The Church–Does it Provide Support for Abused Women? Differences in the Perceptions of Battered Women and Parishioners

Abstract

The role of religion in the prevention, fostering, and awareness of domestic violence is an understudied area in society. The Christian church has an enormous impact on the lives of over 111 million people in the United States, and could be a vehicle for helping stem the problem of abuse against women in society. This paper uses a South Carolina sample to describe the perceptions of 199 parishioners and 57 battered women attitudes toward whether church teaching contributes to domestic violence, whether women should be submissive toward their husbands, and formal services offered by churches. Different perceptions emerged. More battered women believed church teaching contributed to domestic violence. Neither group believed that women should be submissive toward their spouse. Also included is a description of the similarities and differences in formal services the two groups believed was available to battered women.