International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 3 2022 14
community can use religious beliefs and language
familiar to the child to justify their actions and establish
compliance as a part of their grooming strategy. As
with all religious grooming, institutional or otherwise,
the characteristics of being religious and of obedience
to religious authority and power often compel children
to comply to their adult perpetrators.
In examining the hindrances to the reporting of
child sexual abuse in religious settings, Harper and
Perkins (2018) link research on some of the social-
psychological dynamics of group allegiance to the
religious context. They report that in institutional
settings, members may have a greater loyalty to the
institution than to the abused victim. This dynamic
allows observers of abuse to diminish the victim’s
experience (Backenbridge, 2001, cited in Harper and
Perkins, 2018). Furthermore, because devotion to the
institution shapes social identity (especially for more
devout individuals), they may be entirely suspicious
of the victim’s claims, favoring instead the religious
figure and his (or her) status and perceived credibility.
Thus, when the abuser is a member of the institution
responsible for the observer’s selfhood, social identity
and even purpose in life, then the observer is more
likely to deviantize the child victim than the offender
(Minto et al, 2016, cited in Harper and Perkins, 2018
see also Craven et al., 2007).
In sum, many of the unique features of religion
and religious belief contribute to an extraordinarily
powerful grooming process. Abusers draw not only on
their positions of power and authority as adults (which
is potent in and of itself) but also on assertions about
God’s will—the ultimate unquestionable authority for
religious adherents—and a figure that can inspire fear
as much as it can awe and love.

ISSN: 2710-4028 DOI: https://doi.org/10.54208/0003 15
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