The crime of spiritual abuse: One of the most dangerous ideas in decades
by David Robertson, theweeflea:
There appears to be an epidemic of abuse in today’s world. Whether its Jimmy Saville and the BBC, Harvey Weinstein and Hollywood, Oxfam and the charities industry, or the apparently endless stories of abuse within the Christian church, it seems as though hardly a day goes by without a new revelation of yet another scandal.
In a world of ‘safe spaces’ it appears that no space is safe. So it was with interest and a degree of concern that I heard of a new term about to be added to our legal vocabulary. As well as sex abuse, child abuse, racial abuse, hate crime abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse and domestic abuse, we now have ‘spiritual abuse’ (SA).
Organisations like the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) have been raising the profile of SA and seeking to get it recognised as a legal category. Surely that should be a good thing? Abuse is manipulation, bullying, exploitation and misuse of power. When that happens in religious circles then surely it should be dealt with? So why has the Evangelical Alliance produced a report that is highly critical of the term?
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