But now to an unholy row featuring domestic violence, Christianity and, we're told, the crusading armies of the ABC:

ANDREW BOLT: The ABC's war on Christians is becoming hysterical as well as factually inaccurate. — Sky News, The Bolt Report, 20 July, 2017

Yes, an ABC war on Christians.

So, whence comes the latest attack?

Well, according to Andrew Bolt, it was in this story on 7.30 last Wednesday:

LEIGH SALES: In all the conversations we have about domestic violence, what's rarely discussed is the role of religion. We talk about women in Islam, but statistically it's evangelical Christian men who attend church sporadically who are the most likely to assault their wives. — ABC 7.30, 19 July, 2017

It is a remarkable claim, which comes from a 12-month investigation led by the ABC's Julia Baird that ran across multiple platforms.

And it's one to which church leaders were quick to respond:

Churches hit back at 'selective' ABC show Church leaders have accused the ABC of 'selective', 'inaccurate' and 'anti-Christian' journalism in a report on its TV program 7.30 that claimed the biggest wife-bashers are Christian men who 'sporadically' attend church. — The Australian, 21 July, 2017

So, does the ABC claim stack up?

Well, in one respect almost certainly not, as Andrew Bolt was quick to point out:

ANDREW BOLT: It is not evangelical families that suffer from the worst domestic violence, it is Aboriginal families. Aboriginal women are at least 32 times more likely to be put in hospital by their violent partners. — Sky News, The Bolt Report, 20 July, 2017

That point aside, the 7.30 report was compelling viewing, featuring heartbreaking interviews with victims of domestic violence, who claim that church teachings were used to justify their continued abuse ...

TABITHA: He used biblical context of obedience frequently and the most frequent one, of course, is 'you promise to obey'. — ABC, 7.30, 19 July, 2017

But what of the ABC's claim that churchgoers are more likely to be perpetrators?

Well, there's little or no Australian data, but reporter Julia Baird cited American research from Dr Steve Tracy, professor of theology and ethics at the Phoenix Seminary.

And in this 2007 paper he did, indeed, state that:

... conservative Protestant men who are irregular church attendees are the most likely to batter their wives. — Patriarchy and Domestic Violence: Challenging Common Misconceptions, September, 2007

Read a statement from Dr Steve Tracy

But Tracy also concluded:

Conservative Protestant men who attend church regularly are found to be the least likely group to engage in domestic violence ... — Patriarchy and Domestic Violence: Challenging Common Misconceptions, September, 2007

That is, the more you go to church, the less likely you are to bash your partner.

Which is a conclusion several other US and New Zealand studies have come to.

Julia Baird freely admitted this on ABC News 24 last week:

JULIA BAIRD: Now it should also be added to that, that those who go to church regularly are less likely to. — ABC News24, 18 July, 2017

But while the same caveat was also in the ABC's online story, it certainly wasn't in the headline which went like this:

'Submit to your husbands': Women told to endure domestic violence in the name of God Research shows that the men most likely to abuse their wives are evangelical Christians who attend church sporadically. — ABC News, 18 July, 2017

Nor was it the message you would have gleaned from watching 7.30, which made no mention at all of the bigger picture, that regular churchgoing makes abuse less likely.

So, when Andrew Bolt says:

ANDREW BOLT: That is exactly the opposite impression you'd have got from the ABC's 7.30 last night. — Sky News, The Bolt Report, 20 July, 2017

He has a point.

So, what does the ABC say in its defence?

In short, not guilty.

The ABC is not at war with Christianity. It is reporting on domestic violence in religious communities ... We did not make any false claims, we correctly cited relevant, peer-reviewed research ... — ABC Statement, 21 July, 2017

And Julia Baird says the same:

For the record: there was not a single error in our piece on domestic violence and the church. — Twitter, @bairdjulia, 24 July, 2017

Well, that may be so. But we reckon the headlines the ABC used to sell the story misrepresented Professor Tracy's research.

And Tracy apparently agrees, telling Media Watch:

It is all too easy to cherry pick sound bites and in the process fail to do justice to the data. ... if you are going to highlight the failures you should be even-handed and note major successes. — Dr Steve Tracy, 22 July, 2017

But, as to the claim that the ABC is waging war on Christianity we are not convinced.

It's just a shame that it tarnished an otherwise compelling and worthwhile investigation.

Read Dr Steve Tracy's ABC article here