Imam and Priests Responses to Domestic Violence - Term Paper Example

Analysis of Imam and Priests’ Responses to Domestic Violence Part Three Participant dynamics In this section, I intend to analyse the presence of domestic violence encountered by religious leaders from the members of their congregations. I decided to interview male religious leaders from Islam and Catholic religions since the participants in part two were comprised mostly of Muslims and Catholics. I did one on one interviews of four religious authorities equally distributed between these two religions. Domestic problems encountered by religious leaders from members of their congregations Overall, religious leaders showed no difference in the domestic problems experienced by their respective congregation and brought forward to their attention during counselling sessions. It signifies that cultural background does not create any significant difference in the occurrence and types of domestic violence as perceived by religious leaders based on counselling sessions they spend with their congregations. Spousal distrust was cited as the common domestic problem wherein men’s action where usually the reason for creating distrust within a marriage. However, deeper analysis showed men generally was not the root cause of such spousal distrust. The root cause is the long process of estrangement within the marriage irregardless of cultural background due to several factors affecting spouses to be apart from each other although they are still living in the same household. This is exemplified by the following response from one of the respondents: Cultural backgrounds came into play in the reasons for the development of spousal distrust particularly among the practice of Muslims of allowing multiple wives for husbands in marriage as long as permitted by their first wives. This statement highlights this concern: Problems between husbands and wives were the usual domestic problems shared by Muslim congregation to their Imams. Responses from Imams directly focused on issues between husbands and wives delving mostly about betrayal of spousal trust. The following responses showed that men from Muslim congregation were mostly cited as the reason for the occurrence of spousal distrust within their marriage: Another scenario showing the men from Muslim congregation as the aggressor in spousal distrust but made them appear victims of their wives’ betrayals. They try to reverse the blame to their wives although they are the one who committed the act of betrayal of spousal trust. It was clearly shared by the following response from one of the Imams: Muslims and Catholic congregations found a common ground in identifying men as the main cause of distrust in spousal relationships when one of the Priest respondents shared the following: On the other hand, members of the Catholic congregation usually shared domestic problems generally related to the family which include marriage problems between spouses. The following response affirmed that mostly family related problems were shared by Catholic congregation to their Priests: Domestic violence reported by congregation members to their religious leaders Domestic violence was evidently the common domestic problems experienced by members of religious congregations that they lodged to the attention of their religious leaders irrespective of their religious or cultural backgrounds. However, there seems to be a difference in the extent of reported types of domestic violence across cultural and religious backgrounds based on the counselling experiences of male religious leaders. Islamic congregations mostly limit the reports of domestic violence to Imams on spousal abuse while Catholic congregation expanded their reports of domestic violence, aside from spousal abuse, to child abuse. Spousal distrust is one of the factors that bridge towards domestic violence. It started as a small issue of suspicions of extramarital affairs and betrayal which led to domestic violence as affirmed by the following: Spousal distrust leads to the occurrence of mental and physical domestic violence mostly from the husbands to the wives across cultural backgrounds. The latter are usually the victim of domestic violence and at the mercy of men’s actions. This might be partly due to the patriarchal nature of the households of the congregation particularly among Muslim communities. The following outlines the types of domestic violence committed as a result of spousal distrust: However, there were cases that men are the on the receiving end of domestic violence. It means that women act as aggressor by physically and verbally abusing their husbands as affirmed by the following: Alcoholism and drug abuse were also identified as one of the causes of domestic violence particularly towards children as affirmed by the following: Another case of domestic violence targeted at children is cases wherein stepparents or guardians sexually abused their step children as affirmed by the following statement: Characteristic of people involved in domestic violence Religious leaders had a different perception on the overall cultural prevalence domestic violence based on their experience. Imam respondents generally perceived that there are no culturally distinct characteristics of people involved in domestic violence. It occurs across religions, race, ages and genders as supported by the following statements: Such statements were concurred by the following statements of one of the Priest respondents: Overall, Priest respondents were generally specific on cultural characteristics of people involved in domestic violence as evidenced from the following statements: However, Imams went on to specify that they too observed distinct cultural characteristics of people involved in violence that they have counselled as evidenced by the following statement: Women were anonymously identified as the gender victimised by domestic violence across cultures affirming the analysis in the preceding section that women are at the mercy of men in the issue of domestic violence. Inequality among genders in terms of social status was identified as one of the factors why women are the usual victims of domestic violence as evidenced from the following statement: Children were also identified as another cultural group that were victims of domestic violence particularly from the Catholic congregation. They became derivative victims of domestic violence as an adjunct to the victimisation of women. In other words, if women are victims of domestic violence in their homes, it is likely that their children are experiencing domestic abuse also as evidenced from the just concluded statement above and based on the following statement: Lack of financial access and rural geographical location were also identified as the common characteristics of victims of domestic violence. Absence of financial capability forced women and their children to stay with their abusive husbands to sustain themselves in terms of food and shelter. It also become a factor for women and their children not to gain access to education which further limit their options to fight for their rights against domestic violence. Lack of educational access is mostly prevalent in rural areas. Education therefore empowers women to know their rights and fight against domestic violence. The following statement supports such claims: The root cause of the problem of spousal distrust that commonly lead to domestic abuse as discussed in the earlier sections was further rationalise particularly by the Imam respondents as a way to explain why some Middle Eastern homes are beset by domestic violence. Lack of understanding between husbands and wives as well as insecurity were identified as factors that create spousal distrust. It occurs during their early years of marriage and during the the later years of marriage. The former is primarily a result of marriage adjustment while the latter is primarily developed as a result of adapting cultural practices particularly when husbands get another wife at a latter age causing their first wives to get insecure particularly if the new wife is younger. The lack of or fading romance between husband and wife became a trigger for the former to look for another wife. The following statements support these claims: Children growing up in a household beset by domestic violence are seen to be perpetrators of domestic violence themselves during their adult lives particularly for men. Thus, the household environment and the actions of parents within the homes are crucial influence in the future behaviours of children as supported by the following statement: Lastly, religion was also cited as a cultural factor that can influence the development of domestic violence in households as supported by the following statements: Position of respondents on domestic violence issue The religious leaders implied that recognising domestic violence as a social problem is a crucial start in addressing it as an issue of the community. It leads to a series of positive actions from the victims, the community, religious leaders and the government to curtail its occurrence. Advocacy in disseminating information about domestic violence, the rights of victims, and where to seek help will help educate people particularly the victims on how to deal and avoid violence in their homes as implied by the following statement: However, information dissemination through the media should be handled with care and delivered responsibly to aid understanding of the issue of domestic violence. The media has been recognised as another perpetrator of domestic violence due to the prevalence of media programs in television, movies and even through the internet that espouses violence to children and even adults that mould their psyche towards violence. The following statement strongly supports this claim: Policy formulation on necessary interventions to educate and help victims of domestic violence is the crucial role of the government in addressing the issue as affirmed by the following statements: Such actions of the government leads to effective information dissemination about the dangers of domestic violence can create awareness to the victims, their families and the community on the importance of preserving and respecting family members as implied by the following statements: Finally, religious leaders implied about their crucial roles in facilitating interventions for victims of domestic violence and their families either in an impartial or involved manner as implied by the following statements: Conclusion In Part Three of this chapter, I have corroborated the responses gathered in Part Two about the types of domestic violence happening in the homes irregardless of cultural or religious affiliations. Physical and verbal abuse resulting to mental suffering is the most common types of domestic violence reported to religious leaders during counselling sessions. Women and children were identified as the most common victims of violence within the homes with the men as the leading perpetrators of such violence. It is mainly due to the patriarchal nature of most households particularly in Middle Eastern backgrounds. Also, it implied the presence of gender inequality even at current times wherein women are still submissive towards their husbands thus they endure being victims of domestic violence. However, in the long run they are not the only one victimised by such violence. They have derivatively included their children as their co-victims that if not responded to be stopped it will make domestic violence with women and children as victims a cycle within families. The analysis in Part Three has been a study of the perceptions of male religious leaders on the issue of domestic violence brought towards them by their respective congregations. This analysis led me to draw the following conclusions: It is important to recognise domestic violence as a social issue and not limited to the individual lives of husbands and wives and families. It can only be stopped if the community and the government intervene to educate families on the importance of peaceful family life in the future behaviours of children. Children who grew up in a peaceful and loving family will learn to respect and abhor violence in adulthood. This is an effective way of ending the cycle of domestic violence. Empowering women is very important in putting a stop to domestic violence. Thus, properly informing them of their rights and letting them know where to go to when they are being abused helps in teaching them to fight against domestic violence. Also, financial independence is very crucial in empowering women and raising them off the mercy of their husbands; hence they will have a choice of leaving the home when domestic violence occur. Empowering women is effective in saving children from becoming derivative victims of domestic violence. IN being financially independent, women will not have second thoughts of leaving the family home bringing their children with them instead of staying and enduring the abuse and letting their children grow in an abusive environment affecting their future behaviours. Even religious leaders are aware of the bad effect of the media towards development of domestic violence. Such recognition gives a higher order to the view that media should be supportive of the drive against domestic violence instead of an aid in perpetrating it. There is no significant difference in the perceptions of male religious leaders on the types and intensity of domestic violence happening in the homes of their congregations based on the counselling session they have with them. Although, the details of the information between the Imams and Priests about the intensity of domestic violence differ it does not discount the fact that people go and become open to their religious leaders to share domestic problems that harm the development of families. It brings their roles as intervenors and facilitators in the resolution of domestic violence crucial towards any programmes in reducing its incidence. Thus, they should be consulted in efficiently mitigating domestic violence. Future research This analysis only forms an interest to delve lengthily on the perceptions of male religious leaders on domestic violence, how they look and respond to it particularly when women and children are the usual victims. It is also of particular to conduct future research on how religious leaders react or analyse the argument that religious practices and policies facilitates the development of domestic violence. Read More