Religious abuse can occur through exploitation or abuse in the context of religion or spirituality. Victims may experience abuse from religious leaders or institutions, including financial abuse, domestic violence, child abuse, and opposition to medical care. Vulnerability to abuse can arise from a sense of religious importance and devotion.
Religious abuse describes a variety of behaviors in which one or more people are exploited or abused in the context of religion or spirituality. People who are victims of religious abuse may experience abuse from an individual religious leader, the collective leadership of a religious group, or even through members of a religious institution. Some people place a significant priority on their religious life and derive great comfort and purpose from their spirituality. This sense of religious importance and devotion can make people very vulnerable to religious abuse by religious organizations and leaders. For example, religious leaders and institutions may solicit donations of time and money from individuals by promising spiritual benefits or threatening negative spiritual consequences if their requests are not met.
In some churches and groups, domestic violence and child abuse are legitimized by orders from the group’s leadership or by references to scripture. Additionally, some priests have been found to use their position of trust to sexually exploit members of the congregation, including children. This instrumentalization sometimes follows pastoral counseling, in which the clergy use the intimacy of the counseling relationship to take advantage of the victim’s trust. Some groups and leaders advocate rigorous corporal punishment of children, requiring parents to spank or paddle their children as discipline for even minor infractions.
Another very common type of religious abuse is financial abuse. Clergy and religious leadership may require members to make regular financial contributions to their organization, even if this causes financial hardship for their donors. Individuals who are able to contribute the most to the group may receive preferential treatment, while those who cannot provide significant financial support may be required to do unpaid work for the church or group. Even those who were once significant donors may find themselves shunned if they fall into financial hardship and require assistance for themselves.
Religious abuse can also occur in the context of a group’s beliefs about spirit possession, disease, and demonic activity. Children have been beaten and even killed due to alleged exorcisms performed by overzealous members of the group. Other individuals have been denied or persuaded against psychotherapy because of a group’s religious objection to it, despite the fact that these individuals may suffer from serious mental illness. Religious groups may also oppose standard medical care, in some cases by pressuring families and individuals to withhold medical care for themselves or their children and threatening them with excommunication if they do not comply.
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