Book Review: Sacred Fury: Understanding Religious Violence

• Author: James H. Creechan
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016806295588
• Published date: 01 December 2006
• Date: 01 December 2006
• Subject Matter: Articles

Schultz contends that she used a tape recorder while conducting the interviews. This, in

and of itself, is highly commendable and allows the author to use the actual words of her

participants, rather than merely attempt to recall these conversations from memory or field

notes. It would have been very interesting and appropriate if Schultz had included a brief

chapter on how she was able to obtain the necessary approval from the prison officials, the

respondents, and even the institutional review board. Although some scholars may argue

that the presence of a tape recorder has the potential to inhibit the behavior of individuals,

it does not appear that any of Schultz’s respondents were at any time intimidated by being

recorded. As Schultz contends, this may be due to the fact that all of these individuals were

heavily involved in a treatment setting and were therefore accustomed to discussing deli-

cate topics of a personal nature.

Schultz’s work gives readers a frightening glimpse into the lives and crimes of incarcer-

ated child molesters. In many cases, these respondents provide interesting explanations as

to why they engaged in their criminal behaviors. For example, one of the individuals claimed

that he exposed himself inappropriately to adolescent females when he believed that he was

on the verge of losing both his wife and professional career. At the time of his offense, this

individual felt that he did not deserve his middle-class lifestyle, and therefore he deliber-

ately set out to destroy himself.

Another respondent claimed that although he molested his own stepchildren, he was still

a decent surrogate father and role model. In another case, Schultz provides readers with

the story of a sexual predator who claimed to have been molested as an altar boy by his

priest. This individual was later convicted of engaging in oral sex on numerous occasions

with a 13-year-old boy. Ironically, this respondent claimed that he later received counseling

services from his abuser as a condition of his probation.

Although this book is replete with very compelling stories, it also provides insights on

sex offender treatment and sex offender notification laws. Schultz attaches a copy of her

interview questions at the end of the book, and this may be important for any scholars wish-

ing to replicate her study. Although the instrument may appear to be overly simplistic to

some researchers, it clearly proved to be an effective tool in getting the respondents to

speak openly and candidly about their crimes. The book does an excellent job of attempt-

ing to answer the question of why some individuals molest children. Although it does not

provide the reader with any definitive answers, it should be noted that this is a subject of

which very little is known. Schultz is to be commended for examining a very complex issue,

and this text would be excellent for either a graduate or undergraduate course related to the

dynamics of sexual offending.

Robert M. Worley

University of Texas of the Permian Basin

Selengut, C. (2003). Sacred Fury: Understanding Religious Violence. Walnut Creek, CA:

Altamira

DOI: 10.1177/0734016806295588

The central premise of Sacred Fury is that “many people, including some scholars with great

expertise, want to separate religion from violence, preferring to see religion as peaceful and

374 Criminal Justice Review