PSYCHOBABBLE: How Do We Get the Noise Out of These People?

This issue is an electronics problem ... noise interferes with performance and signal; we put filters on electronics devices to filter out interference. But here, how do we filter out this dissonance without making the matter worse?

A new report backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams accused the Church today of failing at "many points" to protect people vulnerable to domestic abuse.

The Church has not only failed at many points to address the processes that lead to domestic abuse but has - intentionally or unintentionally - reinforced abuse, failed to challenge abusers and intensified the suffering of survivors, the report said.

This is from the leader of a once almost great protestant denomination which is now on the verge of a global meltdown ... at least the ECUSA is no longer considered in communion with her, and that's good news for her!

And where was this study done? In the EU. More specifically in the UK! A pillar of Christian health and growth ... NOT! Consider the recent news of London's soon expected conversion to Londistan! [H/T: New Republic]

The document highlights "misguided" or distorted versions of Christian belief which have contributed to the problem of domestic abuse in contrast to "life-giving" theology which could help the Church counter abuse.

These harmful beliefs include a conception of God derived from the Bible and the Christian tradition portraying divine power in "unhealthy and oppressive" ways, the report said.

There are particular problems in the attribution of violent actions and attitudes to God, chiefly but not solely in the Old Testament, which require "careful" interpretation, it said.

QUESTION: The fire department is here to put out the fire which is burning my house to the ground ... should I water the Ice Plant!

A view of our relationship with God in terms of domination and submission, along with uncritical use of masculine imagery to characterise God, can validate "overbearing and ultimately violent patterns of behaviour" in intimate relationships, it said.

Does this appear to anyone but me to be a case of majoring on minors and minoring on majors? At the least it is the paralysis of analysis.

A spirituality of "self-denial" is often linked to a theology in which the survivor is urged to forgive the perpetrator and not to take remedial action against him.

Such an approach is "deficient" in many respects, the report notes, and in the context of abuse, to make forgiveness the top priority seems "perverse" when the welfare and safety of the person being abused is at a risk.

The report entitled Responding to Domestic Abuse, Guidelines for Pastoral Responsibility, encourages churches to become places of safety for survivors of domestic abuse.

So tell me, if we're successful in saving the life of every child in the world from now on yet lose their souls, what has it benefited these children? [Matthew 16:25-26]

There is a part of me that understands the conundrum here; but this is an evil pendulum which swings both ways. Church history is littered with the carcasses of good ideas used toward mean ends. I believe this is such an idea, though partially true, the cure will have disasterous results if church priorities are ignored.

For example, if the church wins this war and forgets to "love the Lord our God with all our heart, etc." [Matthew 22:35-40]?

H/T: Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

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Abuse, Anglican, Child abuse, Christianity, Church, Church decay,
Church men, Domestic Abuse, Masculinity, Men, Religion,
Responding to Domestic Abuse, Rowan Williams, Theology, UK