Domestic Violence & Religion

Religious teachings can serve as either a resource or a roadblock in addressing the issue of domestic violence. As religious communities, our responsibility is to minimize any barriers facing abused members of our congregations and maximize the resources that exist within our religious traditions.

The following quote by Reverend Al Miles frames the issue of domestic violence within the religious community, identifying complacency among many clergy with confronting abuse and the urgent need to address the problem as a pastoral duty.

"For the most part clergy have hindered rather than helped women break free from their abusive partners. Our apathy, denial, exhortations, ignorance, and misinterpretations of the Bible have added to women's pain and suffering and placed them in even greater danger. The time is long overdue for us pastors to stop turning our backs on domestic violence and begin speaking out against this sin. We have a responsibility to preach and teach the biblical truths about God's love, which binds women and men together as equals rather than ordering them in a hierarchy. As long as we refuse to fully carry out our pastoral duties, victims of domestic violence will continue to crumble emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually underneath the weight of brutality and scriptural misinterpretations, which no human deserves.

- Rev. Al Miles
Domestic Violence: What Every Pastor Needs to Know

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