On Earth and as It Is in Heaven—There Is No Sex Trafficking in Heaven: A Qualitative Study Bringing Christian Church Leaders’ Anti-Trafficking Viewpoints to Trafficking Discourse

Abstract

There is a lack of contributions in sex trafficking the academic literature from Christian evangelical leaders despite their prominence in global counter-trafficking activism. Given that the academic literature influences professional and pedagogical discourse, the lack of evangelical Christian representation could diminish the complexity of trafficking discourses, limit balanced views of the flaws and strengths of evangelical counter-trafficking, and limit the opportunities for academia to understand and address problematic areas in evangelical counter-trafficking through an emic understanding of evangelical paradigms. Using a phenomenological lens to engage evangelical Christian pastors (n = 17) in the midwestern United States, this study examined the meaning faith leaders attach to counter-trafficking initiatives. Four themes emerged: (1) God cares about survivors of sex trafficking, giving Christians a moral obligation to intervene; (2) God, the Christian, and the survivor all have essential roles in tackling sex trafficking as part of helping humanity; (3) congregations’ faith-inspired but imperfect efforts to help an imperfect and complex world create many complexities; and (4) managing complexity involves applying the truths that underpin the Christian worldview, namely that God is good and people are valuable. These findings underscore the need to create an inclusive knowledge-producing forum that allows for a pragmatic exchange of ideas to expand the discourse between multiple counter trafficking actors.

“You come up from the ashes, and you’re like a phoenix.” Survivors of sex trafficking define resilience

“…Definitions are a fundamental piece of any discussion of any construct, issue, or personal or social phenomenon. The field of trafficking itself continues to struggle with defining and assessing “trafficking” across local and global sites due to the difficulty of specifying and reifying key legal and moral terms as much “force”, “fraud,” and “coercion” (Knight and Kagotho, 2022). Resolving definitional challenges must involve decolonizing knowledge, returning power over these definitions to the population whose interests are most affected by the particular academic, moral, or political discourse at hand.…”

“…Sex trafficking is the inducement of individuals under majority into commercial sex acts, or, the inducement of these acts via “threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, or fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability” (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2016: 14). Structural and familial risk factors are implicated in vulnerability to sex trafficking and other forms of trafficking (Knight and Kagotho, 2022). At exceptional risk are: people in poverty; individuals with low education levels; those with multiple adverse childhood experiences; women and children, members of oppressed racial, ethnic, or gender minorities; those who are cut off from family networks by war, civil unrest, and migration (e.g., Heil, 2016; Xian et al, 2017).…”

A Qualitative Study of Risk and Protective Factors for Resilience in Survivors of Sex Trafficking

“…Additionally, to achieve transformative change, it is vital for all parties to not only critically examine the actual impact or outcomes of services over time, but also interrogate the underlying assumptions, power relationships, and constructions of key actors and institutions involved in micro-, meso-, and macro-level service encounters (Twis & Praetorius, 2021). It bears emphasis that attempts to evaluate and improve services should include survivors in ways that go beyond tokenistic roles (Knight & Kagotho, 2022; Sanders, 2015), and that survivors from diverse backgrounds should be at the table, including racial, sexual, and gender minorities (Twis & Praetorius, 2021).…”