The Church’s Response To Abuse

The abuse of women is one of the most tragic social problems of modern society and is found both outside and inside the church. The following article describes the staggering proportions of this problem and offers guidelines for the church's response to it. Before you finish reading this article, twenty-four women in the United States will be battered by a husband, father, boyfriend, or uncle (i. e. , one every fifteen seconds). One-fourth of those battered women are pregnant; their batterers typically attack the woman's abdomen, whereas non-pregnant women are most commonly beaten on the face and breasts. Physical violence by family members is the single largest cause of injury to women in the United States. A study in a Connecticut hospital found that almost half the women in the emergency room were treated for beatings by male companions or family members. Estimates are that somewhere between three and four million women each year in the United States are beaten by their husbands, …