Last updated 9/23/2024
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.
Uncritical examples
Rocky Times at Willow Creek by Jim Meyer | Restoring Kingdom Builders (March 2018)
Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive
Commentary
Trust in pastors is dropping, and Southern Baptists think they know why by Captain Cassidy | Roll To Disbelieve (February 2023)
Michelle Duggar's Hypocrisy Regarding Sexual Predators by R.L. Stollar | Homeschoolers Anonymous (August 2014)
Cheap Grace: Churches That Ignore Abuse | Ashley Easter (January 2016)
20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms by Robert Downen, Lise Olsen, and John Tedesco | Houston Chronicle (February 2019)
Whose community is it? | Speaking When the World Sleeps (February 2020)
An unholy alliance: When mob forgiveness meets selective grace by Boz Tchividjian | Religion News Service (December 2015)
The Failure of Complementarian Manhood | Carolyn Custis James (April 2016)
”Compliance is not consent.” by Abby Perry | Fathom Mag (May 2018)
How Sovereign Grace Ministries deals with ACTUAL sexual sin | Are Women Human? (April 2011)
Andy Savage and the Problem of Evil by Captain Cassidy | Roll To Disbelieve (April 2018)
Hundreds of sex abuse allegations found in fundamental Baptist churches across U.S. by Sarah Smith | Fort Worth Star-Telegram (December 2018)
2. Even among progressive Christians, there's an attitude that predators should be welcomed and those who object are told they are as bad as judgmental conservatives.
Uncritical examples
None yet
Commentary
When my abuser is welcome at the table, I am not. | Sarah Over The Moon (June 2013)
3. 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.
4. 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)
5. Consent is plain not taught. It tends to be portrayed as this worldly idea that lets people have sex outside of marriage.
Uncritical examples
None yet
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)
6. 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
7. 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)
8. 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)
9. 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)
10. 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)
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)
What We Talk About When We Talk About Trafficking: Sound of Freedom/OUR Part 5 | Not Peer Reviewed: By Laura Robinson (July 2023)
11. 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)
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)
But his books are still good, right? – 5 things Christians must stop saying about sexual abusers | Tanya Marlow (February 2021)
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)
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)
Human Trafficking Awareness Campaigns Are Feeding A Dangerous Myth by Michael Hobbes | Huff Post (February 2020)