My Review of Schizophrenic Christianity

Schizophrenic Christianity sets out to analyze the increasing incidence of sexually abusive clergy in Christian Fundamentalism, almost exclusively Independent Baptist Christian Fundamentalism. The first problem the books has is that it presents no hard statistics about the incidence of abuse. Of course, I'm sure that none exist. I'm not faulting anybody, but the book makes due with "case studies" drawn from news accounts and victim statements.

If you accept that there is a rising incidence of sexual abuse cases in Fundamentalism, the rest of the book will work very well. The reasoning is clear, and the analysis beyond reproach. At the end of the book, I see exactly how the irresponsible church government policies of what the book calls "radical church autonomy" create a haven for abusive clergy. The book gets a gold star for its clarity.

But we're left wondering about the true number of cases in total. And that's where I perceive the real divide or fault line in the book. Some of it is written for the outsider, and some to the insider. It occasionally slips back and forth, addressing different audiences. If you have been in a church where children were victimized and the matter hushed over, or the victims blamed, then the book is going to grab you and not let go. Several reviewers have said they could not put it down. I think, for them, the case was already established, and the book told them why. The question of why is enormous for victims of clergy abuse, including those victims who are collateral damage: never abused directly by bad clergy but emotionally and spiritually shattered by the abuse of others within a congregation.

But if you come at the book needing facts and figures, you get a good taste of the substance of its claims. You see that Christian Fundamentalism certainly could hide abusive clergy and actually protect them. And at times it has. But you don't get the facts and figures that stitch it up for you as tightly as you'd like. And I'm not faulting anybody. I doubt that any statistician anywhere has singled out this one branch of ultra-conservative religion to get the numbers recorded. And so many cases are hushed up, I doubt anybody could break the wall of silence to do a valid and reliable head count of abusive members of the clergy.

I regard the book as a very good first approach. I forgive its occasional unevenness of tone, and I applaud the passion of the narrative in places. At 220 pages, it's a fairly quick read, and the analysis is both clear and startling at times. Anybody interested in the topic of spiritual abuse or the corruption hidden in America's Religious Right will benefit from reading the book.

Schizophrenic Christianity by Jeri Massi; ISBN: 978-0981471808