I was thinking along those lines as I watched the film; how long before these predators start telling teenage girls to cover their hair and cover their bodies with baggy, shapeless clothes so that they don't put temptation in the way of the men?
Yes and Afghanistan in the 70’s had women being free and in public life/ positions of power. Now they cannot speak in public. As Meryl Streep recently said: women in Afghanistan have less rights/freedom than a cat.
I realized something about that from the documentary "Bully", where an elementary school administrator joins in with a group of child bullies. She not only ignored and dismissed the ongoing incidents, but actually forced the kid to subjugate himself to the other bullies, acting like he was the aggressor, who had to apologize and make up. It seemed like she was so enthralled by the perception of "strength" that she couldn't bring herself to take the side of what she perceived as "weak". In later scenes she tried to gaslight the kid's parents. Identifying with the victim requires you to experience a taste of their suffering, if only in the mind. By siding with the perpetrator, a denier can block out that uncomfortable experience and not even have to imagine what it's like. Experts say that to cultivate compassion, the best thing is to imagine what if that happened to you.
I have 5 sisters. We were raised to ignore & subvert our thoughts, desires and talents. As adults, we are directionless and depressed. Some of us have struggled to overcome this. Not all have succeeded. This is the goal of patriarchy.
I came from a similar background. I was thinking recently about the whole “women are easily deceived nonsense.” I was taught from a young age that I was easily deceived. This caused me to distrust my own logical thoughts. Because maybe I only *thought* they were logical Which made me easily deceived.
I am one of them. At 44, with all 3 of my brothers succeeding, I am _still_ floundering for direction and purpose after childhood abuse/neglect/control and a 14 year long abusive marriage to a "Christian" man. Got away 6 years ago and healing...but it's _hard_ work. ❤😢
I thank g d my father raised us 4 girls to use our brains & would not be into any of this crap for his daughter's. My mother was a stay at home homemaker typical of the era & spoke her peace & mind also. She wouldn't be into any of this crap either. Our table was always encouraged with lively discussions & my parents even grew from these discussions. My parents even voted differently on occasion & had a long marriage. Each respected & supported each other. As a Jesus follower myself I'd leave & wipe my feet as I left with such complete disrespect & abuse.
Shocking! Standing ovations in church for sexual predators, but shame for their victims? How is this God-honoring? God holds pastors to a higher standard, not a lower one. Thank you to Jules Woodson, Tiffany Thigpen, Christa Brown, Cait West, and other brave women, for sharing your stories.
I'm so thankful for the women who sacrifice to keep others safe, and who call out the evil being done by those who claim the authority of God, but who reject the ways of Jesus. Thank you to all who were part of making this fabulous and important documentary.
To take the words of Our Precious Lord, the Prince of Peace, and turn them into vile hate-filled violence is the ultimate Blasphemy. Jesus tells us: "I ask for Mercy, not Sacrifice!"
We have a family friend who is going through this - her parents pushed her into marriage with an abusive husband. Now she is finally free and… lost, because her parents want her back with her abuser because it makes them look bad to have a child that got divorced. They do not love their daughter or their grandchildren, they love instead their social status in their group that tells them that they will receive salvation as long as they maintain their social status in the group. I am against that family’s values.
This happened to me, I was pressured hard to marry my ex husband by his evangelical parents because we were “living in sin.” Twenty years later, he tried to unalive me and when I divorced him, the entire family bullied me on social media.
before i went off to church camp in the 90s, my mom told me to never go off alone with a male counselor. Not that she had a reason to be concerned about anyone, but she knew that things happen even among "good" men. She knew from her personal experience and wanted me to be on guard.
This is another powerful documentary. Too damn many stories, but keep them coming UNTIL THE TRUTH is known!!!! I stand with all you sisters in solidarity.
I'm enraged by the abuse by church leaders preyed on innocent young people! I pray this documentary encourages victims of sexual abuse to bravely step forward and give a factual account of their physical and spiritual betrayal. And that churches will listen and take action!
I was sent to this video via an ad while watching a completely unrelated video (WW2 video), instead of skipping as I do 99% of the time ...I watched and was drawn in. Thankyou for bringing awareness to this tragedy that would otherwise be overlooked by the masses as a 2 minute headline, it is so much more. This is an incredibly important story for the woman of our families and our nation. The outlook the church has for our country cannot go uncontested.
thank you for telling this story. It helps push back the darkness. As a therapist for 20 years, I had the privilege of working with dozens of women (and men) who cary this pain. Knowing you're not alone is so, so, so helpful.
When writing my masters thesis, I was met with much resistance in the need to "prove" how Christianity can be a risk factor for gender-based violence. Thank you for this vindication. My only complaint was that it was too short. Thank you for this work. I hope those within the church who are trying to work for good will watch, listen, and TRULY pay attention.
It’s not about Christianity being the risk factor (false assumption). It is about people in power being the risk factor: religious leaders (of any faith), politicians, police, teachers, etc. In any group it is the power dynamics
@Fishwife-md5dr it isn't a false assumption, it is a statistical reality. There are things unique to Christianity that you won't find in some of those others that you listed. For instance, all the sexual assault in the Bible That's Just normalized. Or the quote unquote biblical gender Norms that suggest God believes men have authority over women.
So grateful for this. May it spread far and wide. I am coming out of a "Christian" marriage of 23 years. Have had churches support him, he continues in ministry. It is obscene.
I’ll be praying for you sister…the Lord can do absolutely anything…walk…run….put yourself first for a change…you’ve done it their way and that’s not the way…live your life in peace and harmony…Jesus will get you through…he did for me back in 1992…I’ve been blessed beyond measure 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you for shining the light on toxic masculinity and the danger we are facing in 2024. I now understand why the talk of dropping the constitution is being promulgated so fiercely.
So much has been in the press about the Catholic abuses, but this is so needed. I had a Young Life staffer revealed to be a sexual predator while Chair of committee and YL wanted it to be quiet and emphasize his struggles rather than the threat and damage. Ten years ago. I left leadership and was felt as not godly enough. My children have almost all left Christianity. Tragic. I'm a childhood survivor of an uncle and was told to be quiet.
Because the punishment is not equal across the class scale, we need abuse of power to be doubled punishment, to take a oath should be protected and extreme punishment, this is wrong how still they switch evil to be ok while repenting does not rehabilitate or protect others.
If you look for them, you can find a LOT of material on fundamentalist protestant abusers.Key words: fundamentalist Christians, evangelicals, also Christian nationalists
An incredibly important film, for our country, and especially the women of this country. The realities are laid bare, the power hungry are put in the light, the truth is told. As a man I marched with the women at the Women's March in Washington, DC the first month Trump was in power. I carried a sign I had made that said, "I Would Never Grab You There", and I would do it again. I hope I do not have to.
Me too. Church too. I was in college. He was the campus pastor of XA Christian Fellowship. I was silenced. I was blamed. The institutional betrayal is unreal. All these years later, and the heads of the Assembly of God still won’t do what’s right. Dr. Gaylan Claunch knows my story, and he did nothing because I was the only one …
These documentaries are so hard to watch but I will always watch. You all deserve to have your stories heard and validated. I’m so disgusted the abuse all of these women suffered and the gaslighting and dismissal you experienced when you came forward.
@@crichardson3903 I have that book sitting around here somewhere, and I haven't been able to bring myself to read it because I am afraid it would seem too real, and would trigger memories of past events, and might bring back nightmares. 😒
@@larkrowe41 A great way to get a good synopsis is to search YT for teachers helping students or students helping one another write essays about the book - some REALLY great analyses of the whole thing
Thank you for these braves women for coming forward (again) and telling your story. It is disgusting and shameful how men have repeatedly tried to cover up their sin.
I’ve never understood how men like this can literally have their own baby daughters, watch them grow, and STILL think that women deserve to be treated this way. I can’t imagine even what it would feel like to know that my own dad doesn’t care about my happiness as much as he does my brothers’. Why is it such a crazy concept that women are fully formed human beings? With feelings and personalities and desires and hopes and dreams and fears?
It’s because they objectify others. Children are also objects that they view as their own property. Even if they don’t sexualize their daughters like they do women (although, Trump sexualizes Ivanka), they view them not as individuals with their own needs and dreams, but as possessions - extensions of self - that either bring them glory or shame. It’s just two different ways of objectification.
Yep and I married one of these men (we started dating at 17 and married at 20). I had no idea that was a narcissist. We have 2 daughters and a son. We are divorced. But that will always be their father 😢
It took me time to understand cluster B personality types. To an empathetic person doesn't make sense but you look around, you read History and the sacred texts and there they are. It's not only a cultural thing, machism or patriarchy, it's misogyny. Men with antisocial personality traits will tell you "it's always been this way" because they are the privileged ones and they don't care about anyone, mother, sisters, daughters... others will shut up because they don't dare to speak up. That would make them outcasts and they will be mocked for not being manly enough. The idea of masculinity is based on misogyny. Stay away from those who call themselves alphas.
Generally speaking, men have proven themselves to be terribly dangerous leaders. I don’t come from anything like this but I still feel incredible anger for these women. I’m so proud of their strength and poise.
@@Star-dj1kw 🎯💯 Oh and Andy Savage isn’t the only one. I came across another heartbreaking video where, after the pastor’s confession, the abused woman and her husband stepped up to the podium took the mic and shared her story starting with how this family man took her virginity at 16 on the floor of his church office. Then she and her husband slink out like beaten dogs while many in the congregation step up to the pastor, embrace him and pray for him in a group hug. Just a couple of people reached out and tried to touch or hug the abused couple as they walked out of the church. Is this what Christianity has become? 😭😭
Thank you so much for creating this film and bringing the darkness to light. Special thanks to all the courageous women who endure, survive and overcome . Justice is at hand.
Absolutely infuriating. I'm in my 70s and raised very conservative SBC. My father was a camera man for Pat Robertson's fledging television network WYAH in Portsmouth, VA. We were in church most of every Sunday, Wednesday night and Thursday night. My mom never worked and stayed home raising the children. It's true that women were not allowed to preach in SBC churches, but you never, ever, heard of anything called patriarchy, of men called prophets, priests and kings, of women being submissive to men, condemnation of birth control, or criticism of women working or being college educated. None of this rotten fruit of the moral majority, the 700 Club, complementarianism, purity culture and all the other BS that passes for christianity today. I pray that we survive this moment and that love your neighbor somehow eventually trumps their obsession with power.
The reason women were forbidden to preach certainly changed. During the second wave feminism movement, the conservative church began twisting so many scriptures to fight feminism. They began interpreting them in ways no one had ever interpreted them before.
Your comment reminds me of the work of Prof Beth Allison Barr, a church history professor who tells the history of the hardening of patriarchy over her lifetime. She's in her 40s.
SBC is a cult and that's all I'll say. I believe in the Bible, I follow Christ my Redeemer and I have liberty in Him. I stay away from cults and America is ripe with all kinds of cults. One must tread wisely.
Thank you Carl Byker and Dr. Du Mez. I have and will continue to share. I've met two people in less than 2 years, who were sexually assaulted by a youth pastor. They want nothing to do with Christianity. May God's "justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream (Amos 5:24)! I will continue sharing and pray that this goes viral AND that survivors find healing! God is for all women who have been assaulted and abused!
The abuse within the churches and church-based institutions causes peril and harm that spreads like a cancer. Interestingly, it has now come to light that the now infamous Diddy combs was an altar boy at a Catholic private school where sexual abuse of children was rampant and lead to charges against staff even at the highest level, but then parents chickened out of allowing their children to testify, which eventually led to charges being dropped.
The guy that got the standing ovation -- just want to point out. While he sort of "confessed" he actually didn't. He didn't say that HE assaulted an under age girl -- he made it sound as if it was this mutual thing where both people went too far. Like the couple is kissing and it was consensual and they went too far together. No, this was a man in authority over this girl and he intentionally drives past her home to a dark area and assaults her. The standing ovation *might make more sense if we see how he is framing himself. Taking on the responsibility of a mutual sin moment might be laudable, but that isn't what happened. So did he confess that it had happened? No he really didn't! Just wanted to point that out! So often the "confessions" are not actually accurate, they are deflecting and hedging even while seeming to be all honest and vulnerable. This is why that hurts the victim so much and brings more attacks onto her! The mutualisation then will attack her for not also confessing and so on. Even though SHE is the victim. No one does that with a sin like stealing. They don't make the person who owned the desirable possessions in their own home have to apologize to the thief for existing where they were.
Amen, amen! “Mutualisation. No one does this with a sin like stealing. He doesn’t actually confess or evidence change but is applauded. SHE is condemned for Not Confessing (victim apologize?) and for ‘shaming’ the one who did the shame to her by un-silencing herself smh. The level of courage it takes these woman
Yeah, I have been listening to Julie Roys podcast and she talks about this a lot where it is basically just image rehab and not a true repentance or apology. She has one particular guest that they went through several of these so-called “apologies“ in the last couple of years, where they pointed out the tactics that are used to avoid full culpability, and restore some sense of prestige in the public eye.
If the guy was truly repentant, he would have turned himself over to the police and court system in order to be held criminally accountable. Let alone asked the victim for her forgiveness. What a twisted racket!
Yeah. And a partial "confession", i.e. lie of omission, gives the appearance that he's so honest and pious that he's admitting this thing without being forced to, and that's the emotional perception the flock will have from then on, regardless of proof to the contrary. Really it's just a standard public relations ploy to control the story, and get out ahead of it, as they say. Because people generally believe the first thing they hear, and it's harder to change your mind after you've already formed a belief; it basically means admitting you were wrong, which is uncomfortable.
Powerful, thank you. As a survivor of the Mormon cult of evangelical Christianity, I could identify with so much of this deeply embedded and hidden within that culture too.
Every woman and man who loves and respects the women in his life should see this. This isn’t just happening in the US, all over the world extreme religious men are working to turn back women’s rights
This is everything that is wrong with America. I try to say this from a non-partisan perspective, but the boundaries between church and state on the right have been completely blurred. This is also a compelling demonstration of why more women need to be in positions of leadership in government, the church, and the community.
Thank you so much Kristen. This shakes me to the core. Male authority in the church silences women and sets up an environment where abuse can take place. 😢 I want all my daughters and granddaughters to watch this.
8:25 "It costs you something to side with the vulnerable and the weak and the oppressed; it costs you nothing to side with the one who's in power." But it does cost. The cost is integrity.
I've read Kristen's book twice and follow so many survivor blogs so am very familiar with the courageous survivors who shared their stories in the documentary. I am still undone by it. Thank you to those who stand with the survivors and dare to share their stories with the world. And for every survivor, thank you for your courage in sharing these painful experiences with the world. You are my heroes.
I applaud the courage of these women. Love is the answer no matter the question. I always ask myself, "What would Jesus do if he was standing right next to me?".
This is incredibly powerful. I have so much gratitude and respect for these women who had the courage to tell their stories. I really hope this becomes the new 'me too' of the moment, and many many more also step forward and tell their story. We need it. The abuse needs to be called out publicly and loudly, over and over and over again. Let ALL the voices rise to tell their story. The world is waiting for it, and needs to hear it. Loud & clear.
Thank you for making this documentary. The stories it tells are horrifying and necessary to hear. and Thank you to the women who speak up and share their heartbreaking stories. Thank you to everyone who works to preserve freedom, protect our democracy from Being over taken by Christian nationalism and who works to create a more just and compassionate world. Please remember to vote for candidates who will do the same!
A hundred times thank you for this film. I’m an SBC missionary kid and experienced different abuses as well and carried over onto an abusive marriage. The tendency to want to dismiss minimize or ignore reality is mind numbing and disheartening. Jesus confronted the same kind of leaders that were abusive as well and called them snakes.
Such an important look into the many layers of abuse & oppression within the church of America. May we return to the true Christ. The God of justice & compassion, who gives voice to the voiceless.
Thank you for making and sharing this. It is clear, it is compelling, it is not sensationalistic, and I hope it changes people's hearts and minds. It is particularly awful when people use the church to shield and cover up horrible actions that God condemns. I'm grateful for the courage of survivors to speak publicly, and their testimony helps others to understand. And thank you for contributing to civil public discourse on something that is so important.
Blessings to all the courageous women who participated in this - sharing their stories so publicly is brave beyond words. Especially appreciate your sensitivity to the subject. For once - abuse has been discussed rightly - from the perspective of the victim. There is NOTHING "sexy" or "titillating" about abuse - yet it is often portrayed on film with that hideous edge. It is terrifying and devastating. Abusers are evil and depraved, and they willfully abuse.
Wow, breathe, exhale. I believe every word of each survivor story spoken here. Thank you! Being a survivor who has gone to the church, as well as a seminary, to disclose abuse, only to be dismissed while the abuser was helped, I find myself sadly able to understand each survivor in this documentary. One would think after so many years that things have significantly improved, but not enough. I believe the documentary could be the catalyst needed. Thank you!
I am so bone weary tired of being in church,hearing speeches about men needing restoration and men gather around them and lift them up after they have abused women. No one goes to the women and supports her or seeks her restoration. In fact she’s treated like she is the abuser. I was told not to tell anyone because it would damage the name of God. Where is the repentance in that? Where is the justice in that? These men are deluding themselves, narcissists all of them.
@@tiffanythigpen-kilgannon4103 Thank you❤️ Thank you also for having the courage to speak out, for all of us, it’s not an easy thing to do. You are very brave.
Wow. This was so powerful. What an important message for the present moment. For years, I have been praying for a sea-change in the evangelical Church, to equalize power and give voice to women and girls. I truly believe Ms. Du Mez and these brave women and many others are part of this reformation movement. Thank you for your courage and wisdom.
Ii am stunned watching this and with all my heart, thank all of you who brought this forward. A Baptist youth pastor here in our town was conviected of raping young church boys while he had them at his home for a "sleepover". My daughter grew up with him, attended school with him, and always felt he was a little odd, but never knew the dark secret held within him. My daughter also applied for a job at KanakukKamp here in town, and felt an erie feeling while being interviewed. She turned down their job offer. Let's keep peeling back the layers of facts, information and knowledge, and reveal so much more that is out there. This must be stopped!!
A must watch. I am honored to know a Survivor in this piece, and incredible woman I am humbled to call a friend. a STRONG woman, one stronger than most men. ❤
my heart breaks for these women, and for all the victims of predators like these guys. how absolutely heartbreaking and sad. none of this should ever happen in church again.
Very powerful documentary based on the lived experience of six brave women. You don't have to be a practising christian or even a believer in any god to be moved by their suffering. What they have been forced to endure is just plain wrong! R (Australia)
Thank you for this it helps me understand the RAGE I felt being subjected and abused, being made to feel less than. I can only watch, this by increments to appreciate what I survived. Religion used to justify domestic violence and I have overheard men saying how they admired the Taliban. Keep up the good fight.
I’ve watched this video over and over and over and over… Shocking, disgusting, unbelievable behavior and secrecy in all the dirtiest undercover activities involving the church in the name of Jesus!!! ANGER 😡 is an understatement here…ABSOLUTELY mind blowing 💯‼️‼️‼️‼️
What can I say my heart bleeds for all the woman affected by the abuse of men in power it's not just the US that has this issue unfortunately it is happening all over the world not just in the Evangelical world but any religious organisation ☹️ I have seen this happen in a church before it is just swept under the carpet and as your film says the men get away with it with applause and standing ovations the women/ girls affected are left to pick up the peaces and trauma that is caused. All I did was cry 😢
A standing ovation for someone who just admitted (in a church!) to SA?!?! Instead of contacting the police. And then announcing her name so he becomes the victim. Wow. Just wow. Shocking. They are depraved.
For years my greatest fear was that one day I would walk in a church, sit down and see my abusers sitting on the next pew over from me. And then, one day, I realized I would never be that lucky....if I were to encounter the ones who abused me they would probably be up behind the pulpit!!
So very sorry that this has also been your experience, may you find your voice heard through this as well. It’s for all of us who were pushed aside and not honored, loved, or fault for
Praying for the safety of these women and SO very grateful for their willingness to stand up to the beast. Praying for the good men who still believe their can be a "benevolent patriarchy" to finally start listening.
I used to believe in the possibility of a “benevolent patriarchy”. Thankfully, a kind, seasoned, Christ-following gentleman corrected me. Patriarchy, by nature, is not beneficial to women and girls as its root is always power and control. The root is rotten, therefore the fruit cannot bloom.
How horrifying but so believable. I left church 25 years ago, never left Jesus but men in the church are such misogynists and preaching a false gospel. May the Lord help us.
Putting these two instances (pastoral abuse, Trump) together actually makes it make so much more sense. I could never understand why the religious right revered him so much given that he is a morally corrupt person, forgiving his abuse.. well of course they don’t care that he did. Because they do it too. And if they haven’t, they’ve covered for someone who has.
I just got that too. And been on the Gothard Teaching trail for a year now. And Cults that use isolation to draw their victims under their authority. PRAYING GOD will rescue victims and their families from this religious predatory prison.
@@greatestshopper1077I was homeschooled in IBLP and finally broke free of the theology in 2015. I will be ripping out it's evil beliefs for the foreseeable future. We have to do more than simply pray. I was lucky I had very patient friends who's humanity provided the cognitive dissidence to help me see the wrongness of what I was taught. Praying is fine. But doing is far more valuable.
Both the political right and the conservative church are over reacting to feminism. They make fun of identity politics. But then they treat men and women as monolithic identity groups pitted against each other in power. They mock social Marxism. But then they build on its premises.
@@ginapereira8948What??? They are not dots. They are exclamation points. Open your eyes and actually listen to what Trump says. ( Plus, he has no policies, BTW. He is being used by the rich and powerful “Christian” and high tech men in this country because they know they can control him through flattery.). Christian Nationalists are no better than the Taliban. Not people we want to emulate or a society we want to live in.
This is the problem with religion, power and even a building are not what we are to seek as Christians 😢 Praying healing for these women, thank you for your bravery ❤
How about a religion without clergy, where all decisions are made by councils of 9 men & women (so no one can be ego-tripping about their own ideas), in which the equality of women & men is a basic principle, and which has few buildings to support?
Thank you for this film and for speaking up! I wish every one, but especially every woman in these fake "Christian" congregations could see this!! May it get many, many more views!! 🙏🙏🙏 I pray for the many victims, both known and unknown! 💙 🌊💙🌊🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🗳🗽
"church hurt" is not about petty personal sins. People who dismiss it are just further damaging the church by refusing to deal with the real issues of sexism and abuse in the church.
The men encourage that type of petty competition and snitching amongst the women of the congregation. Keep them in drama with each other so they don’t combine and rebel!
@@arnoldvezbon6131 I don’t need statistics. I’ve got personal, lived experience.If you really are interested in statistics, I suggest using a search engine like Google.
It’s all just horrible. This is why so many young women are leaving the church. The church basically tells them they will be treated like slaves and sex objects. No one is signing up for this mess.
I can’t believe the level of victim shaming and celebrating the pervert who has only confessed after he was found out. I'm so glad that these dear sisters still want to follow Christ. I'm sure there are many others who have given up on God altogether, and who could blame them? Sisters, please understand and teach your children: you are an individual with infinite worth before God. One day we will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ as individuals. No-one will be anyone else's property. You can have a marriage where you serve God together as a team. You can have a family and a career. I did. Now I'm a widow, still serving God in a country and culture different from the one I was born and grew up in. God bless you all.
Oh man, watching this documentary was so intense, I found myself forgetting to breathe at times. It is shameful that people and the church who name the name of Jesus can behave in a manner that would make the world blush. 😭 As a man, what can I do to lend my voice and resources to the cause of abuse victims within church spaces?
Talking about it is often revolutionary enough in many churches. Acknowledging that abuse happens and normalizing discussing it will send those who rely on silence into outrage or the exit, usually outrage. The core of this is a need for control born from fear.
Powerful, truthful message. That reference to Satan trying to tempt Christ... perfection. The American evangelical church is being tempted, but unlike Christ, they're completely falling for it.
Len Vander Zee is way off base when he says Christ said NO because Christ didn’t want power over the nations. Jesus said NO to Satan’s power to prove Satan doesn’t have the power he says he does-it was already Christ’s due to His divinity, and preeminence before Satan, and considering all things were made through Christ knowing he would sacrifice himself for the consequences of free will.
This. Is. SO. POWERFUL!! Thank you for creating such a poignant and necessary narrative that is needed at such a crucial time in America! I am so sorry for each of these women who suffered at the hands of “spiritual leaders”. I too learned spiritual leaders were not to be trusted and they didn’t care about my well being. I was disposable. Thank You and may this reach far and wide, especially to the closed ears and eyes of christians.
The Bible talks of a time when good will be called evil and evil good. Many Christians believe that we are living in such a time but they turn their back on the evil that is being perpetrated in their own house. What these ministers/pastors have done is evil. But what frightens me most is the examples presented of Christian nationalism. I had no idea that so many parts of the body of Christ have embraced such an evil doctrine. Thank you for your time and effort in creating this documentary. I pray that those with eyes to see and ears to hear will hear and see this documentary.
The parallels between the ideas of Christian Nationalism and those of Afghanistan’s Taliban are striking.
I was thinking along those lines as I watched the film; how long before these predators start telling teenage girls to cover their hair and cover their bodies with baggy, shapeless clothes so that they don't put temptation in the way of the men?
Absolutely. The idea that external rules will change human hearts is flawed and un-Christian.
Yep, but people are willfully blind to it because it serves them.
Yes and Afghanistan in the 70’s had women being free and in public life/ positions of power. Now they cannot speak in public. As Meryl Streep recently said: women in Afghanistan have less rights/freedom than a cat.
@@CarmellaCake11it’s so sad.
Also devastating that women in the US right now, in abortion ban states, have less rights than a corpse. 😢
“It costs you SOMETHING to side with the weak the vulnerable and the oppressed , it cost you NOTHING to side with the ones that’s in power”😢😢😢
Nothing except your soul.
You also gain personally when you stand for yourself and the downtroddened.
Except your soul.
I realized something about that from the documentary "Bully", where an elementary school administrator joins in with a group of child bullies. She not only ignored and dismissed the ongoing incidents, but actually forced the kid to subjugate himself to the other bullies, acting like he was the aggressor, who had to apologize and make up. It seemed like she was so enthralled by the perception of "strength" that she couldn't bring herself to take the side of what she perceived as "weak". In later scenes she tried to gaslight the kid's parents.
Identifying with the victim requires you to experience a taste of their suffering, if only in the mind. By siding with the perpetrator, a denier can block out that uncomfortable experience and not even have to imagine what it's like. Experts say that to cultivate compassion, the best thing is to imagine what if that happened to you.
Thank you to everyone involved in making this, especially the courageous survivors who participated.
I have 5 sisters. We were raised to ignore & subvert our thoughts, desires and talents. As adults, we are directionless and depressed. Some of us have struggled to overcome this. Not all have succeeded.
This is the goal of patriarchy.
I came from a similar background. I was thinking recently about the whole “women are easily deceived nonsense.” I was taught from a young age that I was easily deceived.
This caused me to distrust my own logical thoughts. Because maybe I only *thought* they were logical
Which made me easily deceived.
I am one of them. At 44, with all 3 of my brothers succeeding, I am _still_ floundering for direction and purpose after childhood abuse/neglect/control and a 14 year long abusive marriage to a "Christian" man.
Got away 6 years ago and healing...but it's _hard_ work. ❤😢
@@starlingswallow I wish you healing. You're courageous to have come this far.
Me too. Wow. You just described my life.
I thank g d my father raised us 4 girls to use our brains & would not be into any of this crap for his daughter's. My mother was a stay at home homemaker typical of the era & spoke her peace & mind also. She wouldn't be into any of this crap either. Our table was always encouraged with lively discussions & my parents even grew from these discussions. My parents even voted differently on occasion & had a long marriage. Each respected & supported each other. As a Jesus follower myself I'd leave & wipe my feet as I left with such complete disrespect & abuse.
Shocking! Standing ovations in church for sexual predators, but shame for their victims? How is this God-honoring? God holds pastors to a higher standard, not a lower one. Thank you to Jules Woodson, Tiffany Thigpen, Christa Brown, Cait West, and other brave women, for sharing your stories.
There is no God. You are still brainwashed.
Yes he does and shame on them
I'm so thankful for the women who sacrifice to keep others safe, and who call out the evil being done by those who claim the authority of God, but who reject the ways of Jesus. Thank you to all who were part of making this fabulous and important documentary.
❤
Amen, blasphemy to be sure
To take the words of Our Precious Lord, the Prince of Peace, and turn them into vile hate-filled violence is the ultimate Blasphemy.
Jesus tells us:
"I ask for Mercy, not Sacrifice!"
We have a family friend who is going through this - her parents pushed her into marriage with an abusive husband.
Now she is finally free and… lost, because her parents want her back with her abuser because it makes them look bad to have a child that got divorced.
They do not love their daughter or their grandchildren, they love instead their social status in their group that tells them that they will receive salvation as long as they maintain their social status in the group.
I am against that family’s values.
This happened to me, I was pressured hard to marry my ex husband by his evangelical parents because we were “living in sin.” Twenty years later, he tried to unalive me and when I divorced him, the entire family bullied me on social media.
Omg I want to hug these ladies for their courage to share their stories and take action.
When she said, “God doesn’t need these people.” So right on!!
I know I want give them a hug also
before i went off to church camp in the 90s, my
mom told me to never go off alone with a male counselor. Not that she had a reason to be concerned about anyone, but she knew that things happen even among "good" men. She knew from her personal experience and wanted me to be on guard.
Thanks to your mom and sorry for her experiences
This is another powerful documentary. Too damn many stories, but keep them coming UNTIL THE TRUTH is known!!!! I stand with all you sisters in solidarity.
I am giving all these women, these amazing women and sisters and daughters, a huge virtual standing ovation that they so rightly deserve.
Exactly
I'm enraged by the abuse by church leaders preyed on innocent young people! I pray this documentary encourages victims of sexual abuse to bravely step forward and give a factual account of their physical and spiritual betrayal. And that churches will listen and take action!
I was sent to this video via an ad while watching a completely unrelated video (WW2 video), instead of skipping as I do 99% of the time ...I watched and was drawn in. Thankyou for bringing awareness to this tragedy that would otherwise be overlooked by the masses as a 2 minute headline, it is so much more. This is an incredibly important story for the woman of our families and our nation. The outlook the church has for our country cannot go uncontested.
thank you for telling this story. It helps push back the darkness. As a therapist for 20 years, I had the privilege of working with dozens of women (and men) who cary this pain. Knowing you're not alone is so, so, so helpful.
Thank you for your work
I also was a therapist who worked with sexual abuse survivors. I always felt honored to work with these clients and help them find their strength
When writing my masters thesis, I was met with much resistance in the need to "prove" how Christianity can be a risk factor for gender-based violence. Thank you for this vindication. My only complaint was that it was too short. Thank you for this work. I hope those within the church who are trying to work for good will watch, listen, and TRULY pay attention.
This is not CHRISTianity. That's why its a risk factor
It’s not about Christianity being the risk factor (false assumption). It is about people in power being the risk factor: religious leaders (of any faith), politicians, police, teachers, etc. In any group it is the power dynamics
Exactly
@Fishwife-md5dr it isn't a false assumption, it is a statistical reality. There are things unique to Christianity that you won't find in some of those others that you listed. For instance, all the sexual assault in the Bible That's Just normalized. Or the quote unquote biblical gender Norms that suggest God believes men have authority over women.
So grateful for this. May it spread far and wide. I am coming out of a "Christian" marriage of 23 years. Have had churches support him, he continues in ministry. It is obscene.
I'm so sorry this happened to you. I pray he is no longer abusing people. 💙💙💙🇺🇸
@@kookootrix1978me too. Seriously.
I’ll be praying for you sister…the Lord can do absolutely anything…walk…run….put yourself first for a change…you’ve done it their way and that’s not the way…live your life in peace and harmony…Jesus will get you through…he did for me back in 1992…I’ve been blessed beyond measure 🙏🙏🙏
🩵🩵🩵🙏🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
💙I'm sorry. You can do this.
Phenomenal documentary. These stories need to be shared. The hypocrisy in these circles is disgusting
@@michaelkarapetian9908 🎯🆘‼️💙‼️🆘🎯
Yes it should be shared
Thank you for shining the light on toxic masculinity and the danger we are facing in 2024.
I now understand why the talk of dropping the constitution is being promulgated so fiercely.
Without strong men then society would fall apart
4B.
And vote Harris.
@@joegerhardusa9017 PS: without strong women - for example: MOTHERS… strong men wouldn’t exist.
☝️ THIS!! ☝️
@@joegerhardusa9017Strong men, strong women and safe, nurtured children.
Thank you for centering survivors and having them share their stories. Bring it all into the light! 👏👏👏
@@ajdamronfamily 🎯💙🙏🏻
So much has been in the press about the Catholic abuses, but this is so needed. I had a Young Life staffer revealed to be a sexual predator while Chair of committee and YL wanted it to be quiet and emphasize his struggles rather than the threat and damage. Ten years ago. I left leadership and was felt as not godly enough. My children have almost all left Christianity. Tragic. I'm a childhood survivor of an uncle and was told to be quiet.
Because the punishment is not equal across the class scale, we need abuse of power to be doubled punishment, to take a oath should be protected and extreme punishment, this is wrong how still they switch evil to be ok while repenting does not rehabilitate or protect others.
@@CeciliaVillalobos-ls6ie 🎯
If you look for them, you can find a LOT of material on fundamentalist protestant abusers.Key words: fundamentalist Christians, evangelicals, also Christian nationalists
Sorry this happened to you
An incredibly important film, for our country, and especially the women of this country. The realities are laid bare, the power hungry are put in the light, the truth is told. As a man I marched with the women at the Women's March in Washington, DC the first month Trump was in power. I carried a sign I had made that said, "I Would Never Grab You There", and I would do it again. I hope I do not have to.
Me too. Church too. I was in college. He was the campus pastor of XA Christian Fellowship. I was silenced. I was blamed. The institutional betrayal is unreal. All these years later, and the heads of the Assembly of God still won’t do what’s right. Dr. Gaylan Claunch knows my story, and he did nothing because I was the only one …
I am so sorry. Sending you love ❤ ❤ amd healing.
Thank you Ladies, for speaking out and telling the truth about what is commonly taking place within many churches.
Yes it is happening and I hope it lands in the right person feed
My pain goes out to all the women who have suffered. I've been there as well thank you for bringing this out❤
Sorry you had to go through this
These documentaries are so hard to watch but I will always watch. You all deserve to have your stories heard and validated. I’m so disgusted the abuse all of these women suffered and the gaslighting and dismissal you experienced when you came forward.
This is why The Handmaid's Tale is THE cautionary story of our time. And the most terrifying horror story of all time.
You have been brainwashed.
@@crichardson3903 I have that book sitting around here somewhere, and I haven't been able to bring myself to read it because I am afraid it would seem too real, and would trigger memories of past events, and might bring back nightmares. 😒
It is very, very scary if you are a woman @larkrowe41
And like a premonition of what’s happening!
@@larkrowe41 A great way to get a good synopsis is to search YT for teachers helping students or students helping one another write essays about the book - some REALLY great analyses of the whole thing
Thank you for these braves women for coming forward (again) and telling your story. It is disgusting and shameful how men have repeatedly tried to cover up their sin.
It not only shameful but disgusting
I’ve never understood how men like this can literally have their own baby daughters, watch them grow, and STILL think that women deserve to be treated this way. I can’t imagine even what it would feel like to know that my own dad doesn’t care about my happiness as much as he does my brothers’. Why is it such a crazy concept that women are fully formed human beings? With feelings and personalities and desires and hopes and dreams and fears?
It’s because they objectify others. Children are also objects that they view as their own property. Even if they don’t sexualize their daughters like they do women (although, Trump sexualizes Ivanka), they view them not as individuals with their own needs and dreams, but as possessions - extensions of self - that either bring them glory or shame.
It’s just two different ways of objectification.
Yep and I married one of these men (we started dating at 17 and married at 20). I had no idea that was a narcissist. We have 2 daughters and a son. We are divorced. But that will always be their father 😢
I’ve heard that the best way to make a man a feminist is to have him raise daughters. But it doesn’t seem to take with these guys.
It took me time to understand cluster B personality types. To an empathetic person doesn't make sense but you look around, you read History and the sacred texts and there they are.
It's not only a cultural thing, machism or patriarchy, it's misogyny.
Men with antisocial personality traits will tell you "it's always been this way" because they are the privileged ones and they don't care about anyone, mother, sisters, daughters... others will shut up because they don't dare to speak up. That would make them outcasts and they will be mocked for not being manly enough.
The idea of masculinity is based on misogyny. Stay away from those who call themselves alphas.
@@toritori5835
And both are narcissistic.
Thank you for this important documentary. I hope it will be viewed by millions around the world.
Generally speaking, men have proven themselves to be terribly dangerous leaders. I don’t come from anything like this but I still feel incredible anger for these women. I’m so proud of their strength and poise.
Thank you, all of you, for raising your voices. Let justice roll down like thunder.
Yes hold them accountable
Thank you for this, Kristy. In 29 minutes you've changed the world. ❤ God bless you.
Yes she has
The congregation giving Andy Savage a standing ovation is ABHORRENT. Shame on them!
@@Star-dj1kw 🎯💯
Oh and Andy Savage isn’t the only one. I came across another heartbreaking video where, after the pastor’s confession, the abused woman and her husband stepped up to the podium took the mic and shared her story starting with how this family man took her virginity at 16 on the floor of his church office. Then she and her husband slink out like beaten dogs while many in the congregation step up to the pastor, embrace him and pray for him in a group hug. Just a couple of people reached out and tried to touch or hug the abused couple as they walked out of the church. Is this what Christianity has become? 😭😭
@@JhutaNabiI saw that too.
@@ps0195 can you please share the link? Thank you
@@JhutaNabiIt's a cult. Wherever those in power are worshiped it has become a cult!
Get out of it My people! Says God.
@@JhutaNabiThe Real faith would not be this. Ladies: protect yourselves; nothing wrong with that.
Thank you so much for creating this film and bringing the darkness to light. Special thanks to all the courageous women who endure, survive and overcome . Justice is at hand.
Please keep coming forward and raising your voices. Together, we are strong.
Absolutely infuriating. I'm in my 70s and raised very conservative SBC. My father was a camera man for Pat Robertson's fledging television network WYAH in Portsmouth, VA. We were in church most of every Sunday, Wednesday night and Thursday night. My mom never worked and stayed home raising the children. It's true that women were not allowed to preach in SBC churches, but you never, ever, heard of anything called patriarchy, of men called prophets, priests and kings, of women being submissive to men, condemnation of birth control, or criticism of women working or being college educated. None of this rotten fruit of the moral majority, the 700 Club, complementarianism, purity culture and all the other BS that passes for christianity today. I pray that we survive this moment and that love your neighbor somehow eventually trumps their obsession with power.
Thank you for this educational and interesting comment!
Thank you for this insight. I hope there is change for the better not further into this insanity 💔
The reason women were forbidden to preach certainly changed. During the second wave feminism movement, the conservative church began twisting so many scriptures to fight feminism. They began interpreting them in ways no one had ever interpreted them before.
Your comment reminds me of the work of Prof Beth Allison Barr, a church history professor who tells the history of the hardening of patriarchy over her lifetime. She's in her 40s.
SBC is a cult and that's all I'll say. I believe in the Bible, I follow Christ my Redeemer and I have liberty in Him. I stay away from cults and America is ripe with all kinds of cults. One must tread wisely.
Thank you Carl Byker and Dr. Du Mez. I have and will continue to share. I've met two people in less than 2 years, who were sexually assaulted by a youth pastor. They want nothing to do with Christianity. May God's "justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream (Amos 5:24)! I will continue sharing and pray that this goes viral AND that survivors find healing! God is for all women who have been assaulted and abused!
There are so many of us and I pray it all comes to light. Thank you
The abuse within the churches and church-based institutions causes peril and harm that spreads like a cancer. Interestingly, it has now come to light that the now infamous Diddy combs was an altar boy at a Catholic private school where sexual abuse of children was rampant and lead to charges against staff even at the highest level, but then parents chickened out of allowing their children to testify, which eventually led to charges being dropped.
The guy that got the standing ovation -- just want to point out. While he sort of "confessed" he actually didn't. He didn't say that HE assaulted an under age girl -- he made it sound as if it was this mutual thing where both people went too far. Like the couple is kissing and it was consensual and they went too far together. No, this was a man in authority over this girl and he intentionally drives past her home to a dark area and assaults her. The standing ovation *might make more sense if we see how he is framing himself. Taking on the responsibility of a mutual sin moment might be laudable, but that isn't what happened. So did he confess that it had happened? No he really didn't! Just wanted to point that out! So often the "confessions" are not actually accurate, they are deflecting and hedging even while seeming to be all honest and vulnerable. This is why that hurts the victim so much and brings more attacks onto her! The mutualisation then will attack her for not also confessing and so on. Even though SHE is the victim. No one does that with a sin like stealing. They don't make the person who owned the desirable possessions in their own home have to apologize to the thief for existing where they were.
Amen, amen! “Mutualisation. No one does this with a sin like stealing. He doesn’t actually confess or evidence change but is applauded. SHE is condemned for Not Confessing (victim apologize?) and for ‘shaming’ the one who did the shame to her by un-silencing herself smh. The level of courage it takes these woman
Yeah, I have been listening to Julie Roys podcast and she talks about this a lot where it is basically just image rehab and not a true repentance or apology. She has one particular guest that they went through several of these so-called “apologies“ in the last couple of years, where they pointed out the tactics that are used to avoid full culpability, and restore some sense of prestige in the public eye.
If the guy was truly repentant, he would have turned himself over to the police and court system in order to be held criminally accountable. Let alone asked the victim for her forgiveness. What a twisted racket!
@@paulacoyle5685
Yeah. And a partial "confession", i.e. lie of omission, gives the appearance that he's so honest and pious that he's admitting this thing without being forced to, and that's the emotional perception the flock will have from then on, regardless of proof to the contrary. Really it's just a standard public relations ploy to control the story, and get out ahead of it, as they say. Because people generally believe the first thing they hear, and it's harder to change your mind after you've already formed a belief; it basically means admitting you were wrong, which is uncomfortable.
Thank you for this film and to everyone who participated.
Let those who have ears to hear let them hear
Hear, hear 🙌
Unfortunately they won't. The ones who need to hear won't.
Amen.
God bless you, Kristin. You are a gift to the Body of Christ and are doing His work, even if many cannot, or refuse to, see that.
Powerful, thank you. As a survivor of the Mormon cult of evangelical Christianity, I could identify with so much of this deeply embedded and hidden within that culture too.
Wow. Powerful. Every American woman needs to see this. Aroha from New Zealand. ❤
@forreez
Strike "american".....to my knowledge the church has cases like this around the world.
@@zapbutton8553 Heartbreaking. Enraging.
Every woman and man who loves and respects the women in his life should see this. This isn’t just happening in the US, all over the world extreme religious men are working to turn back women’s rights
@@forreez Not all of us. Some of us have seen far too much already. 😟
@@larkrowe41 I'm so very sorry. Sending my love.
This is everything that is wrong with America. I try to say this from a non-partisan perspective, but the boundaries between church and state on the right have been completely blurred. This is also a compelling demonstration of why more women need to be in positions of leadership in government, the church, and the community.
Thank you so much Kristen. This shakes me to the core. Male authority in the church silences women and sets up an environment where abuse can take place. 😢 I want all my daughters and granddaughters to watch this.
Your work is a public good.
I had this thought while watching: "When the church is a stage, everything is applauded, everything is celebrated."
@@Chris-k9k9c 🎯
8:25
"It costs you something to side with the vulnerable and the weak and the oppressed; it costs you nothing to side with the one who's in power."
But it does cost. The cost is integrity.
Integrity is cheap, unfortunately.
Look at politics.
It doesn't cost them integrity because they never had any.
Thank you, this is powerful, devastating, infuriating and important!!
I've read Kristen's book twice and follow so many survivor blogs so am very familiar with the courageous survivors who shared their stories in the documentary. I am still undone by it. Thank you to those who stand with the survivors and dare to share their stories with the world. And for every survivor, thank you for your courage in sharing these painful experiences with the world. You are my heroes.
Thank you for your support ❤️
Thank you so much to these very brave women. I trust that your courage will not be in vain
I applaud the courage of these women. Love is the answer no matter the question. I always ask myself, "What would Jesus do if he was standing right next to me?".
This is incredibly powerful. I have so much gratitude and respect for these women who had the courage to tell their stories. I really hope this becomes the new 'me too' of the moment, and many many more also step forward and tell their story. We need it. The abuse needs to be called out publicly and loudly, over and over and over again. Let ALL the voices rise to tell their story. The world is waiting for it, and needs to hear it. Loud & clear.
Thank you for making this documentary. The stories it tells are horrifying and necessary to hear. and Thank you to the women who speak up and share their heartbreaking stories. Thank you to everyone who works to preserve freedom, protect our democracy from
Being over taken by Christian nationalism and who works to create a more just and compassionate world.
Please remember to vote for candidates who will do the same!
Vote Blue Straight Down the Ballot.
JD Vance is deep in Opus Dei. Do your research. Save your futures and vote BLUE
@@cathyeads4193 💙🌟💙
A hundred times thank you for this film. I’m an SBC missionary kid and experienced different abuses as well and carried over onto an abusive marriage. The tendency to want to dismiss minimize or ignore reality is mind numbing and disheartening. Jesus confronted the same kind of leaders that were abusive as well and called them snakes.
Such an important look into the many layers of abuse & oppression within the church of America. May we return to the true Christ. The God of justice & compassion, who gives voice to the voiceless.
Thank you for making and sharing this. It is clear, it is compelling, it is not sensationalistic, and I hope it changes people's hearts and minds. It is particularly awful when people use the church to shield and cover up horrible actions that God condemns. I'm grateful for the courage of survivors to speak publicly, and their testimony helps others to understand. And thank you for contributing to civil public discourse on something that is so important.
Powerful!!!! I will be sharing this with as many people as I can. Thanks Kristin for enabling the world to hear women’s voices.
Blessings to all the courageous women who participated in this - sharing their stories so publicly is brave beyond words. Especially appreciate your sensitivity to the subject. For once - abuse has been discussed rightly - from the perspective of the victim. There is NOTHING "sexy" or "titillating" about abuse - yet it is often portrayed on film with that hideous edge. It is terrifying and devastating. Abusers are evil and depraved, and they willfully abuse.
Wow, breathe, exhale. I believe every word of each survivor story spoken here. Thank you! Being a survivor who has gone to the church, as well as a seminary, to disclose abuse, only to be dismissed while the abuser was helped, I find myself sadly able to understand each survivor in this documentary. One would think after so many years that things have significantly improved, but not enough. I believe the documentary could be the catalyst needed. Thank you!
I am so bone weary tired of being in church,hearing speeches about men needing restoration and men gather around them and lift them up after they have abused women. No one goes to the women and supports her or seeks her restoration. In fact she’s treated like she is the abuser. I was told not to tell anyone because it would damage the name of God. Where is the repentance in that? Where is the justice in that? These men are deluding themselves, narcissists all of them.
I’m so sorry for what you’ve experienced and that you weren’t better protected and cared for. This film is for all of us
@@tiffanythigpen-kilgannon4103 Thank you❤️ Thank you also for having the courage to speak out, for all of us, it’s not an easy thing to do. You are very brave.
@@kimmaree9610 🎯🆘
Wow. This was so powerful. What an important message for the present moment. For years, I have been praying for a sea-change in the evangelical Church, to equalize power and give voice to women and girls. I truly believe Ms. Du Mez and these brave women and many others are part of this reformation movement. Thank you for your courage and wisdom.
Ii am stunned watching this and with all my heart, thank all of you who brought this forward. A Baptist youth pastor here in our town was conviected of raping young church boys while he had them at his home for a "sleepover". My daughter grew up with him, attended school with him, and always felt he was a little odd, but never knew the dark secret held within him. My daughter also applied for a job at KanakukKamp here in town, and felt an erie feeling while being interviewed. She turned down their job offer. Let's keep peeling back the layers of facts, information and knowledge, and reveal so much more that is out there. This must be stopped!!
27:40 Jesus was gentle and humble, particularly in relation to women. Truth.
You have done the uncomfortable thing. Thank you for your conviction.
This was needed! Especially with the election coming up! Thank you, Kristin! I am sharing this as much as I can!
@@virginiabrown4784 💙💙
A must watch. I am honored to know a Survivor in this piece, and incredible woman I am humbled to call a friend. a STRONG woman, one stronger than most men. ❤
❤️
@@tmckaytpm 🙏🏻💙🙏🏻
my heart breaks for these women, and for all the victims of predators like these guys. how absolutely heartbreaking and sad. none of this should ever happen in church again.
Thank you for sharing your stories and putting these predators and enablers in the spotlight. This was my story too. 💔
Very powerful documentary based on the lived experience of six brave women. You don't have to be a practising christian or even a believer in any god to be moved by their suffering. What they have been forced to endure is just plain wrong! R (Australia)
Thank you for this it helps me understand the RAGE I felt being subjected and abused, being made to feel less than. I can only watch, this by increments to appreciate what I survived. Religion used to justify domestic violence and I have overheard men saying how they admired the Taliban. Keep up the good fight.
I’ve watched this video over and over and over and over…
Shocking, disgusting, unbelievable behavior and secrecy in all the dirtiest undercover activities involving the church in the name of Jesus!!!
ANGER 😡 is an understatement here…ABSOLUTELY mind blowing 💯‼️‼️‼️‼️
What can I say my heart bleeds for all the woman affected by the abuse of men in power it's not just the US that has this issue unfortunately it is happening all over the world not just in the Evangelical world but any religious organisation ☹️ I have seen this happen in a church before it is just swept under the carpet and as your film says the men get away with it with applause and standing ovations the women/ girls affected are left to pick up the peaces and trauma that is caused. All I did was cry 😢
Heartbreaking. As a Christian woman I can say I never experienced anything like this. I'm very blessed.
A standing ovation for someone who just admitted (in a church!) to SA?!?! Instead of contacting the police. And then announcing her name so he becomes the victim. Wow. Just wow. Shocking. They are depraved.
Incredibly well made. Should be watched by every single voter.
For years my greatest fear was that one day I would walk in a church, sit down and see my abusers sitting on the next pew over from me. And then, one day, I realized I would never be that lucky....if I were to encounter the ones who abused me they would probably be up behind the pulpit!!
8:25 "It costs you nothing to side with the one who's in power." - Rachael Denhollander.
Dang. Slay….Rachel
I appreciate your courageous work calling out these atrocities. This is just unconscionable.
Women are not servants
We have the right to be strong intelligent independent women! 💙💙
4B ladies...4B
@@wyleecoyotee4252 what is 4B? I’m not being snarky -promise - just don’t know what it signifies. Thanks;)
Having lived these same experiences, I can confirm this is an accurate representation.
So very sorry that this has also been your experience, may you find your voice heard through this as well. It’s for all of us who were pushed aside and not honored, loved, or fault for
Praying for the safety of these women and SO very grateful for their willingness to stand up to the beast. Praying for the good men who still believe their can be a "benevolent patriarchy" to finally start listening.
I used to believe in the possibility of a “benevolent patriarchy”. Thankfully, a kind, seasoned, Christ-following gentleman corrected me. Patriarchy, by nature, is not beneficial to women and girls as its root is always power and control. The root is rotten, therefore the fruit cannot bloom.
There is no such thing as a benevolent patriarchy.
@@Chels-fz5uq yep. Agreed
How horrifying but so believable. I left church 25 years ago, never left Jesus but men in the church are such misogynists and preaching a false gospel. May the Lord help us.
Putting these two instances (pastoral abuse, Trump) together actually makes it make so much more sense. I could never understand why the religious right revered him so much given that he is a morally corrupt person, forgiving his abuse.. well of course they don’t care that he did. Because they do it too. And if they haven’t, they’ve covered for someone who has.
I just got that too. And been on the Gothard Teaching trail for a year now. And Cults that use isolation to draw their victims under their authority.
PRAYING GOD will rescue victims and their families from this religious predatory prison.
@@greatestshopper1077I was homeschooled in IBLP and finally broke free of the theology in 2015. I will be ripping out it's evil beliefs for the foreseeable future.
We have to do more than simply pray. I was lucky I had very patient friends who's humanity provided the cognitive dissidence to help me see the wrongness of what I was taught. Praying is fine. But doing is far more valuable.
Both the political right and the conservative church are over reacting to feminism.
They make fun of identity politics. But then they treat men and women as monolithic identity groups pitted against each other in power. They mock social Marxism. But then they build on its premises.
Your trying to connect to many dots. His policies are fantastic!Trump 2024 🇺🇸
@@ginapereira8948What??? They are not dots. They are exclamation points. Open your eyes and actually listen to what Trump says. ( Plus, he has no policies, BTW. He is being used by the rich and powerful “Christian” and high tech men in this country because they know they can control him through flattery.). Christian Nationalists are no better than the Taliban. Not people we want to emulate or a society we want to live in.
This is the problem with religion, power and even a building are not what we are to seek as Christians 😢 Praying healing for these women, thank you for your bravery ❤
How about a religion without clergy, where all decisions are made by councils of 9 men & women (so no one can be ego-tripping about their own ideas), in which the equality of women & men is a basic principle, and which has few buildings to support?
Thank you , Brave strong women, this is an important film please share it.
Thank you for speaking out.
Thank you for this film and for speaking up! I wish every one, but especially every woman in these fake "Christian" congregations could see this!! May it get many, many more views!! 🙏🙏🙏
I pray for the many victims, both known and unknown! 💙
🌊💙🌊🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🗳🗽
"church hurt" is not about petty personal sins. People who dismiss it are just further damaging the church by refusing to deal with the real issues of sexism and abuse in the church.
What’s really sad is that misogynistic mothers and grandmothers will side with these abusers and blame the girls.
The men encourage that type of petty competition and snitching amongst the women of the congregation. Keep them in drama with each other so they don’t combine and rebel!
Do you have any statistics to back this carp up. Only anecdotal evidence from women with an axe to grind were presented here.
@@arnoldvezbon6131 I don’t need statistics. I’ve got personal, lived experience.If you really are interested in statistics, I suggest using a search engine like Google.
@@arnoldvezbon6131 people with axes to grind have valid reasons to grind those axes.
@@arnoldvezbon6131if you had taken even a basic statistics course you would realize how ignorant your remark is.
It’s all just horrible. This is why so many young women are leaving the church. The church basically tells them they will be treated like slaves and sex objects. No one is signing up for this mess.
Between the Southern Baptist Convention and the Roman Catholic Church..anyone suprised by now?
Such an important message to share. May God grant us the change we wish to see. ❤
I can’t believe the level of victim shaming and celebrating the pervert who has only confessed after he was found out.
I'm so glad that these dear sisters still want to follow Christ. I'm sure there are many others who have given up on God altogether, and who could blame them?
Sisters, please understand and teach your children: you are an individual with infinite worth before God. One day we will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ as individuals. No-one will be anyone else's property.
You can have a marriage where you serve God together as a team. You can have a family and a career. I did. Now I'm a widow, still serving God in a country and culture different from the one I was born and grew up in. God bless you all.
Oh man, watching this documentary was so intense, I found myself forgetting to breathe at times. It is shameful that people and the church who name the name of Jesus can behave in a manner that would make the world blush. 😭
As a man, what can I do to lend my voice and resources to the cause of abuse victims within church spaces?
Talking about it is often revolutionary enough in many churches.
Acknowledging that abuse happens and normalizing discussing it will send those who rely on silence into outrage or the exit, usually outrage.
The core of this is a need for control born from fear.
@@Justanotherconsumer 🎯💯 🙏🏽
Talk to other men. Tell them what you think about male supremacy and the harm done. And thanks for asking.
Teach boys and youth what is healthy and how to treat girls, women, mothers, sisters, girlfriends, wives, neighbors wife rightly.
Wow! Amazing work. Hope it reaches all the most needed places.
It costs you something to side with the vulnerable and oppressed. It costs you nothing to side with the one who's in power.
Thank you, Dr. Du Mez for your work.
Powerful, truthful message. That reference to Satan trying to tempt Christ... perfection. The American evangelical church is being tempted, but unlike Christ, they're completely falling for it.
Excellent comment.
Len Vander Zee is way off base when he says Christ said NO because Christ didn’t want power over the nations. Jesus said NO to Satan’s power to prove Satan doesn’t have the power he says he does-it was already Christ’s due to His divinity, and preeminence before Satan, and considering all things were made through Christ knowing he would sacrifice himself for the consequences of free will.
@@GracieDontPlayDatoh my gosh…..what’s your point?! The OP’s point is that you decline offers of that kind of power in exchange for your soul
This. Is. SO. POWERFUL!! Thank you for creating such a poignant and necessary narrative that is needed at such a crucial time in America! I am so sorry for each of these women who suffered at the hands of “spiritual leaders”. I too learned spiritual leaders were not to be trusted and they didn’t care about my well being. I was disposable.
Thank You and may this reach far and wide, especially to the closed ears and eyes of christians.
The Bible talks of a time when good will be called evil and evil good. Many Christians believe that we are living in such a time but they turn their back on the evil that is being perpetrated in their own house. What these ministers/pastors have done is evil. But what frightens me most is the examples presented of Christian nationalism. I had no idea that so many parts of the body of Christ have embraced such an evil doctrine. Thank you for your time and effort in creating this documentary. I pray that those with eyes to see and ears to hear will hear and see this documentary.
Everyone must Vote Blue Straight down the Ballot. TRump and JD Vance are threatening this.v