Incidents of violence in the home continue to increase dramatically – in number, frequency and severity. News reports about the incidents have become common: A 50-year-old woman was burned alive by relatives in India; a 25-year-old woman’s uncle arranged her marriage and watched as her husband sold her into prostitution; females who seek education are targets of acid attacks or gunshots to the head; another wife who dared to move with her children to a shelter is killed at work by her angry husband.
Domestic violence happens at the hands of both male and female abusers. Mothers as well as fathers sell their daughters or force them to undergo female circumcisions. Husbands and mothers-in-law torture and scar wives with acid or boiling water for “dishonoring the family.” Caregivers abuse the elderly, the young and the handicapped.
Violence happens in every country, level of society and religious group. Some people accept acts of violence in the home as the normal way of dealing with family members. In some cultures even women believe that a woman deserves a beating from her husband if she doesn’t obey him. Too many abandoned wives believe they must submit to their adulterous husbands if he returns for sexual favors and to take what little money she has earned. Many wives fear their husbands more than any other person.
Domestic violence in Christian homes is still a taboo issue in many churches. Too few church leaders have provided safe places for abused women. Whether by brutal words, controlling behavior, or physical and sexual abuse, violence by a family member, caregiver or loved one is humiliating and devastating.
