Presbyterian ministries call for end to violence and sexual abuse

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

by Rick Jones and Gail Strange | Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE – Every nine seconds, a woman is assaulted or beaten in the U.S. One in three women and one in four men are physically abused by an intimate partner, totaling more than 10 million abuse victims annually, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV).

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, an annual campaign aimed at raising awareness of this growing problem. Four Presbyterian ministries have issued a joint statement in support of a person’s rights and protection against domestic violence. Racial Ethnic & Women’s Ministries; Presbyterian Women in the PC(USA); the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns and the Compassion, Peace and Justice ministry denounced violence and sexual abuse in the home. The statement reads:

A Brief Statement of Faith of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) professes that “the Spirit gives us courage . . . to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace” (The Book of Confessions, 10.4).

Inspired by the Spirit, the Racial Ethnic & Women’s Ministries, Presbyterian Women in the PC(USA), the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns and the Compassion, Peace and Justice ministry affirm the value of women and women’s rights and denounce violence and sexual abuse. We bring attention to the issue of domestic violence during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

We stand with survivors of domestic violence and ask you to join in breaking the silence and in taking action so that we are not complicit in their suffering. Get to know the organizations working on domestic violence issues in your area and invite them to your church. Commit to breaking the silence and taking action in October throughout the year. Call our public leaders to stand up against domestic violence. Challenge yourself and your congregation to complete half of the action steps suggested by the Presbyterians Against Domestic Violence network.

Domestic violence terrorizes women, children, and men in the U.S. and across the world, and we must not allow it to continue (see the 213th General Assembly (2001) policy statement on domestic violence, “Turning Mourning into Dancing”). We stand together as one, committed to preventing and ending domestic violence in our church and our communities as we mark this Domestic Violence Awareness month.

National Domestic Violence Awareness Month was conceived by the NCADV and was commemorated for the first time in 1987. Activists against domestic violence use the color purple to promote awareness, including purple ribbons and purple clothes.

For more information, refer to the Presbyterian Planning Calendar or visit the Presbyterians Against Domestic Violence Network’s web page for resources from congregations and mid-councils working to end domestic violence.

—–

You may freely reuse and distribute this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes in any medium. Please include author attribution, photography credits, and a link to the original article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.