The Church’s Playground: How Evangelicalism Enables Abuse

If you are surprised by the Christian response (or lack thereof) regarding the Epstein files, don't be.

If you were surprised that Christians showed up enmasse to vote for Trump even after a court found him liable for rape, don't be.

If you heard the audio of how he "moved on" women and read the multitude of reports showing how much rampant sexual abuse Trump and those in his administration committed and wondered why Christians still voted for him, stop wondering.

To know this issue inside and outside, you have to understand the Evangelical roots of subjugation, woman as chattel, purity culture and the Biblical underpinnings of such evils.

Christians are well-known for their shape-shifting, this is true. But, they are also very well-known for how they treat and view women. If you grew up within purity culture, as I did, you knew you were merely chattel from the time you started growing breast buds. If you grew up hearing about the great King David after knowing he raped Bathsheba, then you already know the deal.

You caught the looks of all the dirty old men in the church pews (you caught their comments too). By age 9, you were told by your mamas to only give side hugs when those men came in for frontal hugs because your mamas already knew the character of those men while letting you near them anyway. You heard whispers and the rumors of the church elders when they stood by the men who raped their daughters or the pastors who were accused of wielding their power against the young women in their churches. You heard the cries and soft whispers of the girls your age who were chastised and told they needed "deliverance from their sins" for daring to speak out against the abusive men in their families. Even though you didn't realize what was really happening, you knew something didn't feel quite right within those four walls and within that church "family."

You become a teenager. Your youth pastor now wants to be your "accountability partner." He asks about your sex life, about how many bases you have made it to. He thinks he can because your parents put you in his care. He is there to lead and guide you and to ensure you don't fall into lust. Right? You attended purity seminars full of young girls, being taught by young men regarding your body and your sexuality. Nothing to see here, right?

Then you leave an abusive relationship. The one you only entered into because you lost your virginity to this person who actually date raped you, but now you are a "used piece of chewing gum" for your future husband. You have no worth. You must stay with him now. You leave the predator you find yourself with but you feel immmense guilt about it because of the very things you were taught as a little girl - being taught that you are merely chattel and not to be believed can do a number on the soul of a child, you know? So you find the courage to leave. The church doesn't back you. They judge you. They say "God doesn't want a broken home." They say "your children need their daddy" while never stopping to ask themselves if that man used his own children for sexual gratification. They never truly care.

That man comes back to church time and again throughout the years- to pull one over, to keep people on his side - and the people cave....every time. They forgive......and forget quite easily......They gaslight......They disbelieve you and your children......They say "God changes people".....They say "He's a good family man now with his new family." They don't care what the cops discovered, what the court had to say, what the investigators reported. They don't care.

You become a young adult. A single mother. The pastor you find yourself under hires known sexual predators to work within the church, to guide the youth or the young adults. Those sexual predators stand at the pulpit asking for forgiveness for their own sins of lust. The church applauds. The church forgives. The church puts them into positions of trust. The church looks away.......again. Your male, head pastor feels the need to ask about your sex life when you're in your late 20s. Why, you may ask? You know why - there is only one reason why.

The church condones rape, child sexual abuse, encourages prying into the sex lives of the young women in their churches, allows known and convicted predators into their churches and around their children. I have heard their men, and women, chastise young women in the church for "seducing the pastor of the church." Yes, this is still a real narrative they believe. They don't care about what Trump has done to women. They don't care what he has done to his own daughter. They don't care about you and they don't care about your children. They only care to uphold this toxic Christian patriarchal system they have all had a part in creating and perpetuating.

This cycle will continue again and again and again if you keep falling for the narrative that the church house is for the victims because that church house is mainly to be used as a playground for the perps and as a tool to keep women perpetually oppressed.

So when you ask yourself why so many "law abiding, good, Christian people" push for Trump to be their king and never back down from the narratives they have spun - never asking for forgiveness for their sins, you can reflect on the voices of the victims of the church. If you truly open your heart and listen, you will know my words ring true. You will know my story is not the only of its kind, but is rather a persistent thread throughout the Christian world.

Open your ears and truly hear. Open your eyes and truly see the damage YOU have caused under the guise of your beliefs.