Religious leaders’ perspectives on marriage, divorce, and intimate partner violence

Religious leaders from Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths were interviewed about their understanding of the inter-section of intimate partner violence (IPV) and religion, and a grounded-theory analysis was conducted. The present manuscript explored the leaders ’ beliefs about the partners ’ responsibility for IPV and the role of divorce. Although religious leaders tended to place greater responsibility for abuse on the perpetrator, most also thought women bore some responsibility—either for inciting abuse or for not leaving the situation. Although there was diversity in beliefs, most of the leaders expressed concerns related to balancing the sacredness of marriage with the urgency of divorce in cases of IPV. Many suggested that divorce be considered as a “last resort ” and would urge reconciliation if possible. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious social problem in theUnited States. It has been estimated that between 1.3 and 1.5 million women are assaulted by an intimate partner each year (Simon et al., 2001; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000), suggesting that rates of IPV remain significant despite pre-vention and treatment efforts. True figures, in fact, may be a great deal higher because it is difficult to gauge the pro-portion of IPV that goes unreported. TheNational Violenc