Religião é Veneno

The danger of blind obedience


Teaching children never to question adult authority makes them vulnerable to abuse by any adults--teachers, police officers, babysitters, coaches and parents. "Be sure and do exactly whatever Rev. Smith tells you to do" can be a recipe for exploitation.

Ministers, rabbis and priests--"men of God"--are not merely authority figures, they are "divine authorities." The requirement that no religious teaching or assumption ever be questioned within a church-the fact that most religions are predicated on submission to authorityplaces ministers and priests on a unique pedestal of power. Children approached by ministers whom they have been taught to revere and address as "the reverend," men whom they know to be greatly esteemed by their parents, feel helpless to ward off a threatening or abusive contact initiated by such a person. Children, seeing that clergy have special status and naively believing ministers or priests can do no wrong, are at special risk around a clergy pedophile.

Child abuse prevention activist Kraizer notes, "We need to look at the ways in which we teach our children to be blindly obedient to adults and authority figures. Most children do not know they can say no to a police officer, a teacher, a principal, a counselor, a minister, a babysitter, or a parent when an inappropriate request is made."

The fact that parents tend to be very flattered if a priest or minister pays special attention to their child, or buys them gifts or takes them on outings, also works in favor of an abusive clergyperson.

Most child molesters exploit a carefully cultivated relationship with their child victims, then rely on bribes and threats to silence them, such as: "I'll kill your parents," or "I'll tell the police what you did and you'll to go jail," or even play on a child's misguided loyalty to the molester. Molesting ministers and priests enlist not just these but often more terrifying threats of "the wrath of God," "fear of the church," and "eternal damnation." "Hell" is a powerful tool in the hands of a minister who wants to silence a young victim.

Example: "I thought it must be all right because a priest wouldn't do anything wrong," said a grown man recalling his abuse at the hands of Rev. Allen F. Bruening, a priest in Cleveland. (Source: Plain Dealer, 7/12/87)

Example: A priest in Rockledge, Florida used "fear of the church" and threatened the "wrath of God" to silence his victims. Rev. William Authenreith, of St. Mary's Catholic Church, was given immunity but admitted to years of molesting four altar boys in his bedroom above the church office, in the sacristy, library, and church cars, as well as engaging in sexual catechisms and behavior at the Catholic School. The Diocese of Orlando agreed to pay $490,000 to the family of one of the victims, and settled out of court with two others. (Sources: Orlando Sentinel, 8/5,6/86; Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/8/86; Tampa Tribune, 5/6/87)

Religious doctrines promote child abuse
Blessed are the meek


--Matthew 5
Religious doctrines encourage power inequities leading to abuse. Christian doctrine emphasizes submission and teaches that exemplary Christians should follow like obedient sheep. The widely quoted verse Matthew 18:3 advises the believer to "become as little children." The classic Christian concept that human nature is innately "depraved" and sinful may be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Viewing women and children as inferior or as property which exists for the use of men promotes abuse. Since all sexual abuse hinges on the unfair use of power against someone "weaker" or of lower status, this makes women and children more vulnerable in cultures where religion promotes their subordination. Belief by men in a deity who is male and has ultimate authority encourages the authoritarian idea that men are more valued, and can do what they like with people who are less valued (women and children). Nineteenth-century feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton noted in The Woman's Bible: "As long as our religion teaches woman's subjection and man's right of domination, we shall have chaos in the world of morals."

"It is not surprising that women and children are the most frequent victims of assault, when our religious and civil traditions have conspired over the centuries to institutionalize their powerlessness," writes Episcopalian priest Patricia Wilson-Kastner. "The victims of violence, overwhelmingly women and children, have been consistently exhorted in the Christian tradition to be meekly submissive, and obedient."

Here are just a few of the bible verses which promote a sexual double standard for men over women: sexist story of creation Genesis 2:22; men rule women Genesis 3:16; men can have plural wives Genesis 4:19; using women sexually Genesis 16:2; women marked as targets of sexual violence Genesis 19:1-8; rape Genesis 38:2; female servants may be kept and used sexually Exodus 21:2-6; polygyny Exodus 21:10; seduction Exodus 22:16-17; punishing rape victims Leviticus 19:20-22; burning "whores" Leviticus 21:9; women worth less than men Leviticus 27:3-7; women as war booty Deuteronomy 21:11-14; polygyny Deuteronomy 21:15; barbaric virginity test Deuteronomy 22:13-21; stoning rape victims Deuteronomy 22:23-24; women must marry rapist Deuteronomy 22:28; unfair divorce law Deuteronomy 24:1; "thine eye shall not pity her" Deuteronomy 25:11-12; sacrifice of daughter Judges 11:30-40; sexual murder Judges 19:22-29; virgins stolen Judges 21:11-12; God ordering rape 2 Samuel 12:11-12; Lord discovering secret parts Isaiah 3:16-17; women ravished Zechariah 14:2; Jesus tells polygyny parable Matthew 25; men rule over women 1 Corinthians 11:3,4-15; women keep in silence 1 Corinthians 14:34-35; wives, submit Ephesians 5:22-23; Colossians 3:18; women shamefaced 1 Timothy 2:9-15; women talk to husbands in fear 1 Peter 3:1-7.

Bible teachings that may foster child abuse include: The Sunday School story of Abraham almost slitting his own son's throat to show obedience; the story of Jephthah who does burn his own daughter as an offering of thanks to the biblical god; the story of Elisha in which 42 children are slaughtered by bears merely for teasing a bible patriarch; the Mosaic law that "stubborn children" can be killed with impunity (Deuteronomy 21:18-21); and Proverbs' promotion of severe physical punishment. The lynchpin is the lesson that religious authority must be appeased with the sacrifice of children, since after all, the biblical god sacrificed his own son.

Teachings that breed low self-esteem, such as that people are unworthy sinners, may play a role in the immature psychosexual profile of abusers, and may make a religion-influenced child vulnerable to abuse and bribery. Children in particular can be easily cowed by the awe-inspiring concept of a male deity who has a human male conduit (a minister, priest or church official).

The Bethesda Psych-Health Institute in Denver was formed in 1987 to focus on problems of people abusing children in the name of religion, targeting fundamentalist groups where an all-powerful figure tends to lead abuse and demand secrecy and retaliation. The institute believes fundamentalist groups are susceptible because of emphasis on supremacy of the father, submissiveness of the wife and children, and intolerance of other beliefs.

Accepting some religious authority without question as the final word, and affiliating with an authoritarian religion, are characteristic attributes of rapists, according to research by West Florida Professor Dallas Blanchard.

Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral has a favorite saying: "When I am good, I'm good. When I'm bad, I'm human." How would a child molester interpret such a statement? ("It's not really my fault. It's my fallen human nature. I can't help it. Blame Satan, not me.") Molesters can turn to their bible, to Christian pop psychology and to standard Christian doctrine to find concepts about power relationships, authority and sexuality which may bolster their abusive behavior. It is surely not a coincidence that so many offenders are religious or hold a position of religious authority, and that so many victims are raised in devout homes.

Example: An Ann Landers column printed in October 1987 included this letter from a woman survivor of abuse committed "in the name of God."

"My mother and father were experts at it," she wrote. "They quoted the Bible while they flogged away at my brothers and me. I have scars on my shoulders and back, partial deafness and bumps on my head that will be there forever.

"When I was eight, my grandfather began molesting me sexually. He, too, used the bible to justify his actions. He said in King Solomon's time the king had access to any virgin in his kingdom and that King Solomon was the wisest and holiest of men. I realized what was going on when I was about 10. 1 told on him but nobody believed me. I was shunned by most members of my family. The religious people in town thought I was a crazy liar. (Daddy was a preacher.) It has taken years of self-examination to get right with myself and realize that I am a worthy person."