Abstract

CADAVID VALENCIA, Laura Milena  and  LE ROUX, Elisabet. "The churches cannot remain silent". Debates and actions against sexual violence in Colombian evangelical communities. Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2022, vol.45, n.1, pp.243-265.  Epub Dec 28, 2023. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v45n1.90275.

The article ethnographically explores the practices, discourses, and experiences of leaders of Colombian evangelical religious organizations concerning the identification and attention of sexual violence in their communities of influence, mainly populations in situations of forced displacement and affected by the armed conflict.

Sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war by all actors in the Colombian armed conflict, affecting mainly women throughout the country and against which impunity and silence prevail. In this context, the article starts from the recognition of the influence of communities and religious discourses of these organizations that have a broad presence in the territories, urban and rural, as well as their role in promoting or obstructing women's rights and attention of gender-based violence, including sexual violence. The proposed analysis addresses individual and collective aspects of evangelical organizations, presenting stories and testimonies of religious leaders, doctrinal discourses, main characteristics in evangelical organizations, and elements of the context that influence the understanding and attention of sexual violence or the exclusion and invisibility in the religious practices.

Based on semi-structured interviews with church leaders and social initiatives from six evangelical organizations, three categories of classification are proposed to different experiences and knowledge regarding the phenomenon of sexual violence in religious communities. The three categories present debates and tensions over five factors: first, the taboo that surrounds sexual violence; second, the training for leaders of evangelical communities while addressing sexual violence; third, the articulation of churches with state institutions to handle sexual violence cases; fourth, the risks in territories where armed violence prevails; and finally, the obstacles that strengthen the invisibility and encourage the naturalization of sexual violence.

Keywords : churches; faith leaders; forced displacement; gender; sexual violence.

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