literary persecution
sex scandals &
american minority religions
NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Sex abuse happens in all communities, but American minority religions often face disproportionate allegations of sexual abuse. Why, in a country that consistently fails to acknowledge—much less address—the sexual abuse of women and children, do American religious outsiders so often face allegations of sexual misconduct? Why does the American public presume to know “what’s really going on” in minority religious communities? Why are sex abuse allegations such an effective way to discredit people on America’s religious margins? What makes Americans so willing, so eager to identify religion as the cause of sex abuse? Abusing Religion argues that sex abuse in minority religious communities is an American problem, not (merely) a religious one.
read the
three-part
teaser series in the revealer
"Evocative, theoretically compelling, and not mincing words, Abusing Religion offers profound new insights into pulp nonfiction on sexual abuse in/by minority religious communities…bringing together race, religion, sexuality, and gender, [Abusing Religion] will surely change conversations in more than one field."
Juliane Hammer
Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts against Domestic Violence
"Significant and
eminently timely."
Melissa M. Wilcox
Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody
“A major and multidisciplinary contribution.”
Sean McCloud
American Possessions: Fighting Demons in the Contemporary United States