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Does anyone know if being abused can affect the Fowler Stages of Faith? Any ideas on where to find the answer? Absolutely, it can. It can propel into Stage 4 more deeply (especially if the abuse is by a church member or religous figure) and make it MUCH harder to move to Stage 5.
It also can propel someone more deeply into Stage 3 (especially when the abuser is NOT a church member or religious figure) – since it can create a situation of high risk aversion and a strong need for security and peace. Relgion and a particular theological framework can provide that security and peace for many.
RachelM wrote:Does anyone know if being abused can affect the Fowler Stages of Faith? Any ideas on where to find the answer?
I’m not really an expert on the Stages of Faith or any long-term psychological effects of abuse but I see these stages as basically being similar to the typical process of growing up. For example, some attitudes and beliefs that are easy to hold onto as immature children will become increasingly difficult or impossible to maintain once we have more real-life experience and learn new information that makes us realize that this old point-of-view is not necessarily appropriate anymore.
Sometimes it seems like it is fun to be a child without too many worries or responsibilities as long as possible so I can see why some people would be perfectly content to just stay in Stage 3 or Stage 4 indefinitely when it comes to faith rather than wanting to complicate things with some of the additional challenges of higher stages if they don’t really feel like they need to. I don’t know how abuse relates to the Stages of Faith other than my guess is that it could possibly make people even more likely than they already are to get into the habit of denying problems they don’t want to deal with as a defense mechanism which could make them very resistant to change or personal growth.
I am not aware that Dr. Fowler addressed a relationship between abuse and his Stages theory. It isn’t discussed in his book “Stages of Faith.” That being said, I assume that anything as emotionally scarring as abuse (in whatever form) would have an impact on how someone processes their beliefs, and also how they transition from one stage to another. Abuse impacts a person’s perspective and worldview. Stages of Faith is a systematic analysis of
howpeople operate. It is independent of whatthey believe in particular. I always make sure to point that out. I could see abuse being a catalyst to push someone from one stage into another. That transition happens when our experience living doesn’t match our conception of how things are supposed to work. That dissonance causes people to seek a new faith to view reality.
Thank you all for your replies. I really appreciate it!
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