Rebecca Small It is mentioned in the introduction of Jerome R. Koch and Ignacio Luis Ramirez’s 2010 study that Conservative Christian beliefs have a negative correlation with habits that lead to Domestic Violence, such has drinking and drug use. In the Journal of Religion and Abuse, Lisa Jeanne Battaglia states that a study done on the subject in 1999 (Ellison) had drawbacks, such as limited information on Domestic Violence. Researchers then turned their heads to fundamentalists and they found that those in the group were more likely to endorse corporal punishment (Bartkowski 1995) and researchers are in a debate over what the findings could imply (Koch and Ramirez, 2010). Domestic Violence Researcher Nancy Nason-Clark (2002) argues that the use of force, corporal punishment and authoritarianism legitimizes male violence in fundamentalist communities. Koch and Ramirez propose that “authoritarian and patriarchal norms emerging from a fundamentalist faith ultimately makes violence more likely.” (2010) The term “fundamentalist” has become a negative term lately, due to it being correlated to terrorism. Those who may otherwise share most, if not all of fundamentalist beliefs may not label themselves as such. Instead, many who believe in the fundamentalist ideals identify as protestant, commonly Evangelical or Baptist. Fundamentalists are most notably known for a belief in the inerrancy of the bible and the belief that the remedy for sin lies in obedient submission to God’s plan (Bartkowski 1997) . Their religious practices and beliefs are defended militantly and steam from a literal interpretation of the bible, which can leave women disadvantaged when misogynistic and patriarchal passages in the bible are interpreted literally, such as I Timothy 2:11-12. “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” Who should have the authority is not a debate within most Christian circles, however, how authority and submission are exercised and interpreted is heavily contested. According to Bartowski’s analysis of popular Christian marriage and family manuals (1997), there was an undebated agreement that men run the household and are responsible for making decisions. However, none of the authors he analyzed discouraged men seeking the assistance of their wives. In fact, some opposed the use of oppressive authority. The founder of Focus on the Family, James Dobson had said that “I don’t attempt to justify men who oppress their children or show disregard for the needs and wishes of their wives. That kind of nineteenth-century authoritarianism is dead and may it rest in peace.” (1982). However, Bartowski noticed that none of the manuals obligated men to ask for their wives’ counsel. Other Christian authors and biblical feminists propose the idea of “mutual submission.” Submission in Debi Pearl’s “Created to be his help meet,” (2009) is interpreted into something dangerous. “Your husband will be selfish. He will be unkind. He will not respect your rights. He will be foolish. He may be cruel, and that son of Adam may actually walk in sin. But he cannot victimize you unless you react outside of the wisdom of God. You can decide to be in a constant state of anger and bitterness, or you can ask God for the wisdom to live each day in a state of honoring your man for God’s sake.” (54-55) The author asks her female Christian audience to tolerate abuse, and even goes as far as to blame the victims for their suffering. Then brings scare tactics in to dissuade her readers from the idea of divorce by insisting that they would only live on the brink of poverty. Rhetoric like this is damaging to a group of women who are already less likely to leave an abusive relationship. Religious Women have stated in a study that they felt as though they were pulled between the perceived teachings of their faith and their personal safety (Nason Clark 2009). Nash (2006) noticed that clergy depend on the intactness of family groups. Church Leads may minimized or “spiritualized” the problem of domestic violence. which may lead the women to not seek help thereafter. Nason-Clark views the spiritualization of the social problem as detrimental to the awareness of domestic violence. The women are encouraged to be more submissive and dutiful, as in the case studies done by Shondrah Tarrezz Nash in 2006, others stay in “sacred silence” and hope for their spouse’s change and eventual reconciliation, which is encouraged by most clergy. Some clergy men even refer abusive men to intervention programs, according to studies done by Nason-Clark (2004). These abusive men who were referred to programs either had religion to support their abusive behavior, or challenge it. A majority of these abusive religious men experienced violence in their own homes as youths and had similar drinking habits and criminal history to men in secular programs. Of the over 1,000 cases analyzed by a faith-based intervention program, the men tended to be white, older, had post-secondary education and white collar jobs (Nason Clark 2004). . Other studies have shown that abuse can be a learned behavior for young males. Boy who witness abuse are more likely to show more aggressive behavior when playing and are twice as likely to beat their partners when they are grown. A 1994 study in the The Journal of Clinical and Counseling Psychology shown that 56% of men who shown more deliberate, as opposed to emotionally fueled, methods of abuse had experienced violence in their homes as children. In an interview that I conducted, this was exactly the case. My interviewee, who I will call “Jane” and her currently ex-husband “Tom” are citizens of Central Pennsylvania. Jane grew up in a “religiously liberal” brethren household. She is a mother of two and does not have a religious affiliation currently. She met her ex-husband through a blind date, and she fell for his romantic nature quickly. When she got to know his parents, she became fond of his mother but felt disgusted by his “fundamentalist” father. Jane later on learned that her Mother-in-Law once left her husband shortly due to his abusive behavior. Jane’s parents felt equally disgusted by Tom as Jane was by Tom’s father. They felt that he was misogynistic and felt disturbed by his fundamentalist beliefs regarding the authority of man and the obedience of women. Despite her parent’s objections, Jane married Tom at the age of 19 and shortly after she had her first child, Tom proven to be negligent. Tom left cleaning and nursing care to his wife, believing that was the woman’s duty. He instead became the bread-winner by day and by night, he sated a drinking habit he acquired in high-school. About a year after his first’s birth, Tom’s drinking resulted in him injuring the baby. As the years gone by, Jane grew discontent with religion and she ceased attending church. Jane was persuaded into leaving work after the birth of her second child and the rest of her marriage became isolation and abuse. Once Jane sought advice from her mother in law after being beaten for not doing dishes to Tom’s standards, she was labeled a “Drama Queen” and her Mother-in-Law continued on to say that “if they weren’t done right, they weren’t done right.” She was told to appease Tom by obeying, and Tom didn’t relent his verbal and emotional abuse. Nor did he relent his drinking that fueled his physical abuse of Jane and mistreatment of his children. Jane left her husband at the age of 33 with her two children after nearly 15 years of marriage and sought marriage counseling. On their first session, Jane was addressed as “Tom’s property.” When asked why she didn’t leave, Jane said that she was fearful that she wouldn’t have a place to stay or money to support her children with. Due to her lack of financial stability, she worried that her husband would keep sole custody of her children. She also feared for her children’s well-being. She felt keeping the family together was the best option over-all and she longed for a life-long marriage commitment and she longed desperately for her husband to change. Shondra Tarrezz Nash conducted two interviews with women from the Bible-belt and their experiences dealt more with submission. Her first interviewee, Kenya, was taught to be passive in regards to her husband’s abuse. She was also told that “Jesus demonstrated anger, Christian wives cannot.” Her second case study and interviewee, Denise, found herself in a fundamentalist group through a friend who was going through abuse as well. The church taught her of submission and obedience, however it did not help her marriage. Both women eventually left and revised their interpretations of scripture, leaving their faith intact. Domestic Violence exists in every religion, every race, and every socioeconomic level. However, it has been hard to trace in Christianity due to silent women. Those who do speak up sometimes aren’t taken seriously. In 1984, the founder of “Focus on the Family,” James Dobson also had to say this regarding women who have faced physical abuse. “I’ve seen situations where the wife, I think wanted most ot be beaten up. There is a certain moral advantage that comes from having been hit by this man. Then you’re in charge, you’re self-righteous, you can leave, you have your exist. You want out, you can’t find a moral way out because the bible says marriage is forever, and if you can just push that guy until he turns around and blacks your eye, then boy the whole world, God included, can see that you were the one that’s right and you were the one that was taken advantage of, all of a sudden you’re a martyr.” Some women on the battlefront for their well-being do become “martyrs”. Statistics range from 33% to 45% of female murder victims were killed by their partners. 500,000 women are stalked by their partner annually and one in four have experienced or will experience some form of relationship violence. Of the women who do leave, it took them nearly 7 assaults by the same partner to make that choice, and 60% of those who have been denied housing from a women’s shelter have returned to their abuser, 27% remained homeless and 11% resided in their cars, according to NNEDV. The most common reason women were rejected service was due to reduced government funding. Other reasons included not enough staff, budget cuts from private funding and reduced donations. Nason-Clark, Nancy. "When Terror Strikes at Home: The Interface Between Religion and Domestic Violence." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43.3 (2004): 303-10. Print. Pevey, Carolyn, Christine L. Williams, and Christopher G. Ellison. "Male God Imagery and Female Submission: Lessons Learned from a Southern Baptist Ladies' Bible Class." Qualitative Sociology 19 (1996): 173-92. Web. Nason-Clark, Nancy. "Christianity and the Experience of Domestic Violence: What Does Faith Have to Do With It?" Social Work and Christianity (n.d.): 380-90. Web. Cooper-White, Pamela. "Intimate Violence Against Women: Trajectories for Pastoral Care in a New Millennium." Pastoral Psychology 60.6 (2011): 809-55. Print. Koch, Jerome R., and Ignacio Luis Ramirez. "Religiosity, Christian Fundamentalism, and Intimate Partner Violence Among U.S. College Students." Review of Religious Research 51 (2010): 402-10. Web. Bartkowski, John P. "Debating Patriarchy: Discursive Disputes over Spousal Authority among Evangelical Family Commentators." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 36.3 (1997): 393-407. Print. Nash, Shondrah Tarrezz. "The Changing of the Gods: Abused Christian Wives and Their Hermeneutic Revision of Gender, Power, and Spousal Conduct." Qualitative Sociology 29 (2006): 195-209. Web.