Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions

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.  

Table of 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 Acknowledgments Index  

About the Author :
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.

Review :
"Abusing Religion should, and must, initiate long overdue discussion within communities where abuse occurs, but continues outside the spotlight."— Nova Religio "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 "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 "[A] careful analysis."— Journal of the American Academy of Religion "Significant and eminently timely."— Melissa M. Wilcox, author of Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody "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 "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 "The University of Vermont might be done with Religion, but Religion isn't done with us," by Megan Goodwin  — Religion Dispatched "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 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 "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 major and multidisciplinary contribution."— Sean McCloud, author of American Possessions: Fighting Demons in the Contemporary United States "Abuse Happens Because We Let It," by Megan Goodwin https://sojo.net/articles/abuse-happens-because-let-it-Menlo-Park-John-Ortberg-Lavery— Sojo