victims of sexual or domestic violence. Many of the sexual abuse
victims were abused by clergy or church leaders. Some of the perpetrators,
of course, were their fathers, who may have had the dual role of also
being a church leader or pastor. Yet there are many who were abused
by perpetrators in the general population. Almost all visitors have
experienced collusion when they turned to their church communities
to report or to ask for support. The higher the status of the perpetrator
in the church community, the higher the degree of collusion and secondary
injury as leaders attempted to keep the victim and her/his family
silent.
Some of the victims experienced the primary abuse as children or adolescents.
Many were young adults or older. The older the victim, the more likely
the victim was to experience collusion and secondary injury.
MK's (as children of missionaries) abused on foreign mission fields,
either by missionary co-workers. nationals, parents, or by boarding
school personnel
advocates--either church leaders or family members, including
pastors who have lost career positions in the process. Some of these clergy
members have experienced a devastation of faith, as strong as any
I've seen in survivors! Some have left the ministry.
therapists who are struggling with knowing how to counsel people,
especially those of fundamentalist faiths who are wanting very concrete
guidance "based on the Bible."
"after-pastors"--ministers who have followed a perpetrator,
a ministry which is almost always stormy
Members of the press, students seeking insight for a thesis, other
writers
