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When
Good People Do Nothing History
will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of
social transition was not the vitriolic words and violent actions of
the "bad" people—but the appalling silence and
indifference of the "good" people. Our generation will
have to repent, not only for the words and actions of the children
of darkness, but also for the fears and apathy of the children of
light. Ritual
abuse is an ugly label for acts frequently reported but rarely well
defined. Reports of ritual abuse permeate the media and the courts,
but what do they mean? Are these claims indicative of a conspiracy
of evil-worshippers preying upon the most vulnerable members of
society? Or are they the consequence of a virtual witch-hunt
instigated by an over-reactive mental health industry? Despite
sensational media reports depicting a contentious psychotherapeutic
community rallying suggestible psychiatric patients to blame their
dysfunctional, unsatisfying lives on newly recovered memories of
horrendous childhood abuse, there is no sufficient evidence to
support such a theory. In all the cases that we have investigated
where a therapist was accused of implanting "false
memories" we found that the allegations were disputed and the
false memory theory was prompted by dubious or questionable motives
(e.g., the prospect of financial gain via civil suit). In some
cases, we found that the allegations of implanting false memories
were patently false, e.g., the client had the memories before ever
consulting a therapist. The theory that thousands of therapists are
deliberately promoting false memories in their patients is ludicrous
and unsupported by data. It
comes as no surprise to note that some people’s recollections can
be affected by deliberate procedures used in a laboratory for that
purpose. However, no study has ever demonstrated that therapists are
deliberately or intentionally working to alter the memories of their
clients as the researchers have done in the few analog studies
available on this subject. Rather, child abuse is an accepted,
though regrettable, fact of life. In
fact, even though child abuse is recognized as the primary cause of
traumatic death among children, experts in the fields of medicine,
law enforcement, and social services believe that child abuse is
vastly under reported and that fatalities among children are
commonly misidentified as being the consequence of natural causes
rather than abuse related trauma (U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse
and Neglect, 1995). Some
of this abuse is described as "ritual" or
"ritualistic" abuse. In a study reported by Finkelhor,
Williams, Burns, and Kalinowski, the authors found that 13% of a
national sample of 270 cases of child abuse in a day care setting
involved allegations of ritual abuse. We have defined ritual abuse
as "deliberate abuse carried out in a circumscribed manner in
order to cause dissociation or to manipulate already-created
dissociated states of mind" (Noblitt & Perskin, 1995, p.
168). But
does ritual abuse actually occur? It would be beyond the scope of
this article to cite all the evidence we have found that ritual
abuse does exist. However, we have summarized our findings in Cult
and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in
Contemporary America (Noblitt & Perskin, 1995). Furthermore, an
excellent scholarly review of the research on ritual abuse has been
published in the American Professional Society on the Abuse of
Children Advisor (Faller, 1994). Suffice
it to say, we find there to be a very strong case in the scientific
and scholarly literature which shows that ritual abuse is an
unfortunate feature of modern life in Western as well as
preindustrial cultures. We also find that cases of ritual abuse are
often mishandled and victims continue to suffer in the legal system
and the labyrinth of social service agencies which are poorly
equipped and rarely trained in this area. In spite of the evidence,
skepticism and apathy are still prevalent obstacles to the safety
and well-being of ritual abuse survivors and their advocates. Almost
sixty years ago, a very similar situation evolved in western Europe,
and the resulting catastrophe was responsible for the annihilation
of six million innocent men, women, and children. These six million
people were beaten, starved, tortured and murdered in an area
considered to be the heart of European civilization and in the midst
of a people proud of their civilized heritage. They died not so much
because a few evil people were able to exert control over their
countrymen, but because good people failed to speak out or take
appropriate action. We
are writing as secular individuals, and are puzzled by the
reluctance of the Christian fellowship to come to the aid of
individuals alleging ritual abuse. Too often, we hear of cases where
survivors feel abandoned and alienated from the clergy and the
religious community. Instead of embracing survivors, supporting them
emotionally and spiritually, and acting as their advocates, the
Christian community and its leadership have often turned their backs
on victims, even to the extent of supporting individuals alleged to
be perpetrators of such abuse. In the case of the Nazi Holocaust,
six million Jews as well as many other innocent victims were killed
while the world looked on apathetically. Few important church
leaders challenged this atrocity. Are we witnessing a similar
shameful silence? We
are hopeful that the Christian community will not only become the
case of current and ongoing ritual abuse? active in confronting
ritual abuse, but that they will take a leadership role in
eliminating such practices. Consider how much could be accomplished
if the clergy would adopt an advocacy role in promoting public
awareness and in assisting in the desperately needed fund raising
which would support research, treatment and legal assistance for
those victimized by ritual abuse. References
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