What is spiritual abuse? Our last Online Lunchtime Conversation explored this and what it means for our different faith ministries.
The Interfaith GBV Prevention and Mitigation Strategy 2030 introduces the important concept of spiritual abuse as “a distortion and exploitation of spiritual authority and sacred texts to manipulate, control, abuse, or harm others, mostly through shame and fear. This may be deliberate or due to ignorance and unconscious bias.”
The Domestic Violence Amendment Act, No 14 of 2021, defines spiritual abuse as the manipulation, restriction, or incitement of harm based on religious or spiritual beliefs that infringe on an individual’s freedom of conscience, thought, and expression, and to rationalise abusing the individual.
We took a look at the Socio-Economic History of Spiritual Abuse, covering Colonial and missionary influence, the apartheid system, gender and sexuality inequalities, socio-economic inequalities and vulnerabilities, and access to healthcare and services.
“Victims and survivors of spiritual abuse may experience feelings of shame, guilt, fear, isolation, and confusion.
“They may also face pressure to conform to strict doctrines, fear of questioning authority, and lose their sense of personal autonomy where a person may show signs of fawn: where one attempts to constantly appease, please, agree, inability to say no or set boundaries,” said speaker Dr Leonora Alberts Vilakazi.
Ntsikelelo Colossa, also a speaker, added, “ The concept ‘fawn’ is often used from trauma response which can be extended to response to spiritual abuse because of its insidious nature most often victims/survivors don’t recognise that they are experiencing this type of abuse because it may be seen as blasphemy to declare it and/or something that goes against one’s core beliefs. It is one the more common signs but often overlooked.”
Interestingly, Daniela Gennrich of WWSOA and Faith Action, said there is no mention of spiritual or religious abuse in the National Strategic Plan on Gender-based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBVF).
She said that the religious sector is mentioned 12 times in 80 pages: as a ‘target group’, a focus for norm change, church legal framework transformation and behaviour change programmes; and Pillar 2 makes the only reference to religious leaders as potential agents for norm change.
As a key 10-year-plan outcome, the NSP’s Theory of Change includes strengthening accountability and a multi-sectoral response: All living in South Africa, including government, the private sector, the workplace, schools, religious and cultural institutions, are held accountable for building a safe and GBV-free environment.
Participants discussed and shared personal and systemic responses to their faith institutions recognition of spiritual abuse and ways to prevent and address spiritual abuse.
This was the second in a series designed to encourage more collaboration for greater impact, exploring how our Interfaith GBV Prevention and Mitigation Strategy connects with the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBV). The outcomes of these Online Lunchtime Conversations are:
- The faith sector understands and actively supports the NSP and its 6 pillars;
- The broader GBV sector is aware of the faith sector’s contributions at all levels and supports their work; and
- There is improved collaboration for greater impact.