Stop Violence in the Family
July 2, 2007 in Asia/Pacific, Justice, Life, Youth
Last Saturday, 23 June 2007, there was a serious talk among ministers from different denomination about “Domestic violence!” We are talking about a lot of serious problem at home. Recently we can see, especially in my place Indonesia, there are some parents do not care about their children or even doing the cruel things that can harm their lives. Father beats wife and children or mother beat children (or maybe also husband). In this open talk seminar, some ministers discussed about the phenomenon of some Christian families who are living as our congregation, no matter whether they Lutheran or not… and it is so pity to see children as the victims of the violence in the family. yes… it is right that we can not run away from this real condition… “the crisis of harmony!”. we can not close our eyes that most of the victims of the violence are women… Through these phenomenons… Indonesia create a law for people who do the violence, the name of this law is: “Undang-Undang Terhadap Kekerasan Dalam Rumah Tangga” or in English it can be translated: “The Law for Violence in the Domestic”. How do you see the violence in the domestic in your country?
From this open talk, ministers are suggested as the instrument of peace the first person who do not do violence in their home, circumstance, church or wherever they are and then they will share about “stop violence!” through the prophetic voice in the church and concern with the problem that the family is facing in their life…
Yes… it is the time to stop violence and back to the first Eden where peace always remain….. Peace…. on earth….
In my experience, ministers are in a great postion to detect the signs of domestic abuse, I think there needs to be a greater effort to make them mandatory reporters in every state in the U.S.
Can any of the readers outside the US shed light on whether other countries have taken steps to create laws requiring reporting?
Thanks.
Thanks a lot for your comment.
I agree that churches have a crucial role to play in countering domestic violence. The Lutheran World Federation has a widely used resource for that: “Churches say NO to violence against women”.
http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DMD/DMD-WICAS.html#Violence
This resource is translated in 30 languages and many Lutheran churches use it very actively in training their clergy and their volunteers.
However, I would not agree when it comes to “required reporting”. The specific role of ministers is based on trust. And this trust comes from the fact that you can tell a minister something without being afraid that she or he is going to tell it somebody else. In Germany for example, the criminal code allows ministers to refuse to be called as substantial witnesses in court if the have gained their information in a pastoral conversation.
That does not mean that ministers should never report domestic violence. But requiring it by law would jeopardize the trust that could make them so helpful in very difficult and complex situations.
hi
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good luck