Violence in any form is sinful

THE EDITOR: Domestic abuse, whether verbal, emotional, physical, sexual, or financial, is a scourge impacting too many relationships in our nation. The TT Council of Evangelical Churches (TTCEC) states clearly and strongly that abuse and violence in any form is sinful; unacceptable and is often a crime as well.

We acknowledge that violence occurs in many forms, has many causes, and many victims. Women, men, and children are impacted. While it is said “there is no place like home, when abuse strikes, there is no home.”

We focus this statement on the increasing violence against women in TT since the greater percentage of victims of reported cases of non-lethal domestic abuse and violence are women. Women's greatest risk of violence comes from intimate partners — this may be a current or former husband or boyfriend as evidenced in the number of women whose lives were tragically lost, thus far, in 2022. The covid19 pandemic has added to the burden on citizens, and by extension increased the occurrence of domestic abuse and violence.

God spoke out against violence in Jeremiah 21:12 – “This is what the Lord says to you, house of David, 'Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hands of their oppressors those who have been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done — burn with no one to quench it.'”

The TTCEC holds that believers, as members of the Body of Christ, must model God’s compassion and do significantly more to provide practical material, emotional and spiritual support to those persons in our society seeking to escape abusive situations and those wanting to be rehabilitated as well as protect and restore children faced with these adverse childhood experiences.

The RAVE Project (Religion and Violence e-Learning) at the University of New Brunswick is an initiative that seeks to understand the interface between religion and domestic violence in the family context.

Research by the rave project shows when the resources of the national community are brought together with resources of the church, believers and others who have suffered abuse are given strength and support to combat even the greatest of fears. When clergy condemn abuse from the pulpit or in the privacy of their office, they bring hope and healing to women who have suffered. Women need to hear that abuse is always wrong, never part of God’s design for healthy family living.

Finally, the council firmly supports teaching healthy relationship formation and violence prevention to the youth in its care and in its community.

The TTCEC is urging the churches in this nation to do more to commit themselves to being trained, to providing or partnering with those providing safe options for the victims of domestic abuse such as shelter, food, counselling, legal advice and opportunities for education, training and, ultimately, independence and to providing help for those who want to stop harming their loved ones.

For more information and help to access any of these resources contact ttevangelicalalliance@gmail.com.

We commit ourselves to doing more to end this scourge of domestic abuse and violence in our nation and call on you to join us for a time of prayer for our women and children.

REV DR DESMOND AUSTIN

president, TT Council of Evangelical Churches