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<\/a><\/p>\nMany Christian publications have written about the campaign such at CBN, Relevant Magazine<\/i>, and the Christian Post<\/i>.\u00a0 All show support of the victims and are in favor of the campaign.<\/p>\n
How the story of the campaign is told has varied greatly across Christian publications.\u00a0 I believe this is likely due to Paasch\u2019s blatant criticisms of the Christian church.<\/p>\n
Paasch fervently condemns what she calls, \u201cpurity culture\u201d preached in churches and the widespread ideology of sexual restraint in the Christian community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat theology of abstinence that singles out women and slut shames everyone who engages in any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage.\u00a0 Purity culture is the religious antecedent to rape culture, as it lays the bulk of the responsibility for maintaining the sexual purity of both genders on women\u2019s attire and behavior,\u201d wrote Paasch in her article for the Huffington Post.<\/p>\n
In her Huffington Post bio, she refers to herself as an \u201cex-Christian blogger.\u201d<\/p>\n
In CBN\u2019s coverage of the #churchtoo campaign, Paasch\u2019s name is not mentioned once.\u00a0 Instead, their coverage focuses on pastors and prominent Christian leaders who are advocating for churches to address the issues of sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
CBN interviewed Jimmy Hinton, who is a pastor of Someset Church of Christ in Pennsylvania and consultant for the nonprofit GRACE on sexual abuse issues occurring in churches and faith-based groups.<\/p>\n
Hinton reported his father, who had pastored the church for years, to the police.\u00a0 Hinton\u2019s father confessed to multiple crimes against children and is now in jail, according to CBN News.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurvivors are ready to fight for what\u2019s right and they\u2019re ready to fight to have their voice,\u201d Hinton told CBN News.<\/p>\n
CBN, a more conservative Christian network, did not quote any of the Twitter posts for the campaign or any survivor\u2019s fiery condemnations of the Christian faith.\u00a0 Nor did CBN mention anything about \u201cpurity culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conversely, the Christian Post<\/i> and Relevant Magazine<\/i>, ran stories about the campaign where the majority of the text was direct quotes from survivors\u2019 Twitters.<\/p>\n
The Christian Post<\/i> and Relevant Magazine<\/i> both mentioned the oppression of women in churches and told the stories of people who have left the church as a result of sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
This raises the question, is coverage of the #churchtoo campaign another way of suppressing the voices of victims?<\/p>\n
In my opinion, the CBN story did not suppress the voices of survivor\u2019s.\u00a0 They quoted prominent Christian U.S. gymnast, Rachael Denhollander, who was the first U.S. gymnast to publically accuse USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pray you experience the soul-crushing weight of guilt so you may some day experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than forgiveness from me, though I extend that to you as well,\u201d Denhollander told Nassar in her impact statement in court.<\/p>\n
I personally enjoyed reading CBN\u2019s story about the campaign because it focused on church reform and the big strides being made to put an end to sexual abuse in the church and faith-based organizations.\u00a0 The CBN article did not dwell on the horrific crimes of the past, but rather spoke of optimism for the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By KATE JOHNSON The #metoo movement has now inspired a new movement that is gaining traction called \u201c#churchtoo.\u201d\u00a0 The campaign was launched over Twitter by Hannah Paasch and Emily Joy, who are both survivors of sexual assault. The mission of … Continue reading