Victim Needs From a Faith-Based Perspective
The Effects of Victimization on Faith
Without training, the most well-meaning congregations can be uncertain how to respond to a personal tragedy of this nature. "We all need to believe the world is a predictable place, that we have some measure of control over our lives," writes Christopher Marshall, Professor of religious studies at Victoria University of Wellington. "But the randomness of crime challenges that perception. Victims remind us of our vulnerability."6 Marshall adds that congregations feel uneasy with "the coarse, unedited feelings that spew from deep inside the one who has been victimized-the pain, anger, despair, grief, and desire for revenge." Such raw emotions are hard to bear, and are often outside the experience of the average parishioner used to dealing with more prosaic forms of grief resulting from the illness or natural death of a loved one. Fearful of saying the wrong thing, they say nothing at all, leaving victims feeling isolated.
More complex dynamics may also be at work. Marshall describes how victimization may strike at the very foundation of faith, potentially forcing victims and the people close to them to redefine what faith means. "In some ways, victims constitute an even more threatening presence in the religious community . . . for the stark reality of their victimization raises profoundly unsettling questions about Christian faith . . . about the arbitrariness of suffering and the value of spiritual commitment when God seems to fail those who trust in him."7
Perhaps no one program, clergy person, or victim advocate can address all of a victim's needs, but an interdisciplinary approach to victims' issues, such as VS 2000, brings together the combined talents of faith communities and victim services professionals to help faith communities more effectively serve the victims who already look to them for comfort and spiritual care.
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