Abusing Religion

Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions

By Megan Goodwin

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.

Significant and eminently timely. Melissa M. Wilcox, author of Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody

A major and multidisciplinary contribution. Sean McCloud, author of American Possessions: Fighting Demons in the Contemporary United States

Evocative, theoretically compelling, and not mincing words, Abusing Religion offers profound new insights into pulp fiction on sexual abuse in/by minority religious communities. Goodwin's 'reproductive nationalism,' bringing together race, religion, sexuality, and gender, will surely change conversations in more than one field. Juliane Hammer, author of Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts against Domestic Violence

Abuse Happens Because We Let It,' by Megan Goodwin
https://sojo.net/articles/abuse-happens-because-let-it-Menlo-Park-John-Ortberg-Lavery Sojo

Sacred Tension: QAnon, Satanic Panic, and New Religious Movements with Prof. Megan Goodwin
https://stephenbradfordlong.com/2020/07/14/sacred-tension-qanon-satanic-panic-and-new-religious-movements-with-prof-megan-goodwin/ Secret Tension podcast

QAnon Didn't Just Spring Forth from the Void—It's the Latest from a Familiar Movement' by Adam Willems - interview with Megan Goodwin
https://religiondispatches.org/qanon-didnt-just-spring-forth-from-the-void-its-the-latest-from-a-familiar-movement/
Religion Dispatches

The University of Vermont might be done with Religion, but Religion isn't done with us,' by Megan Goodwin
Religion Dispatched

Are you one of the many Revealer readers who appreciated Megan Goodwin’s 'Abusing Religion' series that explored mainstream media portrayals of Mormons, Muslims, and Satanists and their alleged greater prevalence of sexual abuse? If so, you’ll want a copy of her book, Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions.' The Revealer

Abusing Religion should, and must, initiate long overdue discussion within communities where abuse occurs, but continues outside the spotlight. Nova Religio

In addressing such a fraught, painful, and controversial topic, scholars and students alike would be well served by heeding Goodwin’s persuasive warning.'
American Religion

A strength of this work is its ability to hold the tension between taking seriously allegations or cases of abuse while rejecting religious difference as the source of this abuse. In so doing, Goodwin reveals the complexity and deep entrenchment of contraceptive nationalism in the United States. Reading Religion

[A] careful analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Ultimately, Goodwin's excellent book provides a foundation for future scholarship on the real-life texture of minoritized believers who have heretofore lacked opportunities to inhabit the kinds of privileged narratives that, for example, Catholics have. American Literary History

Significant and eminently timely. Melissa M. Wilcox, author of Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody

A major and multidisciplinary contribution. Sean McCloud, author of American Possessions: Fighting Demons in the Contemporary United States

Evocative, theoretically compelling, and not mincing words, Abusing Religion offers profound new insights into pulp fiction on sexual abuse in/by minority religious communities. Goodwin's 'reproductive nationalism,' bringing together race, religion, sexuality, and gender, will surely change conversations in more than one field. Juliane Hammer, author of Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts against Domestic Violence

Abuse Happens Because We Let It,' by Megan Goodwin
https://sojo.net/articles/abuse-happens-because-let-it-Menlo-Park-John-Ortberg-Lavery Sojo

Sacred Tension: QAnon, Satanic Panic, and New Religious Movements with Prof. Megan Goodwin
https://stephenbradfordlong.com/2020/07/14/sacred-tension-qanon-satanic-panic-and-new-religious-movements-with-prof-megan-goodwin/ Secret Tension podcast

QAnon Didn't Just Spring Forth from the Void—It's the Latest from a Familiar Movement' by Adam Willems - interview with Megan Goodwin
https://religiondispatches.org/qanon-didnt-just-spring-forth-from-the-void-its-the-latest-from-a-familiar-movement/
Religion Dispatches

The University of Vermont might be done with Religion, but Religion isn't done with us,' by Megan Goodwin
Religion Dispatched

Are you one of the many Revealer readers who appreciated Megan Goodwin’s 'Abusing Religion' series that explored mainstream media portrayals of Mormons, Muslims, and Satanists and their alleged greater prevalence of sexual abuse? If so, you’ll want a copy of her book, Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions.' The Revealer

Abusing Religion should, and must, initiate long overdue discussion within communities where abuse occurs, but continues outside the spotlight. Nova Religio

In addressing such a fraught, painful, and controversial topic, scholars and students alike would be well served by heeding Goodwin’s persuasive warning.'
American Religion

A strength of this work is its ability to hold the tension between taking seriously allegations or cases of abuse while rejecting religious difference as the source of this abuse. In so doing, Goodwin reveals the complexity and deep entrenchment of contraceptive nationalism in the United States. Reading Religion

[A] careful analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Ultimately, Goodwin's excellent book provides a foundation for future scholarship on the real-life texture of minoritized believers who have heretofore lacked opportunities to inhabit the kinds of privileged narratives that, for example, Catholics have. American Literary History

MEGAN GOODWIN is the program director for Sacred Writes: Public Scholarship on Religion, a Henry R. Luce-funded project hosted by Northeastern University, and a visiting lecturer with Northeastern University’s Philosophy and Religion Department.

Contents
Introduction: Contraceptive Nationalism
1          America’s Contraceptive Mentality: Catholic Co-belligerence and the New Christian Right
            Part I Sex, Abuse, and the Satanic Panic
2          Satan Sellers: Michelle Remembers and the Making of a Sex Abuse Panic
3          Believe the Children? Catholicizing Public Morality
            Part II Sex, Abuse, and American Islamophobia
4          Dark Religion for Dark People: Race, American Islam, and Not Without My Daughter
5          The War at Home: Muslim Masculinity as Domestic Violence
            Part III Sex, Abuse, and Mormon Fundamentalism
6          From Short Creek to Zion: Mormons, Polygyny, and Under the Banner of Heaven
7          This Is Not About Religion: Raiding Zion to Save It
Conclusion: Sex, Abuse, and American Religion
Epilogue: Religion Trains Us Like Roses
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index

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