Child Sexual Abuse and Religious Settings
Abstract
The sexual abuse of children is a sad reality in today’s world. It can happen in many different contexts, cultures, environments, and places. However, one area where child sexual abuse was least expected to be found was in religious settings. The recent abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church showed that child sexual abuse is a problem that needs to be addressed with respect to the very specific context of church environments, precisely because this is a setting that fundamentally requires trust from parents yet, because of the nature of the recent abuses, requires that parents also be on guard. How to navigate this issue is addressed in this present study.
Keywords: child sexual abuse, church abuse, child sex church
Child sexual abuse is a reality in today’s world that has to be addressed by responsible authorities (Murray, Nguyen & Cohen, 2014). What is important to understand, however, is that child sexual abuse can take many forms and definitions, and to truly comprehend the scope of the problem it is necessary to be aware of these forms and definitions and how they do not correspond with existing stereotypes and/or myths pertaining to this problem (Murray et al., 2014). This is especially true when considering the problem in a religious setting, like the Catholic Church, where abuse has been an issue in the past. Parents and children need to know how to identify threats when they appear but also how to balance the problem of being on guard with the need for trust and faith, which the Church requires of its members. This is a particularly difficult problem to examine considering the sensitive nature of child sexual abuse and the history of some Church members. This study will examine the ways that this issue can be effectively navigated and prevented and show how parents and religious authorities can safely address the issue by insisting on transparency and accountability.
Literature Review
As Murray et al. (2014) show, the uncomfortable issue of child sexual abuse is one that has to be discussed in an open and effective manner in order for it to be properly addressed. Their study focuses on...
References
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Harper, C. A., & Perkins, C. (2018). Reporting child sexual abuse within religious settings: challenges and future directions. Child Abuse Review, 27(1), 30-41.
Keenan, M. (2013). Child sexual abuse and the Catholic Church. UK: Oxford University Press.
Murray, L. K., Nguyen, A., & Cohen, J. A. (2014). Child sexual abuse. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 23(2), 321-337.
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Zamzow, P. (2018). Should churches handle sexual abuse allegations internally? Retrieved from https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/february-web-only/should-churches-handle-sexual-abuse-investigations-internal.html
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