Abstract:
Violence against women is socially rooted and trivialized in our culture, much of it still fruit of the patriarchal-religious discourse to which women have been subordinated for centuries of history. There are still those who misuse the Scriptures to justify and legitimate oppressions, injustices and even violence committed against women of all social classes, races and ethnicities, generations and other categories. Domestic violence against women becomes a public health problem and, also, a challenge to the churches since it is also present within their Christian families, going against God’s calling for justice and love toward all people. Confronted with this, this research seeks to investigate, through case studies, which actions the church carries out to end domestic violence against women, through the perceptions and localized actions of the ministers in the parishes and congregations distributed throughout the thirty municipalities which make up the region of the Rio dos Sinos Synod – IECLB. The interview with ministers took place through a questionnaire and by voluntary adhesion. The data collected in the interviews appear in the text dialoguing with the concepts presented in the triad violence against women-feminism-religion, as well as in the final summing up where some challenges are presented aiming at transforming into a common commitment of the Christian communities gender justice and the overcoming of violence against women and propitiating that the religious leaders may, consciously, serve as an example of this commitment. Much effort and political and Christian commitment are needed to overcome violence against women, because the silence and omission still condone its maintenance. In a different way, feminist theology – and people and institutions that are transformed by it – bring a welcoming, inclusive and liberating discourse, where women can recognize themselves as sisters and find spaces of healing and welcome, walking the path to gender justice. With the commitment to the life of women, the normative and study documents, feminist pastoral counseling, women’s groups and life stories can be a source of justice, empowerment and overcoming of violence against women where the silence and omission can be revealed.
