Part 2: Religious leadership - a resource or roadblock for preventing violence?

Dr Boddé is Program Director for the Prevention of Violence against Women - an initiative of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne. She is a Senior Partner and Researcher at Kempster Consultants, and MCD Research Associate, University of Divinity

 

Some religious leaders are under the wrong impression that violence toward women is only physical and thus not worthy of the same level of concern or action from other distinct forms. This is especially true when the violence is psychological. When I talk about non-physical violence, I’m not speaking of the occasional fight, or ups and downs of any normal relationship. I’m talking about patterns over time. Controlling behaviors, shaming, refusing to listen, talking over you, blaming, emotional abuse, yelling, lying, neglecting, stalking, inappropriate sexual pressure, intimidation and psychological manipulation are all examples of violence. By reducing violence to physical harm not only conceals violence against women but it is a key contributor to dangerous pastoral and theological responses. For example, some religious leaders believe that domestic violence is perpetrated equally by men and women (Skiff 2010), lends itself to distorted beliefs about marriage and divorce , such as, divorcing the abuser would be wrong and equivalent to breaking a covenant with God, (Nash 2006, Ringel et als. 2008; Popescu et als. 2009; Zakar et als. 2011), recommendations that women stay in abusive relationships (Levitt & Ware 2006), try to be better wives, and ‘forgive and forget’ (Fortune et als. 2005, Potter 2007), sermons that speak without nuance of the virtue of ‘submitting to the will of God,’ for example, or of the way in which ‘God sends us suffering to test our faith,’ (Tkacz 2006). As well, attitudes that attribute blame to the victim of violence, for example, seeking fault in the women’s behaviour (Levitt and Ware (2006b Z), trivialising violence and its impact or, excusing perpetrators from direct responsibility (Aosved & Long 2006; Steinmetz et als. 2006; Anderson 2007, Jankowski et als. 2011)  and, reluctance by faith orgainsations to take responsibility for violence, such as, identifying organisational structures and institutional practices that discriminate against women (West 2006). Stated simply, the reality is that alongside the trauma of violence, a majority of women will be dealing with some aspect of religious beliefs and teachings which will serve either as a resource or a roadblock. The task for religious leadership is twofold: 1) to recognise that religious beliefs, texts, and teachings can serve both as roadblocks and as resources for victims of violence and 2) to deepen our examination of religious texts and teachings and explore new interpretations so that we minimise the roadblocks and maximise the resources for women.  No woman should ever be forced to choose between safety and her faith community or tradition.  She should be able to access the resources of both.

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Aosved A. C, Long, P. J., & Voller, Ε. Κ. (2009). Measuring sexism, racism, sexual prejudice, ageism, classism, and religious intolerance: the intolerant schema measure. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39, 2321-2354.

Jankowski, P. , Johnson, Andy J., Damron, H. & Smischney T, (2011). Religiosity, intolerant attitudes, and domestic violence myth acceptance, International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 21, 163-182.

Levitt & Ware, K. N. (2006). Anything with two heads is a monster: religious leaders' perspectives on marital equality and domestic violence. Violence Against Women.12 (12), 1-22.

Nash , S.T. & Hesterberg, L (2009).Biblical framings of and responses to spousal violence in the narratives of abused Christian women. Violence Against Women, 15 (3), 340-361.

Popescu, M. & Drumm, R. (2008). Spirituality: A healing tool or an aggravating factor? Domestic violence in faith communities. Social Work Journal, 74(8),

Ringel , S. & Park, J.( 2008). Intimate partner violence in the evangelical community: faith‐based interventions and implications for practice, Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 27 (4),341-360.

Steinmetz, Simona; Haj-yahia, Muhammad M. (2006). Definitions of and beliefs about wife abuse among ultraorthodox Jewish men from Israel, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21(4), 525-554.

TKacz C. B. (2006). Are old testament women nameless, silent, passive victims? Retrieved from http://www.catholic.com/ thisrock/ 2006/ 0612fea1.asp

 Zakar, R., Zakar M.Z., & Krämer, A (2011).Spousal violence against women in the context of marital Inequality: perspectives of Pakistani religious leaders, International Journal of Conflict and Violence, vol. 5 (2) 2011, pp. 371 – 384.

West, Traci C. (2006). An antiracist Christian ethical approach to violence resistance, In INCITE! Women of Colour against Violence (Eds.). (pp. 243-249). Brooklyn, NY: South End Press.