Cult and Ritual Abuse : Narratives, Evidence, and Healing Approaches (9781440831492) by Noblitt James; Noblitt Pamela & PAMELA PERSKIN NOBLITT

Author:Noblitt, James; Noblitt, Pamela & PAMELA PERSKIN NOBLITT [JAMES RANDALL NOBLITT]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781440831492
Publisher: Abc-Clio Inc

Given that there is proof for the existence of some cases of ritual abuse, we have to question why some people are motivated to publicly deny the existence of this phenomenon while refraining from accurately citing the evidence. Consider this ethical dilemma. A little girl states that she is being ritually abused. The perpetrator draws on the arguments published by these nihilists to support his or her innocence. In some cases, a perpetrator could be aided by those attempting to discredit the reality of ritual abuse. A truly victimized child might be further traumatized and silenced by the failure of others to fairly consider her story because the perpetrator, defended by the ritual abuse critics, is more readily believed.

This is not to say that the field of ritual abuse shouldn’t be open to critical scrutiny. But why would critics resort to unscientific and unfair tactics? Why do critics of this subject have to stretch reason and distort facts in order to make their point, given the serious consequences that may result if this kind of abuse is occurring in actuality?

Christine Comstock (1991) made an important observation:

Now that the possibility of ritualistic abuse affecting great numbers of people has arisen, I believe it is a good time to question our personal and organizational response. If the stories we hear about ritualistic abuse are true, it seems imperative that we accept some responsibility to do what we can to stop this devastation. It may be that our nonresponse could be considered to be on the same order as the nonresponse of the German citizens during the Third Reich. (p. 7)

Comstock’s example of the nonresponse of German citizens to Nazi atrocities is thought-provoking because this lack of moral conviction was not merely limited to the Germans during World War II. It was, in fact, widespread throughout much of the world at that time. Even many of the European Jews could not initially believe the stories of the Nazi death camps. According to the psychodynamic theorists, this is how we cope. When we are confronted with reports or scenes of horror, we escape with denial. No one wanted to believe that such deliberate acts of terror could occur in a civilized society. As a consequence of their denial, coupled with the denial of the rest of the world and the unwillingness of any nation other than perhaps Denmark to assist the Jews, most European Jews were unable to escape the onslaught.

Now, to make matters worse, there is a modern effort underway to deny that the Holocaust occurred or that the European Jewish population was destroyed by the deliberate, willful, organized murder of six million men, women, and children. Telushkin (1991) describes this disgraceful movement:

Amazingly, and despite very extensive pictorial and eyewitness evidence, the testimony of tens of thousands of survivors, and the confessions of thousands of perpetrators, a growing number of books, pamphlets, and articles have been published claiming that the Holocaust never happened. To make their case sound academically respectable, their authors refer to themselves as Holocaust revisionists.

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