Preventing religious abuse

Scott C. said:

I am really sorry your grandmother made your life miserable. There are good ways and bad ways to teach tender children about God, the difference between right and wrong, and consequences for choices. Apparently your grandmother did a poor job of it. I don't know if she was a fanatic, crazy and mean or a good person who did her best. Regardless you processed it as abuse. But, because of your exeprience do you believe that it should be illegal to teach that there is an afterlife and consequences for how we live on earth?

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That evil woman beat religion into her own kids.

I think it should be illegal to force a religious belief down the throats of others with threats if they don't get 'saved' when there is no verifiable evidence to support that belief.

JJ50 said:

We encouraged our children to think for themselves about religion, we definitely did not force our unbelief on them.

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But parents do influence their children

-though I'm not at all convinced that anyone can strictly be taught to believe or disbelieve -

Neither do all religious parents force their religion on their children.

If someone has been forced into a religion they're likely not really a follower of that religion. Unless they've merely been forced to take the first few steps and then learned that they like it.

Wasp said:

But parents do influence their children

-though I'm not at all convinced that anyone can strictly be taught to believe or disbelieve -

Neither do all religious parents force their religion on their children.

If someone has been forced into a religion they're likely not really a follower of that religion. Unless they've merely been forced to take the first few steps and then learned that they like it.

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My husband and I didn't influence our children, who aren't non believers, like us.

As a child I had religion forced on me, with threats!

night912 said:

Having and/or lack of laws against religious abuse isn't the big problem. It's having awareness of being abuse and willing to tell others is a bigger problem. There can laws against religious abuse, but if nobody is aware of the abuse or willing to come out then those people will continue to be abused.

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I agree, the laws are not the biggest problem although in some places they need changes as well.

I don't think telling is such a significant problem either. To me the problem appears to start from the fact that others do not believe the victim or do not take it seriously. People aren't aware of the seriousness of abuse that can look minor and insignificant to an outsider.

JJ50 said:

My husband and I didn't influence our children, who aren't non believers, like us.

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You can't not influence your children. Even the fact that they are religious (?) could have been influenced by their parents not being religious.

Wasp said:

You can't not influence your children. Even the fact that they are religious (?) could have been influenced by their parents not being religious.

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Of course you can influence your children.

calm said:

Best not to join any religious group at all.

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You mean follow any religion?

9-10ths_Penguin said:

• Don't exempt religious organizations from protective laws (e.g. mandatory reporting rules).
• Don't allow religious organizations to have such social status or influence that the police or prosecutors would hesitate to go after a perpetrator in a religious organization.
• Require charitable organizations - religious or not - to report basic information, e.g. financial statements to show the extent of settlement payouts, and the number and nature of abuse claims they experience.
• Require every organization with responsibility over children to enact a youth protection program and have penalties for not following it.
• Limit religious organizations' ability to shield themselves from liability (e.g. incorporating each diocese as a separate legal entity).
• Take steps to ensure interaction between religious communities and wider society. Limit their ability to be closed-off and insular.
• Ensure that every person - especially every girl - receives a proper education to the point where they could find a job to support themselves if they left an abusive situation.
• Legal and housing supports for abuse victims who flee their abusers.

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That mostly concentrates on abuse in organisations or organized groups of sorts. But what about families and individuals who don't belong into one and who are human outside of that organization as well. I think that's much like treating the symptom rather than the disease.

The second last one is not something that can be forced on anyone and isn't very open minded imo. Of course opportunities for education should be supported but to "ensure"...

All of this does absolutely nothing in countries where reporting such abuse within an organization leads nowhere.

Wasp said:

That mostly concentrates on abuse in organisations or organized groups of sorts. But what about families and individuals who don't belong into one and who are human outside of that organization as well. I think that's much like treating the symptom rather than the disease.

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The last three suggestions in my list are mainly aimed at abuse within families. They focus on either making it more likely that abuse in the home will be noticed or removing obstacles that might stop an abuse victim from leaving an abusive environment.

The second last one is not something that can be forced on anyone and isn't very open minded imo. Of course opportunities for education should be supported but to "ensure"...

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That suggestion wasn't a matter of law, but a matter of the personal attitude people take toward religious figures and organizations.

How is it "not very open minded" to suggest that criminals within a religious organization should fear punishment by the law just as much as criminals outside of it?

All of this does absolutely nothing in countries where reporting such abuse within an organization leads nowhere.

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The first two suggestions were conclusions I drew from the findings of the Ryan Report into abuse by and within the Catholic Church in Ireland. They directly address key underlying reasons why reporting abuse went nowhere.