Yet another evangelical megachurch is repenting for mishandling clergy sex abuse.
Every few days, it seems, we’re hearing about a different instance of a pastor or church leader who has abused women and/or children and a church (or denomination) that has completely mucked up its response. Why is that? Why can’t churches get handling abuse right?
The reasons are myriad, complicated and intersecting, and I’ll try to unpack some of that here and offer suggestions for what churches can do to prevent sexual abuse and address it appropriately.
Many churches don’t take abuse seriously because in belief and in practice they devalue women and girls, particularly women’s and girls’ bodies, their right to bodily autonomy and their full selfhood. On the whole, our culture does not take sexual violation that seriously because it sees girls/women as primarily of value for their sexual availability to men.
“Many churches don’t take abuse seriously because in belief and in practice they devalue women and girls.”
Within many evangelical churches, purity culture has exacerbated this misogynistic viewpoint by making sexuality the responsibility of girls/women. Within purity culture, girls/women are responsible for men’s sexuality. If men are tempted, it’s because girls/women have tempted them.
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