Sexualized violence in the Bible and religious education

On 4 December 2018, a research discussion on the topic of "Sexualized violence intheBible and religious education" took place at the Institute of Catholic Theology at the University of Kassel.
This institute-specific research focus is specifically anchored in the PRONET sub-project P34 "Representation of sexualized violence in the Bible and religious education". The two project managers, Prof. Dr. Ilse Müllner and Prof. Dr. Annegret Reese-Schnitker, as well as the project team members, Dr. Nele Spiering-Schomborg and Raphael Schlehahn, invited experts from the university, church, school and social sectors. The diversity of the fields of work enabled a wide-ranging view of the topic, resulting in interesting conversations, exciting discussions and mutual inspiration.

After welcoming words from Prof. Dr. Annegret Reese-Schnitker and a short round of introductions, the hour-long keynote lecture "Sexualized violence: its significance in religious education and its relevance for religious education" by Prof. Dr. Andrea Lehner-Hartmann (University of Vienna) began. She began by pointing out the marginal significance of sexualized violence in religious education, in which there are hardly any or only older practical discussions on the subject. With impressive examples, including the victim-perpetrator relationship and the church's defensive stance, the relevance of addressing the topic of sexualized violence in society as a whole and - especially alongside the Catholic Church - also in religious education was presented. The latter offers learners in particular opportunities for individual orientation and a critical examination of structural conditions (e.g. patriarchy). It was particularly emphasized that theological speech must stand up in the face of the victims and must not be reduced to empty phrases or empty shells.

An essential point of Prof. Dr. Lehner-Hartmann's presentation was the forgiveness took up. How can victims forgive their perpetrators? Starting with the understanding of forgiveness as an act of God towards man, the asymmetrical relationship and the power imbalance between perpetrator and victim were focused on. In order to be able to forgive perpetrators, this imbalance must be broken. This requires perpetrators to give up their position of power: They must admit their guilt and show active remorse in order to establish the basis for forgiveness. At the same time, forgiveness must not simply be demanded. However, forgiveness appears to be a milestone in the healing of victims. For the victims, the existential question of healing arises. The speaker sees the first step in remembering. Remembrance work is essential so that victims are not forgotten and perpetrators can be held accountable: victims must be listened to and perpetrators must be confronted with their actions. Suitable media for remembrance work include horror texts (biblical texts about sexualized violence), which are also central learning modules in sub-project 34. However, this alone is not sufficient for comprehensive remembrance work, as the entire environment, from the family to classmates to the church community, must be taken into account. Remembering therefore seems to be a basic prerequisite for a painful healing process.

Following on from the keynote speech, Rebekka Krain (University of Münster) presented her dissertation project "Protecting and involving children in parish pastoral care". The aim of the project is based on a quote from the "Runder Tisch Final Report" (2011, p. 22) at : "Ultimately, protection concepts are only really suitable for everyday use if they are discussed with those they are aimed at." In the MHG study, Dreßing et al. (2018, p. 208) also assess the status quo of the integration and implementation of protection concepts in parish pastoral care as inadequate. This is followed by the speaker's research question of how children are involved in their protection. Here, perspectives for the participation of children in processes and changes that are intended to protect them and make parish pastoral care a safe place are pursued. Following on from this, the participants discussed the extent to which e-learning programs adapted for the church sector are suitable for prevention measures in parish pastoral care. The participation of children and young people in the development of protection concepts and information material was also addressed.

In order to be able to generate such perspectives from the place of parish pastoral care, a qualitative-explorative study will be carried out in which a prevention officer, regional prevention specialists as well as full-time and voluntary workers, young people and children from selected parishes will be interviewed. This methodical data collection is supplemented by participatory observations, including a. with the prevention officer and selected offers in the respective parishes.

After a brief refreshment, Prof. Dr. Ilse Müllner and Prof. Dr. Annegret Reese-Schnitker (University of Kassel) gave a short presentation entitled "Wider das Schweigen. Sexualized Violence in the Bible and Religious Education", they presented the institute's own research project.

In the last part of the programme, there was room for in-depth discussions and questions.The participants primarily addressed structural conditions in schools, such as how sexualized violence can be included in the curriculum, and shed light on the possibilities of religious education, e.g. how fruitful scare texts are as a projection surface for addressing sexualized violence in religious education. Alongside this, the trigger danger was addressed, which was contrasted with the "self-protection of the victim" or the "power of the soul", thus invalidating the trigger danger to a certain extent. Because, according to the majority of participants, addressing sexualized violence, e.g. through biblical texts of violence, does not trigger trauma ad hoc. Nevertheless, emotions must be allowed and must not be tabooed under any circumstances. It is essential that teachers convey a sense of security to learners. In general, a safety plan should be drawn up by the teacher in advance when addressing the topic in class in order to be able to react appropriately in emergency situations.

In addition, it was demanded for religious education that sexualized violence must not only be addressed indirectly through biblical stories, but also directly, so that talking about sexualized violence should go beyond biblical texts. Alternatively, case stories/examples can be used to focus on different perspectives and thus play through different scenarios.

The participants also discussed the attractiveness and format of further training on the topic of sexualized violence for (religious) teachers, in which they particularly highlighted the "teach the teacher" concept as a constructive option. On the other hand, it was emphasized that it is essential to regularly address sexualized violence in school lessons. However, the participants agreed that the topic should not be dealt with exclusively as part of a block course or project, but rather as (part of) a teaching unit. It is therefore all the more important to integrate sexualized violence into the core curricula, school curricula and the curricula of the respective subjects.

Furthermore, the focus of the discussion was placed on perpetrators. It was pointed out that not only victims, but also perpetrators can be part of the student body. This is an important perspective that must be considered when planning and implementing lessons on sexualized violence. With regard to perpetrator and victim counselling, it must be taken into account that potential perpetrators are by no means professionalized.

With regard to the second phase of PRONET sub-project 34 (2019-2021), which includes plans to set up an online portal on sexualized violence in religious education, the participants would like to see a pool of methods containing teaching concepts and materials. This would make it possible to share and use developed concepts and materials that have already proven themselves in the P34 learning environments or in practice.

The exciting contributions and constructive discussions at the research meeting once again demonstrated the potential and opportunities that religious education can offer on the subject of sexualized violence in order to counteract the taboo surrounding the topic in schools.

A special thank you goes to the project sponsor and the BMBF, who provided financial support and thus made this research meeting possible in the first place. We would also like to thank the many helpers who, among other things, contributed to the design of the premises, the catering for the participants and the overall smooth organizational process.