The Betrayal of Divinity: Moral Injury and the Multiplicity of the Religious Self

This proposal aims to identify the theoretical connection between moral injury in the religious context and the clinical understanding of multiple self- and God-states in the healing process. Moral injury is painful insofar as one’s moral values are deeply ingrained in the life orientation and sense of self. When people experience a discrepancy between their religious values and the dominant norms of the powerholder or the larger community, like the church, it arouses moral injury that signifies a profound sense of betrayal of what is right. This proposal suggests that the clinical task of healing from moral injury in the religious context is to help the survivor recognize the multiplicity of her self-states and God-states so that she can navigate an alternative model of moral valence that is not intact from the moral transgression but transforms the traumatic religious experiences into a more mature view.