A response to "Shelter in the parsonage" Case by case: Case by case

Read Ellen Blue's fictional narrative first.

Domestic violence is an open secret at Elm Street Church. Everyone, pastors and congregation alike, knows or at least suspects that Roberta is being battered by her husband, Hank. She is distraught about her marriage but can’t articulate what the problems are; she often has bruises on her body which she has difficulty explaining; she cancels appointments at the last minute. When Abigail, one of the ministers, asks her point blank if Hank is beating her, Roberta denies it but also rushes to explain that Hank is under a lot of pressure.

As Marie Fortune has taught us, religious communities can offer “roadblocks or resources” for women in situations of domestic violence. Religious notions of self-sacrifice, the sanctity of marriage and the redemptive value of suffering can all conspire to keep women in abusive relationships. Religious communities willing to discuss the double-edged quality of these religious ideas can give women in violent domestic partnerships new theological ways to interpret their situation. Religious communities can also offer crucial spiritual and material support as well as connections to the medical, psychological and legal resources that women like Roberta need.