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TRANSCRIPT:
Episode no. 324
February 11, 2000
BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Coming up, religion and spousal abuse. Trying to preserve a family keeps some women in physical danger.
LUCINDA: And I went and talked to my pastor, and I remember him saying, 'Well, you need to be submissive. Don't give him a reason to hit you.'
ABERNETHY: Also, growing violence by Hindu extremists in India against Christians, especially Christian missionaries.
ABERNETHY: Welcome. I'm Bob Abernethy. It's good to have you with us.
BOB ABERNETHY: The U.S. economy may be booming, but a new report this week says America is the only industrialized nation in the world where hunger is still widespread.
ABERNETHY: The report by the Christian anti-hunger group Bread for the World said some 3.7 million U.S. households, almost 4 percent, were hungry, and some 10.5 million households, over 10 percent, were at risk of becoming hungry.
Bread for the World called for expanding the food stamp program and raising the minimum wage.
BOB ABERNETHY: And now our cover story: spousal abuse. Not all violence in the home is committed by husbands against their wives, but spousal abuse is a widespread problem. Once, it was largely hidden, but now in candlelight worship services and their own support groups and in public interviews, more and more abused women are speaking out. Many of them say it was their religious duty to preserve their families that kept them for so long in marriages that were physically dangerous. Mary Alice Williams reports.
Ms. DINA GADON: At night was when it was the worst, once everyone was asleep and he knew that I wasn't going to scream. That's when the real abuse would start, the beatings and the rapes.
MARY ALICE WILLIAMS: Thirty-five percent of emergency room visits are the direct result of domestic violence, much of it spousal abuse.
LUCINDA: I remember him pulling my hair and shoving me to the ground with my face in the basement.
WILLIAMS: Forty percent of female homicides are the result of battering.
Ms. GADON: You put up with what you have to put up with in order to keep your family together. And that is very, very important in the Jewish religion and the Orthodox religion.
LUCINDA: And I went and talked to our pastor, and I remember him saying, 'Well, you need to be submissive. Don't give him a reason to hit you.'
WILLIAMS: Domestic abuse scars families of every faith. The overwhelming percentage of abused spouses are women, and a woman's faith may entrap her as much as her own terror in an escalating cycle of violence.
Reverend MARIE FORTUNE (Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Abuse): Unfortunately, it's still the case that we're hearing about women going to their pastors and basically being told that they have to go back to an abuser; they have to keep the family together in spite of the treatment that she's receiving.
WILLIAMS: In most religion traditions, the family is sacred; the husband is perceived as head of the household.
Rev. FORTUNE: 'Wives, be subject to your husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.' That passage, again, taken out of context can be used as an excuse, as a rationalization for dominating and controlling one's wife.
WILLIAMS: For Muslims, there have been various interpretations about the proper relationship between a man and a woman.
Ms. SHARIFA ALKHATEEB (North American Council of Muslim Women): And over 1,000 years very often that was interpreted in ways that were very patriarchal, because the people who were interpreting it were males. And they said, 'This is the Islamic interpretation,' but it was really a cultural view.
WILLIAMS: And there have been misunderstandings about certain passages in the Koran that provide excuses for the batterer.
Ms. ALKHATEEB: There's a verse that says, 'First, talk to her, and if she won't listen, then separate your beds. And if that doesn't work either, then hit her.'
WILLIAMS: Such scriptural passages, along with the biblical teachings about the nobility of suffering, forgiveness and the importance of keeping the home together help keep women in relationships despite the danger.
Dina Gadon's story mirrors that in virtually all abusive homes. It starts with verbal and emotional abuse. When the victim's self-esteem is gone, the battering kicks in.
Ms. GADON: I remember the first time it happened. It was a Friday night, the Sabbath, and he raped me. And my children were asleep in the other room, so I could not scream. All I did was cry and beg him not to hurt me.
WILLIAMS: Dina is an Orthodox Jew. In Orthodoxy, the woman is responsible for shalom (Yiddish spoken), peace in the home. Rabbi William Hamilton has seen how this religious tenet can be distorted.
Rabbi WILLIAM HAMILTON (Kehilliah Israel): Unfortunately, on many occasions, religious leaders and the standards of religion insist that a couple should try harder; that the woman should go back, that they should work very, very hard to reconcile in the name of this high ideal. This can be a shattering experience from the standpoint of faith.
Ms. GADON: Because of the shalom (Yiddish spoken) the peace in the home, and the fact that the religion is so family-oriented, it was very difficult to be the cause of the home coming apart.
WILLIAMS: In desperation, she finally turned to a rabbi.
Ms. GADON: He did not help at all; never spoke to him about it. My husband was very active in the synagogue. Maybe he didn't want to lose that; I don't know.
Rabbi HAMILTON: In an atmosphere where the community is silent and where religious leaders are not speaking out, this woman was in a state of being terrorized not only by her home, but by her community.
WILLIAMS: In 1995, the Conservative Jewish movement adopted a rabbinical ruling saying any family abuse was a violation of Jewish law. In Islam, Imams condemn it, but many Muslim clergymen tolerate it. The Catholic bishops have denounced the use of Scripture to justify family violence and distributed instructions on how priests should handle it. Still, many women feel bound by the church's teaching against divorce and the misapprehension that they cannot take the sacraments if they do.
Father STEVE CRON (St. James Church): A Catholic woman may very well feel that she has to choose between her faith and the practice of her religion and her marriage, her husband. And, obviously, if that's an abusive husband, that makes it a very difficult choice, and she may feel pressured to stay in the relationship for the sake of her religion and her faith.
WILLIAMS: Lucinda, a Catholic, stayed in her abusive marriage for 18 years. Her husband was an outwardly religious man, but soon she found that religion was his weapon of choice.
LUCINDA: He would have us get on our knees and pray our prayers while he would sit there and watch. And if we, you know, moved or wanted to stand up or anything, you know, he would hit if I didn't know the prayers by heart. You had to be a submissive wife. I mean, he had to use God -- you know, he requires you to be a submissive person.
WILLIAMS: Lucinda, like most Christian women, turned to her pastor, and the pain is still palpable as she remembers.
LUCINDA: I went repeatedly, dozens of times, back to my pastor and him saying, 'Well, you know, read your Bible, pray your prayers. If you did these things, he wouldn't be hitting you.' And so instead of holding him accountable, I was being held accountable for his actions.
WILLIAMS: Lucinda finally found Father Steve Cron, who had learned, to his surprise, that shelters for abused women often do not welcome clergy.
Father CRON: And I asked why, and they said their experience was that most clergy who came in to visit their women parishioners in this situation basically told them to go back to their husbands and be submissive. So that was probably my first wake-up call that we weren't doing something right; I mean, that we were -- we in the church were perhaps adding to the problem instead of addressing it adequately.
WILLIAMS: Many are trying to address it. There are more and more programs that teach clergy how to spot abuse and what to do for the victim and her family. But even so, as women die weekly at the hands of their husbands, the people who try to save these women say the subject is still taboo in many religious communities.
Reverend BOB OWENS (Presbyterian Church, USA): So let us commit ourselves to the task of exposing and opposing domestic violence, abuse in all of its forms.
WILLIAMS: They want clergy to be talking more in Sunday schools and Bible study groups and from the pulpit, where ultimate religious authority lies.
Rev. OWENS: ...only as Jesus said.
Rabbi HAMILTON: Religion must assume the role of being a part of the solution, part of the remedy, where it has been the most potentially culpable for perpetuating the problem.
Father CRON: I have sometimes reminded women who would say something like 'But I don't believe in divorce,' I would turn the question around and say, 'But do you believe in marriage, and is this what marriage is to be?'
WILLIAMS: Father Steve Cron helped Lucinda take the frightening steps to save her own life.
LUCINDA: Why did I leave? Because it was either live or die. Those are the two choices I had. If I stayed, I knew I wasn't going to be around.
WILLIAMS: Until safety takes precedence over the sanctity of marriage in every religion, 'till death do us part' can be a dangerous contract. For RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, I'm Mary Alice Williams in New York.
BOB ABERNETHY: Jews around the world are expressing grave concern about the inclusion of the ultra-nationalist Freedom Party in the Austrian government. Joerg Haider, the party's founder, has triggered international protests and the condemnations of European governments because of his favorable statements about Nazi policies and his harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric.
In a statement released this week, leaders of the Reform Jewish movement in North America said they feared the Freedom Party's rise could strengthen far-right anti-Semitic groups. The statement urged Jews to consider dropping plans to visit Austria.
BOB ABERNETHY: An American Falun Gong practitioner is among the dozens, perhaps thousands of people detained in China this week after a demonstration by the banned meditation movement. Police used force to break up a Chinese New Year protest held by Falun Gong followers in Beijing. Press reports on the number arrested range from 50 to more than 2,000. One of the detainees was Tracy Zhao of New York City. A friend said she was arrested as she tried to take a photo of the melee.
BOB ABERNETHY: And now the growing violence in India against Christians, especially Christian missionaries. Christians are a tiny minority in India, less than 3 percent, compared to the 80 percent who are Hindu. But resurgent Hindu nationalism and missionary proselytizing have provoked Hindu extremists. Christians say there've been 200 incidents of violence against them over the past five years, compared to fewer than 10 over the preceding 50 years. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Christianity has a long, checkered history in India. The pilgrims who come to Chennai's Church of St. Thomas have no doubt that Thomas, the doubting apostle himself, brought the faith to India long before it reached Europe.
But it was during European colonial rule that churches saw real growth, beginning in the 16th century with the Portuguese. Protestant churches arrived during British rule, as did Catholic orders mainly to serve Irish soldiers in the British army. Their schools, hospitals and charities remain one of colonialism's enduring legacies, even though Christians account for fewer than 3 percent of India's population.
Dr. Ambrose Pinto is a Jesuit social scientist.
Dr. AMBROSE PINTO: Ever since independence, the Christians have occupied a large civil space in India. Of the 10 top colleges in India, six of them are Christian. About 35 percent of rural health services have been with the Christians. So, also, much of the NGO activities have been Christian contribution. So that means though our percentage of population is merely 2.3 percent, we have occupied a large civil space in Indian society.
DE SAM LAZARO: However, Christian missionaries, native as well as foreign, have long been accused of coercion, even bribery, to lure converts from among the poor in this mostly Hindu nation. It's something historians agree did occur earlier in colonial times.
That criticism was renewed in the 1990s with the rise to power of the BJP, or India People's Party. The party was allied with Hindu chauvinist groups critical of India's constitution, which they feel gives special privileges to religious minorities, like Muslims and Christians and even Hindus lower down in India's age-old caste system.
In the early '90s, the Hindu nationalists' conflicts were with India's larger Muslim minority, most notably with the demolition of this 16th century mosque. However, Christian institutions increasingly have become targets of groups like the World Hindu Council. Its president is Vishnu Haridalniya.
Mr. VISHNU HARIDALNIYA (President, World Hindu Council): They give good education. They have good medical facilities. But all these are -- ultimately, the object is to brainwash people and then convert them. They've even passed some resolutions that, 'We have to Christianize India and some of the South Asian countries, and we most work in a -- more vigorously toward this end.' All these open statements are made by many Christian organizations.
DE SAM LAZARO: It's most often in rural, tribal areas like this in Orissa that tensions have flared between Hindus and Christians, with attacks on religious shrines and, indeed, on missionaries. Here in Orissa about one year ago, 58-year-old Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burned to death as they slept overnight in a Jeep.
The Staines murderers, along with that of a Catholic priest, were part of an alarming rise in violent incidents, most of which had involved destruction of property.
Mr. VINDO MEHTA (Outlook Magazine): I think what very quickly happened was the sense of outrage across religion lines. Particularly the people who were most incensed to all this were the Hindus. I think that the ruling party quickly realized that and I think they tried to rein in this lunatic fringe.
DE SAM LAZARO: However, magazine editor Vindo Mehta says extremism has crossed religious lines with newcomers to the missionary scene.
Mr. MEHTA: There is a lunatic fringe among Christians also, yet by and large most of the Christian missionaries, most of the Christians are doing excellent work in India. But there are two or three or four Pentecostals, they are called Seventh-day Adventists, who really are very provocative in their mode of conduct in this country.
Dr. P.J. TITUS (New Testament Church): God want to bless us.
Unidentified Man: (Hindi spoken)
Dr. TITUS: Hallelujah.
Unidentified Man: Hallelujah.
Dr. TITUS: Hallelujah.
Unidentified Man: Hallelujah.
Dr. TITUS: Tonight...
DE SAM LAZARO: Dr. P.J. Titus does not consider himself provocative, but his New Testament Church is affiliated with the Pentecostalist denomination. He's been preaching and setting up churches across rural India since the mid-'80s, when he left a thriving business career in Texas to return to India. And he's had his share of church vandalism.
Dr. TITUS: And three of our churches were burned down. And this is one where we lost church buildings, and two have been rebuilt. The other one hasn't been built yet.
DE SAM LAZARO: Dr. Titus built his headquarters in the southern state of Andhra. With funds from U.S. and Australian donors, he's transformed a rural backwater with a seminary, hospital, orphanage and an English-language school.
Dr. TITUS: That's why we trust God, pray God, believe God, because man is sinful.
DE SAM LAZARO: There's no escaping the driving force of the whole enterprise.
School, for example, begins and ends with a Bible service.
Dr. TITUS: Love of God in our hearts and love everyone.
DE SAM LAZARO: How many of these children come from Christian backgrounds?
Dr. TITUS: I would say probably 20 percent, 25 percent.
DE SAM LAZARO: Do you ever get objections from parents of non-Christians for teaching them essentially Christian Scriptures and that?
Dr. TITUS: No. At the time of admission, we make it perfectly clear that we are a Christian institution, and they understand that. But then, as you know, Christian institution has -- the quality of education and character and behavior are taught better than public education. So they recognize that.
DE SAM LAZARO: Dr. Titus insists that his goal is to uplift, not convert people, but he acknowledges that one could lead to the other.
Dr. TITUS: One may say, 'Hey, Jesus the Lord is better than the God I had who never bothered about my -- state of my existence for ages. Suddenly this God seems to be favoring me to give me rice and shelter and a shirt and my shoes for my children.' And I can't blame him for choosing the benefit. I think all men basically choose better.
DE SAM LAZARO: But few Indians appear to be choosing Christianity. While certain areas like the remote northeast have seen a rise in conversations, editor Mehta says they're not likely to change India's religious demographics.
Mr. MEHTA: Their numbers are very small, but what happens is that these kinds of activities can be blown up by somebody who has an interest in blowing them up.
DE SAM LAZARO: Although many charge Hindu nationalist groups with blowing the conversions issue out of proportion, Hindu Council officials say it's the conversions themselves that are dividing families and communities and inflaming tensions. Many missionaries, meanwhile, say they have little choice and lots of encouragement to continue the day-to-day routine, something Gladys Staines has vowed to resume in her husband's honor.
Mrs. GLADYS STAINES: I've had people come up to me in Calcutta. I've had people come up to me in Komitu and ask me, 'Are you Mrs. Staines?' I said, 'Yes.' They said, 'We're very sorry for what happened. This is not Hinduism. Please forgive.' And that's been really touching and overwhelming to me.
DE SAM LAZARO: The forthcoming trial of the suspect in her husband's murder will be closely watched, amid criticism the government has not cracked down hard enough on religious violence. Christian missionaries, meanwhile, walk a fine line, professing their faith while insisting that they are providing primarily social, not spiritual, services to India's poor. For RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, this is Fred de Sam Lazaro in Dishakapatnum, India.
BOB ABERNETHY: In the West Bank city of Jericho, it's now the fifth week of a standoff between Palestinian police, Russian officials and two American Orthodox nuns, one the sister of former Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos.
The nuns have been holed up in a Jericho monastery since January 15th, when Palestinians tried to evict officials of the so-called White Russian Orthodox Church, based in New York, and give the property to the Russian Orthodox Church based in Moscow. The church has remained split since the Communist era. Sister Maria, George's sister, and her colleague are members of the White Church. U.S. officials have been trying to negotiate a temporary compromise that would accommodate both churches.
BOB ABERNETHY: A poignant meeting in Rome this week. New York Cardinal John O'Connor visited Pope John Paul II Thursday. A spokesman said the cardinal wanted to say thanks and goodbye. O'Connor, who turned 80 last month, is the oldest practicing bishop in the United States. He's said to be in frail health after brain surgery and radiation treatments. Many observers speculate that O'Connor will soon retire.
BOB ABERNETHY: In the small Pennsylvania town of Hazleton, a 39-year-old itinerant evangelist, who dresses like Jesus and wants to be called 'What's your name?', has been touching hearts and generating lots of media attention. The evangelist, whose real name is Carl Joseph, arrived last October. He preaches a traditional Catholic message and says in the last nine years he's traveled through 13 countries and 47 states. Local residents give him food and shelter. Hazleton has been captivated. As many as 2,000 people show up when he preaches, and local religious leaders say he has sparked a religious revival.
BOB ABERNETHY: On our calendar, Monday is St. Valentine's Day. And as we noted last week, Chinese people all over the world have been marking their two-week-long celebrations to usher in the new year, the Year of the Dragon. Other Asians, including the Vietnamese, are also celebrating the new year. It's a time of great cultural festivity, but it's also a time of spiritual significance. Kim Lawton has more.
KIM LAWTON: There are the parades, the foods and, of course, lots of noise. But there's also the burning of incense, special prayers and offerings to ancestors and gods. The celebrations of Chinese New Year are diverse, reflecting various ethnic customs and the combined influences of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and folk religions.
The symbols of the Chinese calendar stretch back to Buddha himself. According to one tradition, Buddha summoned all the animals to visit him before his final departure from this life. Only 12 appeared. In appreciation, Buddha named a year after each of them. This Year of the Dragon is considered the most auspicious.
Like Western Christmas, contemporary Chinese New Year's celebrations include decorations, family gatherings and big meals. And like Christmas, Chinese New Year has become a colorful fusion of cultural traditions...
Jou Family: (In unison) Happy New Year.
LAWTON: ...and spiritual observances, a mix carried on by many Chinese-Americans.
Mrs. WENDY JOU: We clean and we decorate. We cook lots of food.
LAWTON: But Wendy and Ray Jou of Potomac, Maryland, also make sure Buddhist religious traditions are part of their family's New Year's celebrations. They offer prayers for peace and good fortune in the coming year.
Mrs. JOU: After cooking, we also maybe will make a very simple but really respecting bow to Buddha. Usually we make three bows.
LAWTON: The Jous are part of the more than 2.5 million Buddhists in North America. They follow the Pure Land branch of Buddhism, the largest wing of Buddhism practiced around the world. The Jous call themselves disciples of Amitabha Buddha, the transcendent being of the Pure Land sect. Pure Land Buddhists believe that salvation, or rebirth into a realm of bliss, is reached not by individual effort or merit, but through the grace of Amitabha Buddha. They emphasize living by moral precepts and reciting Amitabha Buddha's name over and over.
In New Year's celebrations at Pure Land temples, special mantras are chanted 108 times to bring spiritual well being as well as good fortune.
Ms. JOU: We celebrate in the way that we chant different mantra. I don't know how to say it's beautiful or wonderful. It just somehow touches my heart so deep.
LAWTON: For the Jous' children, the celebrations are part of learning how to live out their Buddhist beliefs in a Western context.
JESSE JOU: I think it's good to have something to believe in, so you can have something to look up to. Just like a kid looks up to his parents, it's the same thing. You can believe in the Buddha.
LAWTON: Jesse Jou and his family say that belief is the essence of a truly happy new year. I'm Kim Lawton reporting.
BOB ABERNETHY: And, finally, a follow-up to Western New Year. As you may remember, after the Y2K computer meltdown that did not come, relief groups urged that stockpiled food be donated to soup kitchens. Lots of well-prepared citizens apparently heeded the call. This week at the First AME Church in Los Angeles, the Christian group Feed the Children distributed five truckloads of donated Y2K food and supplies to needy families. Several Hollywood celebrities joined the effort.
BOB ABERNETHY: That's our program from now. I'm Bob Abernethy.
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