Writer. Recovering alcoholic. He/him. Bipolar. Shameless #knitter. Working to be kind because I know first hand that the world is not.
May 23, 2022 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
TW // Sexual Abuse, church trauma
There’s a certain way that some activists and leaders in the #SBCtoo and #churchtoo circles have responded the Guidepost report that ultimately reinforces patricarchical white supremacy and ignores many victims.
It’s often said the patriarchy harms everyone, including the men who benefit from it. Many boys and men who have been sexually abused in churches often don’t feel safe to come forward precisely because of the way patriarchy manifests.
May 22, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Okay, so the report on abuse in the #SBC is out now.
What the fuck is this supposed to do?
Yeah, there are eyes on the org now, but eyes have been on the Catholic church for the same thing for, what, 50 years? How many got real justice there? #churchtoo
My real fear is that it’s just going to make these predators more dangerous cause they’ll be more afraid of getting caught. My fear is that instead of survivors, we’ll see actual corpses in the pews. #SBCtoo#churchtoo
Mar 17, 2021 • 14 tweets • 8 min read
There’s a direct line between Christian #purityculture and the racist Atlanta shooter. Purity culture is not conducive to a healthy sexual ethic. Men raised in it are taught to view women with suspicion, as objects whose purpose is to draw them into sin. #EmptyThePews#churchtoo
You’re also taught that your sexual urges are completely uncomfortable, that it’s only a matter of time until you hurt someone. In my Sunday school, they taught us that having sexual thoughts was akin to “raping a woman in your mind.” #EmptyThePews#churchtoo
Mar 15, 2021 • 24 tweets • 15 min read
CW /// Sexual Assault
There's something I want to clarify about this person, in regards to the abuse I went through. He was not a pastor. He was not a volunteer in the youth group. We were both 14 to 16 when he abused me. #churchtoo#sbctoo#EmptyThePews
Abuse is encouraged in the #SBC, in many different ways. Here's a good thread from @ErikMKort about it. But the way I'm most familiar with is interpersonal male violence, which is both encouraged and indeed taught in the SBC. #churchtoo#EmptyThePews
Last December was a year since I came forward about being sexually assaulted at @livinghopebg.
I didn’t mark it in any way.
One reason is because I don’t feel like anything has happened since.
But there was another reason:
#churchtoo#EmptyThePews
Awhile back I decided to find out what it looked like to report SA to a larger #SBC org, to see what their process was, to see if they were really “Caring Well,” as @jdgreear and the rest of the #SBC resolved to do.
Feb 26, 2020 • 14 tweets • 6 min read
I say this fully knowing who I am and what background I come from, but if there’s anything that can be salvaged from Christianity, if it can be saved at all, it will not be done by white men.
And probably not by white people in general. #EmptyThePews
For me, saying, “I used to be a Christian” is the same as me saying, “I used to be a skinhead.” Cause I came from a particularly nationalistic, military-worshipping, dominionist, White-centric brand of Christianity. #EmptyThePews
