacy and ethical storytelling in religious reporting.

Editorial Philosophy

Inside Voices Collective was founded on the belief that survivor storytelling, investigative journalism, and critical reporting on insular religious groups deserve the same editorial rigor as any other serious field of journalism. We believe lived experience matters, but lived experience alone is not journalism. Our work emphasizes verification, documentation, context, transparency, and ethical storytelling — especially when covering trauma, religion, coercion, abuse, or ideological extremism.

We are committed to slow, thoughtful journalism over outrage-driven content cycles. We prioritize stories that illuminate broader systems of power, propaganda, control, and social conditioning, particularly in environments where survivors are often dismissed, sensationalized, or ignored entirely. While advocacy and journalism sometimes overlap, we aim to clearly distinguish reporting, opinion, personal narrative, and analysis.

We also believe survivors deserve editorial support, not exploitation. Many contributors are sharing difficult experiences publicly for the first time. Our editorial process is designed to strengthen stories, clarify claims, improve sourcing, and protect contributors wherever reasonably possible.

Verification Standards

Inside Voices Collective maintains a high standard of verification and documentation, particularly for stories involving allegations of abuse, criminal conduct, institutional misconduct, or reputational harm.

Depending on the nature of a piece, contributors may be asked to provide:

  • supporting documents,
  • screenshots,
  • recordings,
  • public records,
  • corroborating witnesses,
  • timeline verification,
  • or additional sourcing.

Anonymous sourcing may be permitted on a case-by-case basis when safety or retaliation concerns exist, but anonymity does not exempt a story from verification standards.

We distinguish clearly between:

  • reported journalism,
  • personal essays,
  • commentary,
  • and opinion writing.

All submissions are subject to editorial review, revision requests, fact-checking standards, and publication discretion.

Who Can Pitch

Inside Voices Collective accepts pitches from:

  • survivors of insular religious groups or coercive systems,
  • journalists,
  • researchers,
  • academics,
  • whistleblowers,
  • podcasters,
  • documentarians,
  • and writers with meaningful experience covering religion, propaganda, extremism, cult dynamics, or institutional control.

Previous publishing experience is not required.

We are especially interested in:

  • deeply reported stories,
  • thoughtful first-person narratives,
  • investigations traditional media may overlook,
  • essays connecting personal experience to broader social systems,
  • and multimedia storytelling.

What We Don’t Publish

Inside Voices Collective does not publish:

  • fiction or creative writing,
  • unsupported conspiracy theories,
  • unverifiable allegations,
  • plagiarism,
  • AI-generated articles presented as reporting,
  • harassment campaigns,
  • or submissions designed primarily for personal retaliation.

We are cautious with stories involving criminal accusations without strong supporting evidence. Editorial review may require additional sourcing, documentation, or legal consultation before publication consideration.

We also reserve the right to decline stories that:

  • duplicate recently covered topics,
  • lack broader relevance,
  • or cannot reasonably meet verification standards.

Founder & Editor-in-Chief

John Verner is an Atlanta-based investigative reporter, editor, and audio producer whose work focuses on religion, propaganda, cult dynamics, and ideological extremism. Verner previously reported and wrote opinion pieces for The Click News and currently serves as a Publishing Editor at VOX ATL, where he helps mentor young journalists in digital and print media.

Verner’s reporting and commentary have focused heavily on high-control religious environments, white evangelicalism, media ethics, propaganda systems, and survivor-centered storytelling. He is also the creator of The Cult of Christianity podcast and publishes independent investigative work through his Substack and other platforms.

Inside Voices Collective was created to provide a professionally edited platform for survivors, journalists, and researchers whose stories often fall outside traditional media structures or editorial priorities.

This project received funding from the Rights and Religions Forum.