Last updated 3/23/2025
1. Christian leaders (who are overwhelmingly cishet men) and other abusers that commit sexual violence are often excused while their victims are expected to forgive them and not be bitter.
See here for examples.
2. Marital sex is often presented as mandatory. Wives are told they're selfish if they don't have sex with their husband whenever he wants.
See this document for reference.
3. Going off the above, marital rape may be portrayed as a myth, or as not a big deal.
Uncritical examples
None yet
Commentary
The Great Sex Rescue: Marital Rape | Tell me why the world is weird (March 2024)
Schlafly cranks up agitation at Bates | Sun Journal (March 2007)
4. Consent is plain not taught. It tends to be portrayed as this worldly idea that lets people have sex outside of marriage.
Uncritical examples
Sexual Identity and the Biblical Philosophy of Gender by Doulas Groothuis | Christian Research Institute (June 2024)
Archived on Wayback Machine and Archive.today
Commentary
Consent is necessary. This is not complicated. | slacktivist (December 2016)
You can't say no to God: conservative Christianity and consent | Speaking When the World Sleeps (February 2013)
6 Ways Purity Culture Did NOT Teach Me About Consent | Tell me why the world is weird (November 2019)
A World Without Consent by Jeff Eaton | Growing Up Goddy (December 2013)
5. The way Christians involved in purity culture set up their morality surrounding sex doesn't tend to differentiate. Two unmarried people having consensual sex is supposedly just as offensive to God as rape and other sexual abuse.
See here for examples
6. In a similar vein, some Christians say “We're all sinners” to shut down people speaking out against sexual predators.
Uncritical examples
None yet
Commentary
what kind of leadership blocks dissent & privileges predators, christianity today? | The Smitten Word (June 2014)
All Sin is Equal: The Reasons Why I Hate Myself | Speaking When the World Sleeps (January 2016)
Josh Duggar's Real Victim Was God (So It's Okay) | Tell me why the world is weird (June 2015)
On the Canonization of John Paul II and Survivors of Clerical Sexual Abuse, John Allen and Thomas Reese Spectacularly Miss the Point | Bilgrimage (March 2023)
7. When Christians involved in purity culture talk about resisting sexual sin, they often use a narrative of one person trying to coerce another into extramarital sex. There's no acknowledgment that coerced “consent” is just another form of rape.
Uncritical examples
None yet
Commentary
6 Ways Purity Culture Did NOT Teach Me About Consent | Tell me why the world is weird (November 2019)
The Great Sex Rescue: Gatekeeper | Tell me why the world is weird (September 2023)
“Boys Can't Stop” | Tell me why the world is weird (March 2023)
8. If you get pregnant because someone raped you, many anti-abortion Christians will insist you carry the pregnancy to term if at all physically possible. There's no consideration for how this could compound your trauma.
Uncritical examples
3 Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments by Joe Heschmeyer | Shameless Popery (August 2016, #3 is the one addressing rape and incest)
Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive
When my sister was 9 years old, she was...viciously beaten and raped | In The Right (July 2013)
Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive
Commentary
GOP gov. candidate Garrett Soldano: Rape victims must 'protect the DNA' by giving birth by Laina G. Stebbins | Michigan Advance (February 2022)
GOP candidate says rape survivors shouldn't have abortions since rape was God's plan by Bil Browning | LGBTQ Nation (February 2022)
NRA: Papa is still preaching (it gets worse) | slacktivist (February 2015)
9. Christians who talk about sex trafficking often believe and spread myths about it, which harms trafficking victims by misrepresenting the reasons they were trafficked and ignoring solutions that actually address those reasons.
Uncritical examples
None yet
Commentary
I Am A Human Trafficking Survivor & Here's What I Want To Ask Christian Activists | The Official Blog of Benjamin L. Corey (July 2015)
Available on Patheos and Benjamin L. Corey's website
A Famed Anti-Sex Trafficking Group Has a Problem With the Truth by Anna Merlan and Tim Marchman | Vice News (December 2020)
No, The Government Did Not Break Up A Child Sex Trafficking Ring In Georgia by Michael Hobbes | Huff Post (September 2020)
Called by God by Meg Conley | Slate (May 2021)
What We Talk About When We Talk About Trafficking: Sound of Freedom/OUR Part 5 | Not Peer Reviewed: By Laura Robinson (July 2023)
Sex Trafficking Survivor Calls Out Sen. Britt For Inaccurate SOTU Story by Nina Golgowski | HuffPost (March 2024)
10. Conservative Christian colleges have an ugly history of mistreating and re-traumatizing survivors of sexual violence. The reporting process often involves questioning the victim about their supposed sin and accusing them of lying. Despite how these schools may portray themselves, strict moral codes have not protected people from harassment and assault.
Uncritical examples
None yet
Commentary
'Weaponization of the Liberty Way:' LU punishes women reporting sex assaults, lawsuit says by Cynthia Beasley | WSET (July 2021)
Christian School Faulted for Halting Abuse Study by Richard Pérez-Peña | New York Times (February 2014)
Bob Jones U. student denied diploma, alleges retaliation for activism by Michael Saba | CNN (May 2012)
Lawsuit: Liberty University Used “Honor” Code to Suppress Rape, Sexual Harassment Complaints by Ryan J. Farrick | Legal Reader (July 2021)
Sexual Assault at God's Harvard by Kiera Feldman | The New Republic (February 2014)
11. When speaking about women in the Bible being sexually assaulted, many Christian leaders tend to victim-blame. That's if they even acknowledge a lack of consent in the first place
Uncritical examples
5 reasons why Esther may be the toughest Bible book I've ever preached by Mark Driscoll (September 2012)
Archived on Wayback Machine
Matthew Poole's Commentary on 2 Samuel 20 (verse 3 is where the victim blaming comes in)
Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive
Commentary
Character Sketches or Sketchy Characters? Dinah and Tamar by David M. | Recovering Grace (April 2012)
Bathsheba and King David | The Ace Theist (December 2015)
Damming up justice: King David, power, and rape | Sarah Over The Moon (February 2013)
Esther, Mark Driscoll, and using rape to control women | Sarah Over The Moon (September 2012)
Motivated By Inerrancy Or Sexism? | Tell me why the world is weird (January 2025)
Is This Marital Rape? Lori Alexander and Closing the Escape Hatch. | Love, Joy, Feminism (June 2019)
Additional information about sexual abuse and rape culture in Christian circles
Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment or GRACE (this is an organization dedicated to addressing sexual abuse within Christian groups)
5 Things church leaders must do when allegations of abuse arise | Jimmy Hinton (August 2020)
Abuse of Faith | Houston Chronicle (this is a series of news articles uncovering sexual abuse among Southern Baptist churches)
You Are Not Your Own Series | Sarah Over The Moon (This is about how Christian dating books reinforce rape culture)
We just got a huge reminder of why #ChurchToo is so necessary by Sherronda J. Brown | Black Youth Project (September 2018)
What Christians can do to Help Survivors | Speaking When The World Sleeps (January 2012)
"Good Church Girls" Don't Experience Abuse | Ashley Easter (March 2016)
Jeff Altaras, "Evil Thrives When Good People Remain Silent": Discussion of Sexual Abuse in the Mennonite Context | Bilgrimage (November 2020)
the haitian church shames sexual abuse survivors: i lived to tell my story by Djanaina Salomon | AFROPUNK (June 2018)
Why the Christian Right's Sex Scandals Are Only Increasing With Time by Captain Cassidy | Roll To Disbelieve (April 2018)
Billy Graham's grandson: evangelicals 'worse' than Catholics on sex abuse by Sarah Pulliam Bailey | Religion News Service (September 2013)
[audio with transcript] How the Southern Baptist Convention covered up its widespread sexual abuse scandal by Terry Gross | National Public Radio (June 2, 2022)
4 Common Ways Churches Fail Abuse Victims (and What To Do Instead) | Ashley Easter (April 2016)
Gothard Explains Why God Allows Child Molestation: Part I by shade ardent | Homeschoolers Anonymous (August 2016)
A Church Group, a Lawsuit, and a Culture of Abuse by T.F. Charlton | Religion Dispatches (March 2013)
The Language Of What Happened To Us by Eve Ettinger | The Rumpus (February 2019)
Little Sins | Tell me why the world is weird (June 2014)
Justice for SBC sexual abuse victims: A call for an investigatory commission by Christa Brown | Religion News Service (May 2021)
Evangelicals decry 'silence' on sexual abuse by Adele M. Banks | Religion News Service (July 2013)
The sin of silence by Joshua Pease | Washington Post (May 2018)
“Nobody's Buying this Rape Business”: Frank Peretti and the Pentecostal Portrayal of Rape Accusations | Speaking When the World Sleeps (September 2016)
Did Angels Prevent a Rape? By Barbara Mikkelson | Snopes (July 2001)
To End Sexual Abuse in Churches, Dismantle Purity Culture by Leslie Goldman | Marie Claire (October 2020)
How white evangelicals are okay with voting for sexual predators like Moore and Trump by Wagatwe Wanjuki (December 2017)
Available on Daily Kos and the author's website
Further information
Rape Myths and Facts | Domestic Violence Services
I Did Not Consent To Being Tokenized by Lady Emmy | Tits And Sass (September 2014)
Sex Trafficking: A Media Guide by Tara Burns | Tits and Sass (March 2016)
Sex is Not a Vitamin | The Ace Theist (January 2015)
...incest relies ONE HUNDRED PERCENT, on CANNIBALIZING existing relationship bonds | bigskydreaming (July 2019)
65,000 Rape-Related Pregnancies in Anti-Choice States | Jessica Valenti (January 2024)
Incest Is Cancer by William Saletan (December 2010)
Sex Workers Don't Deserve to be Raped by Jillian Keenan | The Daily Beast (September 2014, has since become subscriber exclusive)
Human Trafficking Awareness Campaigns Are Feeding A Dangerous Myth by Michael Hobbes | Huff Post (February 2020)
Tennessee Bill Would Imprison People for 3 Years If They 'Lie' About Rape to Get an Abortion By Kylie Cheung | Jezebel (February 2023)