Religion and Violence: The Suffering of Women

Author(s): Susan Rakoczy

Source: Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity, No. 61, Religion & Spirituality
(2004), pp. 29-35
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Agenda Feminist Media
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Religion and violence: the suffering of women

Susan Rakoczy

abstract
This briefing discusses the insidious links between patriarchy, violence and Christianity and their effects on wo
as seen through the prevalence of domestic violence in South Africa. Patriarchy, as the rule of the father/
over women, is in itself a form of violence because of its effects on women's dignity and place in society. Usi
the thought of Rene Girard, the links between violence, the sacred and sexuality are established. Christianity,
a patriarchal religion, does violence to women through its preponderant use of male language for God, i
traditional teaching on women's inferiority, the Household Codes in the New Testament which mandate
subordination of women, and its hierarchical structure. Hope for the future is seen first, in the growing aware
in South African society of the need to reverse the epidemic of domestic violence and second, in utilising resou
in the Christian tradition such as the example of Jesus and his His teachings on love and respect and the u
more inclusive images of the church from the New Testament. Church leaders are challenged to break the sile
and to speak out forcefully against domestic violence.

keywords
violence, suffering, patriarchy, women, religion

My boyfriend was a respected member of The fact that this violence involves people with
(a religious organisation) on campus and a strong religious commitment is not unusual
lived in a nearby residence. He beat me (Phiri, 2000).
regularly (over a number of months)... I The world religions such as Christianity,
eventually told my (religious instructor), who Judaism and Islam teach peace and peace-making
told me I shouldn't provoke him... and but their adherents are frequently violent and
should pray for his forgiveness. warlike, whether on the battlefield or in the
(quoted in Buckenham, 1999:21). home.The teachings of Jesus on peace and non-
violence, of being peace-makers, of care and
I must show my wife the way. And if she is concern for one another are violated frequently
out of line, I must discipline her; I must tell by the epidemic of all forms of violence against
her how to live. Its my duty and
women.This briefing will discuss how partriarchy
responsibility, my God-given right The man
penetrates Christian belief and structures and
is the head of the wife.
thus undergirds violence against women.
(a male pastor and activist, quoted in
Buckenham, 1999:92).
Meaning of patriarchy
These quotations should shock us but probably Societies past and present are structured
do not because violence against women has according to patriarchal norms (Lerner, 1986).
become pervasive in South African society, Patriarchy means the 'rule of the father' and
penetrating every social and economic class.' according to Rakoczy (2000:13):

Agenda 61 2004 29

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 Religion and violence: the suffering of women Briefing
... denotes the legal, economic and social
system that validates rule by men over
women; it is systemic in every aspect of
society to the point where it is
experienced as normal.
In patriarchy, the male is superior and women
are understood to be inferior in every way; thus
all women are inherently inferior to every man.
Since patriarchal structures are and have been
'the way life is', they have been considered to be
ahistorical, eternal and (for religious believers),
sanctioned and ordained by God. However, intertwined. Nessan (in Lefebure 2000:13)
patriarchy is imbedded in structures of human provides a useful definition of violence as:
creation and thus can be changed.The 'rule of
the father' need not be everlasting and feminist
history and analysis has demonstrated how
historically conditioned these
structures are (Lerner, 1986).
Patriarchal
The structuralist anthropologist
structures have Levi-Strauss explains the origins of
been considered women's cultural subordination in
terms of the 'exchange of women'.
ahistorical,
(Levi-Strauss, 1969). In order to avoid
eternal and (for incest, mothers, sisters and daughters
religious were given to men outside the
family/clan group. Women thus
believers),
became commodities of exchange.
sanctioned and Lerner (1986:21 3) qualifies this by
stressing that'it is women's sexuality
ordained by God
and reproductive capacity' which is
the basis of the exchange. This
distinction is very important in
reference to the epidemic of sexual violence
against women, since some men view women as
their possessions (eg from the payment of lobolo
in some African cultures) and see them primarily
as sexual objects for their own gratification
(marital rape, date rape, sexual coercion).
Since women are more than half the human
race, how has it been possible for so many to
cooperate, or be forced to cooperate, in their
own subjugation? This has happened because
women 'have been psychologically shaped so as to
internalise the idea of their own inferiority'
(Lemer, 1986:218). Ties of kinship, responsibilities religion, where they con on occasion
for children and the home, need of physical and
economic protection, the lack of other
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opportunities in education and work, have, until
recently, exerted pressure on women to
participate in their own subordination. For
example, women stay in abusive relationships
because of fear, coercion, poverty, dependence
and internalised domination. But now that the
truth is being exposed - that these structures
are human creations which can be changed -
women are no longer trapped for eternity.
Patriarchy as violence
Religion, violence and patriarchy are all
... the attempt of an individual or group
to impose its will on others through any
nonverbal, verbal or physical means that
will inflict psychological or physical injury.
Rene Girard (1986) has analysed the intricate
relationship between religion and violence. He
argues that through the process of 'mimesis' or
imitation we learn what is desirable from the
models of behaviour around us. But this process
places us in conflict; if our imitation threatens the
position of our model, we become dangerous
rivals. This rivalry leads to violence of action or
word or thought. In his work on primal religions,
Girard determined that the force of the violence
becomes so great that it needs to be unleashed
- so one person is selected to be killed or
banished in order to calm the community. This
person is the scapegoat for the whole
community's violence. Girard (I1986:8) states:
The sacrifice serves to protect the entire
community from its own (sic) violence: it
prompts the entire community to choose
victims outside itself
In these societies, the risk of violence is so
overwhelming that it needs to be prevented.
These measures, according to Girard (I1986:19):
... noturally fall within the domain of
assume a violent character Violence and
the sacred are 'inseparable.
Briefing Religion and violence: the suffering of women

Girard excludes Judaism and Christianity from

immanent in society and cannot be abstracted
his mimetic theory. Lefebure (2000:19) states from it.Violence and patriarchy are social surds,
that the God of Israel and Jesus' Abba: raging infections in the human community.
When religious language is used to justify
... is not a mimetic rival of humans and these patriarchal structures of oppression which
does not demand sacrificial victims. Instead, are inherently violent because they violate
God rather expresses solidarity with victims women's human dignity, the circle is complete.
even to the point of dying on the cross. Use of God language to defend the oppression
of women,'this is God's will', traps women of
However, violence is no stranger in Christianity.faith. Can God truly will this violence? Many
Girard (I1986:35) also describes the relationship women accept what they are told passively and
between sexuality and violence.There are direct obediently, and thus it takes a strong woman to
forms of violence such as abduction, rape, and look out of her prison and say'no'.
various sadistic practices; these lead to 'quarrels,
jealous rages, mortal combats' (Girard 1986:35). Patriarchy and the
He extends his argument (I1986:35) about
Christian tradition
violence and surrogate objects to sexuality:
Patriarchy is interwoven in the
Christian tradition in distinct and
Like violence, sexual desire tends to
pervasive ways.The images of God in
fashion upon surrogate objects if the
Scripture and liturgical prayer are
object to which it wos originally attracted
overwhelmingly male: Lord, King, Patriarchy is
remains inaccessible... And again like
Father. The oppression of women interwoven in
violence, repressed sexuol desire
through patriarchal social structures
accumulotes energy that sooner or later the Christian
increases in the religious context since
bursts forth, cousing tremendous havoc. tradition in
the presumed 'maleness' of God and
the male identity of Jesus are used to distinct and
Violence is symbolic language. It says and does
justify women's subordination.
more than it realises as it harms and/or destroys pervasive ways
The assertion of women's
its victim.The violent perpetrator may be trying
humanity and dignity as truly created
to exorcise a sense of shame or inferiority or
in God's image through the work of
establish dominance through power. Christianity
feminist theologians is a very recent
has used certain symbols to justify violence, for
development in Christian theology. In
example the phrase'God wills it' in the Crusades
the first centuries of Christianity, the use of
of the European Medieval Era became a war cry. Greek philosophy with its dualism of matter and
Violence is also embedded in social spirit injected a lethal virus into the Christian
structures, including those of religion. Patriarchy,
tradition since the male was identified with mind
as an ideology and structure of domination, is aand the female with matter and the
and spirit
clear example of this dangerous synergy. In the and spirit were held to be inherently
body. Mind
private sphere of the family, patriarchy superior
exerts its
and higher. Thus women were
violent power (whether or not it results in denigrated from the earliest centuries of
actual physical violence) through social control Christian life. Both Augustine of Hippo (d 430)
of the women - wives and daughters - and the and Thomas Aquinas (d 1274) struggled to
restriction of opportunities for education and explain how women are the image of God.
creativity, economic control, shaming and blaming. Augustine (De Trinitate, 12:10 in Rakoczy,
When these are writ large in a society, the 2004:34) argued that women by themselves are
violence assumes the character of what Bernard not the full image of God but only through their
Lonergan calls a 'social surd' (I1957:230), which is husbands:

Agenda 61 2004 31

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 Religion and violence: the suffering of women Briefing

S't~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IP~~~~~~~~

This graphic appears in the author's book, Silent No Longer: The Church Responds to Sexua
is from Dina Cormick's 'Heroic Women' series.

... the woman with her husband is the
image of God in such a way that the whole
of that substance is one image, but when
she is assigned her function of being an
assistant, which is her concem alone, she is
not the image of God; whereas in what
concerns the man alone he is the image of
God as fully and completely as when the
woman is joined to him in one whole.
Aquinas (Rakoczy, 2004:34) argued that man:
... has a natural superiority because his
soul is ordered to intellectual activity, while
woman, although she has a rational soul,
was created to help him in the work of
procreation.
The effects of this dualism and the denigration of
women's dignity continue to shape Christian
attitudes towards women today.The letters to the
Colossians and Ephesians, written by disciples of
Paul in the latter part of the first century, begin to
diminish the equality of men and women in Christ
in Galatians 3:28 which states that in Christ Jesus
'there is neither male nor female' by substituting
the Greco-Roman household order as the norm
of Christian relationships. The author of
Colossians addresses the relationships between
husbands and wives, children and parents and
slaves and their masters (Col 3:18-4:1 ).The focus
of the instruction is the last pair of relationships
(3:22-4: 1 ). The relationship of wife to husband is
one of subjection (v 18), as it was in Greco-
Roman society, and modified only by the phrase
'in the Lord'.

32 Agenda 61 2004

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Briefing Religion and violence: the suffering of women
The concern of the author of Ephesians is
the relationship of wife and husband in
patriarchal marriage (Eph 5:21-33). Culture and
theology are combined as the body of Christ
image is intertwined to justify the subordination
of the wife. Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza
(1983:269) comments:
This theological paradigm reinforces the
cultural patriarchal pattern of
subordination, insofar as the relationship
between Christ and the church clearly is
not a relationship between equals, since
the church-bride is totally dependent and
subject to her head or bridegroom.
Wives are told to 'be subject to their husbands
as to the Lord' (Eph 5:22), since Christ is the
head of the church and thus the husband is also
'the head of his wife' (5:24). The author
introduces a new element in the husband-wife
relationship by exhorting the husband to 'love
their wives, just as Christ loved the Church'
(5:25-26). We thus have a tension in which the
wife is to live by the patriarchal code of the
society, with the proviso that her subjection isfor his actions.
akin to all believers' subjection to Christ, while
the husband, receiving her obedience and
subjection, is to love her Social mores prove
more powerful than the equality of all men and
women baptised into the new life of Christ.
These household codes have led to
incredible suffering down the centuries. Slavery
was justified by literal readings of these texts.
This same literal reading of the texts on
headship and submission continues today in
Christian communities. In addition, the model of
headship and subordination finds fertile soil in
patriarchal and hierarchical African cultures.
Culture and scripture collude in women's misery
and women who protest are told by their
husbands that'the Bible tells you to obey me'.
Church structures are overwhelmingly
hierarchical, with gradations of office from
highest (pope or bishop), to lowest, the lay
person in the pew. Leadership, authority and
power increase 'up the ladder'. More organic
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images such as the Body of Christ (Rom 12:4-5,
I Cor 12:12-30) are in tension with an
ecclesiology of domination and subordination.
While women now are ordained in many
Christian churches, they have not yet taken their
rightful place in the leadership structures of the
church in sufficient numbers in order to
transform them into more collegial models.
Other Christian teachings also reinforce the
power of violence. To share the sufferings of
Christ is deemed a virtue and thus women have
been socialised to be suffering servants (Heggen,
quoted in Phiri, 2000). In her study of Christian
women who have experienced domestic
violence, Phiri discovered that they often
spiritualised their sufferings and spoke
of sharing in Christ's suffering (Phiri,
2000). A twisted understanding of To share the
forgiveness was also evident in these
sufferings of
women's lives. They forgave the man
each time he hurt them, but this Christ is
forbearance did not lead to change deemed a virtue
on the part of the abuser Rather, the
and thus women
cycle of violence continued because
the abuser was not held accountable have been
socialised to be
suffering
Hope for the future?
servants
Given the pervasiveness of domestic
violence in South African society,
often bolstered by specific aspects of
African culture such as lobolo which makes some
men assert that they'bought and now own their
wives', together with the patriarchal structures
of church and society, is there any reason to have
hope for a better future? There is hope because
of resources within society and the Christian
tradition. In society as a whole, as the extent of
the problem becomes more widely known and
the causes described, a private experience of
violence now becomes a shared experience.
One woman's suffering is linked to the sufferings
of her sisters and gradually society experiences
outrage. This is beginning to happen in South
Africa thanks to initiatives such as the Tamar
Campaign, 16 Days of Activism against domestic
violence (which runs each year from 25
Agenda 61 2004 33
 Religion and violence: the suffering of women Briefing
November to IO December) and Human Rights
Day. Outrage leads to action for change.
Imagine for a moment that a man in South
Africa got roped every 26 seconds or thot
one in three men was battered by his
partner. Would this not be a cause for a
national emergency? Would the
commissioner of police show us yet more
images of men suffering? So why are we so
indifferent? Is it because the victims happen
to be women?
(Colleen Lowe Morna, The Sunday
Independent 24 November 2002).
Secondly, the emphasis in the South
African Constitution on the equality
and dignity of each human person,
One woman's
female and male, is a strong
suffering is foundation from which to condemn
linked to the domestic violence, especially when it is
justified according to cuftural practices including their socialisation into subordinate
sufferings of her
and religious ideology. Thirdly, as
sisters and analyses of the causes of domestic
gradually society violence are exposed, it is becoming
clear that the key to change is not
experiences
only women's willingness to file for
outrage domestic protection orders, but the
necessity of a radical change in men's
attitudes.There are small glimmers of
understanding of this by some men in
South African society.
Within the Christian tradition, there are
also resources for hope.The first is the example
of Jesus in the Gospels who treated all people,
women and men, with love and compassion. His
was a community of disciples of persons equal
in dignity. His injunctions to his followers to be
peacemakers (Mt 5:9) and to love their
neighbour as themselves (Mk 12:31) are a
strong challenge to the patriarchal violence in
any society. Images of the Christian community
such as the body of Christ describe the
harmony and unity of those who follow Christ,
as does the union of the believers in Christ as
branches on the one vine, sharing the one Life
of Christ.
34 Agenda 61 2004
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Although the early church yielded to societal
norms for its domestic arrangements, it also
challenged them. The Galatians text (3:28) that
'there can be neither male nor female - for you
are all one in Christ Jesus' does not deny the
distinctions of gender but rather affirms that the
believers' union with one another in Christ is the
root and foundation of the life of the Christian
community.
Clergy and other leaders of Christian
communities must take the lead to denounce all
forms of violence against women. Silence must be
broken and the unspeakable must be brought to
light in order for change to happen. The church
must be seen to be on the side of those
experiencing violence, not a silent colluder in that
violence. Other actions that can be undertaken in
church communities include condemning violence
against women in any form, using stories from
Scripture that affirm and respect women, creating
safe environments for women to tell their stories
positions, using inclusive language in prayer and
worship, and organising support groups for men
to talk about the patterns of socialisation that
encourage violence.2
Conclusion
South African society is a violent society and the
very high level of domestic violence against
women is a clear indication of this tragedy. The
home, which should be a place of safety and
security, is a particularly dangerous place for
women since it is there that so much violence
takes place. Patriarchal structures in society and
Christianity are not only violent in their effects
on women's dignity as persons, but they
undergird the epidemic of violence against
women. Real and radical change begins to
happen when men acknowledge their roles as
perpetrators and change their attitudes and
actions, and when women have the courage to
say 'enough'. The Christian churches must be
active in these processes of transformation
through preaching, teaching, public advocacy and
counselling. Knowing the truth is the first step.
Doing the truth is a lifelong journey.
Briefing Religion and violence: the suffering of women

References - No to Abuse, Gender Advocacy Pamphlet, 2003).

Buckenham K (ed) ( 1999) Violence Against Women: A
Resource Manual for the Church in South Africa,
Pietermaritzburg: PACSA.
Fiorenza ES (1983) In Memory of Her: A Feminist
Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origin, New
York: Crossroad.
Girard R (I1977) Violence and the Sacred, translated by
Patrick Gregory, Baltimore and London:The Johns
Hopkins University Press.
Haddad B (2003) 'Choosing to remain silent: Links
between gender violence, HIV/AIDS and the
South African church', in IA Phiri et al (eds)
African women, HIV/AIDS and faith communities,
Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications.
Rape statistics are amongst the highest in the world,
increasing from one rape every 23 seconds in the
late 1990s to one every 17 seconds (Haddad,
2003).The statement'A woman in South Africa is
more likely to be raped than to learn to read' (BBC
News, 24 November 2002) makes the statistics
even more chilling. A study conducted by the
Medical Research Council in three South African
provinces 'found that as many as 28% of women
had been physically abused by a current or former
partner'. When asked about emotional and
financial abuse, this figure rose to 50% of women.
(Lisa Vetten, 'The war that's raging inside our

Lefebure LD (2000) Revelation, the Religions and homes', The Sundoy Times, 21 July 2002,

Violence, Maryknoll, NewYork. Orbis Books. http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2002/07/2 I /insight/

Lemer G (1986) The Creation of Patriarchy, NewYork in02.asp, site accessed on 3 September 2004.)
and Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2. See Karen Buckenham (1999) and Susan Rakoczy
Levi-Strauss C (1969) The Elementary Structures of (2000) for additional suggestions for action.
Kinship, Boston: Beacon Press.
Lonergan B (1957) Insight: A Study of Human
Understanding, NewYork: Philosophical Library and
London: Darton Longman and Todd.
Phiri IA (2000) 'Domestic violence in Christian homes:A
Durban case study', injoumal of Constructive Theology,
6,2,85-110.
Susan Rakoczy IHM, PhD lectures in spirituality and
Rakoczy S (2004) In Her Name: Women Doing Theology,
systematic theology at St Joseph's Theological Institute,
Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications.
Cedara, and is an Honourary Professor in the School of
Rakoczy S (ed) (2000) Silent No Longer: The Church
Religion and Theology of the University of KwaZulu-
Responds to Sexual Violence, Pretoria: SACBC.
Natal. Her publications include In Her Name:Women
Doing Theology (2004), Silent No Longer: The
Church Responds to Sexual Violence (2000), in
Notes addition to articles in journals in South Africa, Europe
1. It is estimated that as many as in one in every six and North America.
South African women is in an abusive domestic Email: SRakoczy@futurenet.co.za
relationship (The Domestic Violence Act Protects You

Agenda 61 2004 35

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