#churchtoo

[personal-blog243]

Christian Rock Band Newsboys React to Former Lead Singer Michael Tait's Sexual Assault Allegations: 'Heartbroken and Angry'

Christian rockers Newsboys issued a statement after allegations of sexual assault were made against the group's former lead singer, Michael

Millennial evangelical American youth group kids (even those of us who deconstructed) know who this guy is even if you don’t.

I’m actually saddened and surprised by this because for a while I perceived him as one of the more progressive Christian musicians and I held onto the hope he would turn out to be one of the good ones.

I was very wrong 😔

It looks like we are “free at last” of one of my former favorite Christians.

[nakedpastor]

Trick or treat! Scary.

[fruitbatvampiresociety]

Hey there people who have been hurt by the Christian, fundementalist evangelical church

If you could give a recommended reading/watching/listening list of 2-4 things that you would want to Show someone so they understood your experiences?

For example, my list would be

#churchtoo, emily Joy Allison

Quiverfull, Kathryn Joyce

The making of biblical womanhood, beth Allison Barr

[wutbju]

The Religious Right’s #MeToo Reckoning Is Coming

The Paige Patterson scandal just scratches the surface of a movement that has created a ripe environment for sexual harassment and abuse.

This, too, was four years ago. #ChurchToo is just ramping up.

The #GRACEReport didn't produce any legal results for BJU's survivors. Will #ChurchToo?

[surfeit-of-stoats]

if you don't believe a victim because they happen to no longer share your faith or your beliefs on sin and you believe the "good christian man" instead I hope you realize that's exactly why so many people have left

[speakingwhentheworldsleeps]

One of the last churches I ever attended had a thing where every Sunday, they'd show a video clip of "real people." These were all testimonies of people who'd lived through hard things; abuse, drug addiction, affairs, etc.

It was framed as being "real" because it was the grit and pain of living, under the assumption that "the church" liked to hide these real things away. But the problem was, every Evangelical church I attended said the same things. No one was denying the "grit" of human existence. And even at this church, claiming to depict the "real" these testimonies were still the same: Jesus cleaned everything up at the end. Everyone forgave and was healed and now life was good and wonderful.

By that point, I was already tired of the "realness" of Evangelicalism. I was sick of Casting Crown's "Stained Glass Masquerade" because we all sang it. And we all believed that in our little corner of Christianity, we were different than the other Evangelicals who were all performance and smile. We had authenticity. We had genuine expressions of pain.

But there was no space for hopelessness, for despair, for death that couldn't be spun into praises for Jesus. Our testimonies were still commodities, things that others wanted to possess.

Anyone who reads my main blog or who follows me on twitter knows that I'm writing a memoir, and a large portion of it is about the experience of being a sexual abuse survivor raised in Christianity. About what it was to have a life defined by someone else's testimony (my mother's) and what it was like for the weaponization and consumption of "testimony" by Christianity where no amount of "real Christians" sharing the pain and hardship of life had any space for me and mine. I couldn't let anyone in, not because they were "happy plastic people," but because the vulturous nature of an Evangelical faith that lapped up others suffering and demanded a satisfying conclusion that reinforced their own faith and beliefs about the world.

But as long as my Evangelical faith continued to have a self-perception of "realness" and "authenticity" there was even less space for a survivor like me.

[nakedpastor]

Temptress

I know many women this has happened to.

Not only in the church but in businesses, schools, the arts, and other institutions.

In my opinion, this is a misogyny issue that religion weaponizes with beliefs.

Women suffer assault on so many levels, then often must suffer in silence.

Because they know they will not be believed and in fact will be blamed.

Men: that's on us!

[girlwhowasonfire]

I realized today that I hiked to the same place where Josh Harris announced his departure from Christianity. (It’s my favorite hike and you should definitely do it some day!) No one asked for my thoughts, and I promise I’ll keep the most edgy ones to myself, but it’s late at night (which means I enjoy oversharing and regretting it tomorrow), so in summary: This is not so much a statement against Josh Harris, but against much of the culture of evangelicalism, whose desperation to create leaders of influence that mirrors the secular world has only ended in ruin and brokenness. This leads to abuses in power and #churchtoo, which I’ve personally lived through several times over. But the more I see people leave (honestly, I would too if I only experienced its megachurch exterior), the more I steel my resolve to stay, partake in the Eucharist, humbly teach and serve the booger-flinging first graders, give money to church and those in need, recite the creeds, and pray. I need less of a Christianity that cares about stages, book deals, and charisma, and more of a Christianity that humbly serves, believes in a risen Lord, and cares for the least of these. ☧ (at Joffre Lakes Provincial Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0pt05CBWgJ/?igshid=jv5jg0rynkwt