Traumatization in the Name of Religion

Historical Perspective

History reveals both the struggle for religious orthodoxy, to decide who has the right to determine what correct belief or action is, and the struggle to determine the religion practiced within a geographic territory.

Within the Abrahamic traditions (Jewish-Christian-Muslim), the earliest recorded traumas recount Adam and Eve being banned from the Garden of Eden, their only home as children of God, and being sent into the wild without protection. This is followed by a story of fratricide because one brother perceived himself to have been robbed of God's blessing. The story of God ordering Abraham to take the life of his son is an example of a private religious struggle that is key to the understanding of complete submission to God. Even though God saved the child at the last moment, Abraham was required to prove his unquestioning obedience to God's will. The claiming of the Holy Land was described as God's ordering of battles that included the destruction, death, torture, and enslavement of the population of entire cities, including men, women, and children.

The inquisitions during the Middle Ages (1184–1350s CE) and again at the birth of the Age of Reason (1430–1765 CE) are representative of the struggle over orthodoxy within a religion. By papal decree, the Catholic Church tortured and killed many leaders, as well as those suspected to be followers, of movements that challenged the Pope's authority to gain either confessions of heresy or conversions of faith. This left the population in the same emotional state of trauma that is seen today in many of the African countries in which religion and religio-cultural traditions play a significant role in community torture (e.g., female circumcision and female genital mutilation) and ethnic cleansing (e.g., genocide through rape and mutilation).

The Crusades (1096–1291 CE) represent the struggle over the religion of a geographic territory, with the European Christians invading the Muslim-dominated Middle East to claim the Holy Land. These were followed by the conquests of Latin America (1490s–1920s), which forced religious conversions of the native population. The raising of large armies to go into battle with an almost sure likelihood of annihilation is promoted by the promise that “God is on our side.” Often there is the promise of a beautiful afterlife in which martyrs will rejoin their loved ones.

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