For the last decade, progressive evangelicals have rallied around social justice issues like poverty, racism and human trafficking. This week a gathering of Christian leaders brought another cause to the top of the agenda: domestic violence.
Instead of viewing it as a personal or family concern, the Sojourners Summit, which concludes Saturday (June 20), zeroed in on domestic violence as a human rights issue, hoping to shine the spotlight on a problem little talked about in many Christian circles.
A study commissioned last year by Sojourners and IMA World Health, an international, nonprofit health care service, found that most Protestant pastors greatly underestimate sexual and other violence against women. Worse, conservative pastors who teach “male headship” and submission of wives to their husbands may do more harm than good when counseling couples or individuals.