Good ends justifying means. It is a sad fact that many victims of other kinds of abuse have been asked to be silent for the sake of community comfort. Indeed, community comfort is important. But forcing a victim of abuse to be silent and to forego seeking justice is a form of spiritual abuse.
In 21st century United States, does spiritual abuse really happen? Can’t we all just choose churches where we feel safe? No one makes us (adults) go to church so shouldn’t spiritual abuse be nonexistent in this day—or at least happen only once (e.g., fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…)?
Sadly, spiritual abuse happens in all sorts of churches and for all sorts of reasons.
What is spiritual abuse?
Spiritual abuse is the use of faith, belief, and/or religious practices to coerce, control, or damage another for a purpose beyond the victim’s well-being (i.e., church discipline for the purpose of love of the offender need not be abuse).
Like child abuse, spiritual abuse comes in many forms. It can take the form of neglect or intentional harm of another. It can take the form of naïve manipulation or predatory “feeding on the sheep.” Consider some of these examples:
- Refusing to provide pastoral care to women on the basis of gender alone
- Coercing reconciliation of victim to offender
- Dictating basic decisions (marriage, home ownership, jobs, giving practices, etc.)
- Binding conscience on matters that are in the realm of Christian freedom
- Using threats to maintain control of another
- Using deceptive language to coerce into sexual activity
- Denying the right to divorce despite having grounds to do so
For a short review, consider Mary DeMuth’s 2011 post on spotting spiritual abuse.
Why it is so harmful
If someone demands your wallet, you may give it but you do not think they have a right to it. You have no doubt that an injustice has occurred. You have been robbed! When someone abuses, it is a robbery but often wrapped up in a deceptive package to make the victim feel as if the robbery was actually a gift. Spiritual abuse almost always is couched in several layers of deception. Here’s a few of those layers:
