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Rachael Denhollander Profile picture
Rachael Denhollander
@R_Denhollander
Advocate, Author, Attorney, Speaker. Part of the Army that took down Larry Nassar. // Speaking: @UTAspeakers | Media: info@rachaeldenhollander.com
18 subscribers
Oct 25 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
I have known some of the people involved in this story and the call for accountability for almost 8 yrs. We assisted them in dynamics that crossed into my current work before my own case. Others I connected with years ago as well.

revivinghopeproject.com I know conservative Christian therapists in the area who, while tightly protecting confidentiality, have likewise expressed serious concern at what they have seen in their professional sphere, from students coming out of HLS.
Oct 13 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
This is well-worth the read and relevant whether it is politics, the church, or any other role.

How to Find Grace After Disgrace peggynoonan.com/how-to-find-gr… "We’re saying the answer to the politician’s question, “What is the optimum moment at which to come back from a big sex scandal, and how do I do it?” is this:

“You are asking the wrong question.”
Jun 16 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Gateway members - think well about your theology.

Repentance starts with confession - telling the truth about what happened. Check your pastor and elders words. Is this repentance?

This is described as a "morally inappropriate relationship" with a "young women"... Image But in fact, it was an adult having sexual contact with a minor and pre-teen CHILD.

This is felony level child sexual assault.

And it didn't happen because she was "flirtatious".

It happened because a grown man was sexually aroused and gratified himself with a pre-teen child
May 23 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Qualified immunity has created a system in which those with the most power, have the least accountability.

The reason the Nassar settlement with the FBI is so significant is because qualified immunity is essentially a complete bar to restitution for any malfeasance.

And... It doesn't just protect law enforcement. It is typically interpreted to protect ANY government actor.

MSU had immunity against all the Nassar survivors because they are a state university and Larry and everyone who covered for him, was a state employee.
Jan 14 • 31 tweets • 6 min read
On Larry Nassar and Paul Pressler, Michigan State University, USAG and the SBC, and all the ways they are different…

There are so many unsung heroes in my case. . .people that lent their voices, provided pieces of the puzzle, helped put away a predator, that no one knows about. But they meant everything to me back then, and they still do.

1 – An MSU employee for the medical clinic who reached out to say “I don’t know Rachael. But I can tell you he’s not following the chaperone policies. None of us even knew he was supposed to be chaperoned.”
Oct 31, 2023 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Correct - notice in the photo her father is in uniform, with the dept being one of the parties in the brief.

So what is a "non-offending third party?" Does it mean a party who is innocent? No, it doesn't mean "innocent" or "didn't do anything wrong". It means people or entities who didn't personally commit the crime, but includes those who may have:

1. Violated mandatory reporting.
2. Knew and did nothing.
3. Intentionally hid it.

And more.

So for example:
Jul 10, 2023 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Justice is conformity to what is right. It should be pursued and fought for.

Forgiveness is releasing personal vengeance and desiring for the offender to find true repentance and peace.

I am holding both especially today.

freep.com/story/news/loc… I still mean these words I spoke years ago:

"Larry, I want you to understand why I made this choice knowing full well what it was going to cost to get here and with very little hope of ever succeeding. I did it because it was right. No matter the cost, it was right..."
Jun 5, 2023 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
If you have not watched “Shiny Happy People” on Amazon, do. If you are in the evangelical circles, please, you really should. Most importantly, we need to consider the breadth of IBLP’s influence and teachings, and ask how this affects what we see happening today... Much has (rightly) been made of Josh Duggar’s abuse, how it was minimized and glossed over. How the girls were pressured into acting like it was ok. How the focus was immediately on forgiveness, and not on caring for survivors or assessing real change in an abuser...
Apr 21, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
No, MSU, you are not sorry. You are choosing over and over to refuse transparency and truth to the 100's of children you allowed to be assaulted by your doctor.

There are multiple ways we could set this up to get answers in a trauma-informed, truthful way.

You simply refuse. Stop telling us that you are sorry in the same breath that you refuse to tell the truth, 6 yrs later.

You are not paying the price. We are. It's an insult to pretend an apology as you literally refuse the steps for healing and the truth.
Mar 27, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
They knew. In 2004. They did nothing, and there were more victims.

How exactly did an SBC mega church respond to disclosures of sexual abuse by well- known leader Paul Pressler? Much like Penn State. See the screenshots in the thread... Screenshots of the victim's testimony in 2004. He reported Pressler requiring him to perform massages with Pressler in his underwear, making him remove his clothes and sit nude with Pressler, and then forcefully removing his swim trunks and touching his buttocks. ImageImage
Mar 21, 2023 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Jenner and Block is the firm that repped USAG in the bankruptcy proceedings against survivors. As co-chair of the court-appointed fiduciary committee, I wasn't impressed for any of the years we dealt with them.

Serious red flags with this "investigation" include: 1. Lack of transparency regarding the scope of the investigation.

It should assess:

A. Policies.

B. Structure.

C. Culture

Harvard won't answer the scope question. That's unacceptable.
Mar 14, 2023 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Yes it was my school. This is exactly how I know so much about IBLP's teaching, the connections, and it's influence, rotten to the core.

When I talk about the personal cost of advocacy, it's not theory to me... I personally witnessed some of Gothard's grooming behavior and advocated strenuously for the division in 2014. It came with a cost.

I count many of these IBLP survivors as dear friends I am privileged to know. The whistleblowers as men and women I deeply respect.
Mar 11, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
One year ago yesterday.

No one believed Ravi was an abuser, until an independent investigation brought it to light. No one believed Lori Ann, until a third party validated the patterns.

Once that happened, every leader jumped to write about it and offer opinions, though. . . Not one of those leaders had pushed for the actual process that brought it to light, and many had helped delay it by continuing to support Ravi's narrative without having seen or heard the evidence.
Mar 8, 2023 • 29 tweets • 5 min read
Here is the rest of MacArthur’s quote and why it matters to the present discussion of the TGC article, and overall discussion related to abuse in church spaces. One of the concerns raised with the recent TGC article was how the language placed the husband in a priestly or salvific type of role (as one example, bringing an “offering” into the most holy of places and leaving it on her alter.)
Mar 7, 2023 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
This is the founder of Nouthetic counseling, now renamed ACBC. Jay Adam's work and books are still used and still the framework for the underpinnings of the movement.

When the foundation is rotten, much of the fruit will be too.

Particularly relevant given the TGC article... The concern expressed with the TGC article is that the overall approach to and understanding of sexuality creates a framework that *can be* used abusively. Not that this was the author's intent, but that the ideas therein can be used that way.

What was most fascinating...
Feb 17, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I hear regularly from victims, former counselors, graduates of these programs and pastors raised in these models. The devastation is horrific, and rooted in the framework and ideas of the ACBC model.

Ideas drive actions. There's an abuse crisis in the church. Look at the ideas. If you are coming from an evangelical background and desire to wrestle through your faith and what you have suffered, there are *many* theologically orthodox, gospel-centered therapists and teachers who are highly knowledgeable and skilled in walking alongside.

For example:
Feb 12, 2023 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Larry loses yet another appeal. This time a 15 pg handwritten plea against his federal sentence for possession of CSAM.

Thread:

detroitnews.com/story/news/loc… It's the gift that never stops "giving".

Fortunately for us, most of Larry's appeals were never a big threat thanks to the incredible, meticulous highly-skilled work of @AngiePovilaitis, but they were still exhausting and stressful, and a constant reminder of everything.
Feb 10, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Both Kate and Hohn reference a 20 pg report Hohn wrote, as an attorney who reviewed all the evidence provided to him by the courts, witnesses *AND GCC* leadership.

Ask to see that 20 pg letter. If this is all based on lies, then GCC can release that memo.

And... It should be noted that their own statement contains obvious factual errors. Hohn's own words, court records, Eileen's testimony and written evidence are not anonymous sources.

Hohn was teaching at ShepCon, writing with Phil Johnson, and in the inner circle of leadership...
Feb 9, 2023 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
Survivors of abuse have cried out for years about what they have suffered at this church, the closely-associated seminary, and the undergraduate school.

This was not a one-time miscalculation. Ideas have consequences, and the twisted and imbalanced. . .

christianitytoday.com/news/2023/febr… Theology of counseling and authority that wrought so much deep destruction in Eileen's life and her precious children's lives, is the same thread that crushed the survivors who spoke up before, and the ones who have spoken out after.

They are the same threads we have seen in...
Feb 9, 2023 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Live tweeting my four year old going to sleep as I'm sitting in the room:

"Mom. This is a really good question. How does the one tiny cell of a baby grow into a baby ready to be born?" "OK ok ok. This is another really good question: how is a baby born? The uterus has LOTS of muscle. Wow."

"Maybe I don't want to birth a baby...I need to see a picture of a baby in the uterus. NO I REALLY NEED TO."

...
Jan 18, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
This. I get asked everywhere I go "why do you think this happens?" "This" being everything from poor conviction rates to covering up.

"Because we don't actually care. We don't really think it's a big deal."

That's it. That's the answer. And no one wants to hear it... Everyone wants there to be a reason. Something we can do, easily fix. "More education". "They just don't understand." "Money". "The policy needs to be fixed."

And sometimes, yes, there are those reasons. Sometimes people learn, and do better. And growth is slow and hard but. . .