Religious Leaders Must Break Their Silence On Violence & Suicide

By The Caribbean Voice

News Americas, BRONX, NY, Fri. Oct. 31, 2014: As The U.S. pauses to mark the holiday of Halloween, a scary fact is that violence causes more death and disability among women ages 15 to 44 in the U.S. than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war. Currently our military and universities are actively seeking solutions to prevent and respond to this violence within their respective institutions.”

This is also the case certainly in Guyana as well though in this instance, neither the military nor the university, are actually actively seeking solutions and thus this appeal must resonate with them as well.

For us in The Caribbean Voice, this appeal is critical, because suicide is related to gender in a huge way. Oftentimes, females are murdered by their partners, who then commit suicide. Also, females are routinely abused by their partners, and this often leads to an escalation of violence as well as suicide.

Jim Wallis president and founder of Sojourners; Amy Gopp, director of member relations and pastoral care at Church World Service and Rick Santos, president and CEO of IMA World Health recently released report titled, ‘Broken Silence: A Call for Churches to Speak Out.’

The authors state: “According to the report, U.S. faith leaders seriously underestimate the prevalence of sexual and domestic violence experienced by people within their congregations. They also lack the tools to address it in constructive and helpful ways. The good news is more than 8 in 10 said they would take appropriate  action to reduce sexual and domestic violence if they and the training and resources to do so.”

As in the US, there is no doubt that faith leaders in Guyana also, “seriously” underestimate the prevalence of sexual and domestic violence experienced by people “within their congregations” and “lack the tools to address it in constructive and helpful ways.”

We do certainly hope that the vast majority, if not all, however, “would take appropriate action to reduce sexual and domestic violence if they and the training and resources to do so.”

So what can faith leaders do to reduce sexual and domestic violence?

Here’s what the Baltimore Sun says:

“First, they need to get a firmer grip on reality. Faith leaders need to fully understand that domestic and sexual violence occurs in all communities worldwide, including their own congregations. Ignoring this sin does not make it go away; it gives silent consent.

“Second, faith leaders need to build relationships with the resources in their local communities that protect and support victims and survivors. A faith leader vocation is to nurture faith and support a victim’s spiritual well being, but his or her physical or emotional well-being should be guided by professionals trained in domestic and sexual violence.

“Third, faith leaders need to seek out domestic and sexual violence training.”

Training is indeed critical because a little knowledge in this area can be more dangerous

than no knowledge at all. In fact, research has indicated that abused women who seek help from untrained clergy typically find themselves in a worse situation than before.

The top priority in sexual and domestic violence should be to ensure the immediate safety of victims or potential victims. Though this is common knowledge among those in the health community, it may be countercultural for U.S. (and Guyana) clergy — especially those who hold firmly to values that view family matters as private, place a high priority on family “stability,” strictly prohibit divorce, practice “male headship” and submission of women, or who see untrained counseling as part of their pastoral duty.

In keeping with these commonly held values, a large majority (62 percent) of pastors in our survey say they have responded to sexual or domestic violence by providing couples or marriage counseling — which the health community widely acknowledges as a potentially dangerous or even lethal response for a victim (as it, no doubt, also is in Guyana).

Finally, with a firm base of knowledge beneath them, faith leaders must speak out on sexual and domestic violence. Nearly two-thirds of pastors surveyed preach or speak once a year or less a about the issue. Ten percent never mention it at all.

Sexual and domestic violence inflicts deep emotional, physical, and spiritual harm on those who endure it. Because God calls us to love one another, to live in peace and to stand up for the oppressed, it is a moral imperative that pastors and other faith leaders  speak out against sexual and domestic violence and that they are equipped with the proper tools, allies and devotion to address the issue.

In order to lead in this area, the faith community also needs to have a theological conversation. For only when people begin to believe that all people are created in God’s image will they begin to understand how acts of violence harm the dignity of other human beings.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said of another social injustice: “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

Let’s break the silence!

Sincerely

Norkah Carter

Devv-Ramdas Daniel

Judy Deveaux

Annan Boodram

Bibi Ahamad

Collis Nicholson

Anna Addie Odyssey

Donna Jennifer Ross

Pandit Sharma Daneshwar

Pandit Amintnarine Rabindradat

Shoba Jagnanan

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Caribbean Voice, as part of its social activism program, ARISE, is focused on bringing awareness to suicide, and suicide related issues as first step towards a long term campaign to provide redress to the problem in Guyana.