We too quickly forget that sexual predators are everywhere, not just at Cornell.
They are in our workplaces, churches, community centers and homes. Cornell has been in the news the past few weeks due to Jane Doe’s lawsuit against the university and the seven male students accused of sexual assault. This lawsuit has taken over the Cornell campus, with internal investigations, protests and demands for leadership change.
But Cornell is just the tip of the iceberg. If we just look at recent prominent figures in our society, we recall that sexual assault has been an ongoing problem.
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford accused Brett Kavanaugh during his 2018 Supreme Court nomination process of sexual assault at a high school event that occurred in the early 1980s. Additionally, three other women brought accusations of sexual misconduct during his youth and college years. Kavanaugh denied all allegations, and the U.S. Senate voted 50-48 to confirm him.
Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his 1991 confirmation. Also, in 2016, Moira Smith stated that Thomas groped her at a dinner party in D.C. in 1999. Thomas denied the 1999 allegation, and no formal investigative or disciplinary proceedings by the judiciary happened with the 2016 report.
Jeffrey Epstein victimized over a thousand women and children, and his survivors want justice.
In 2019, the Associated Press reported that “Nearly 1,700 priests and other clergy members that the Roman Catholic Church considers credibly accused of child sexual abuse are living under the radar with little to no oversight from religious authorities or law enforcement, decades after the first wave of the church abuse scandal roiled U.S. dioceses.” The list of sexual assault against women and men is long and unacceptable.
There are numerous other cases with world leaders, politicians, priests, ministers, CEO’s, husbands, fathers, and brothers who engage in sexual assault, but their actions often lead to no investigation, no consequences, and no jail time.
Sexual assault against women (and men) must stop.
During the #metoo movement, Susan Shaw and I decided it was crucial to research this topic, especially within the church. As scholars, writers, and professors, we felt an urgent need to address this ongoing problem within churches, families, and faith communities, and we decided to write Surviving God.
Writing this particular book was a healing process. Both of us are survivors of sexual assault. For me, I wanted to make sense of why it happens so often to women in the church.
We recognize that many Christians continued to allow the perpetrator to get away with their abuse. At times, they blame the victim for the abuse that occurred. They blamed the clothing she was wearing or the way she smiled at the man. These forms of victim blaming must end, and the perpetrators need to be held accountable.
Theologically reflecting upon this enormous problem in the church became a priority in our research and writing. We wanted to examine Scripture and images of God to see how Christian history, teachings and beliefs could perpetuate such violent actions. We need to move away from human and divine violence and from churches and family structures that rely on and perpetuate gender-based violence.
Sexual violence is pervasive in Christian churches, which enable a culture of sexual abuse through many of their beliefs and practices. Our understanding of God has been shaped by beliefs created by men in power to keep men in power. This must be acknowledged if we seek to eliminate sexual violence from church and society.
Sexual violence shapes how we think about human nature and God. Perpetrators often have distorted understandings of God which provide internalized legitimacy of their violent acts.
We must recognize that a God who causes or allows abuse and sexual violence is a false god. Therefore, we must eliminate old and often dangerous metaphors like God as Father or King and seek new images helpful in processes of healing and dismantling sexual violence.
Images of God
In Surviving God, Susan and I discuss how various images of God impact how we think and behave. If we think God is a master, we think God really is a white overlord who has the right to control, discipline and use violence.
Metaphors reflect the cultures that produce them, carry the assumptions, preferences and biases, and can maintain systems of power. For example, thinking of God as a king can reinforce the political system of monarchy. If God the King deserves our allegiance, so might an earthly king.
As sexual abuse continues to occur, we need to understand that God doesn’t cause or will abuse to occur. This includes any kind or form of abuse.
Rather, God suffers with us; God survives with us. God is a surviving God who experiences our suffering and is with us in our pain. As many abused women try to survive, we must listen to them, lift their voices and stand in solidarity with them.
To help prevent further sexual abuse, we need to retrieve some of the other biblical images of God that are liberative and non-domineering. Biblical images of God as Wisdom (Sophia in Greek) remind us that God can be feminine, loving, and mothering.
If we turn to the biblical understanding of the Spirit, we recognize the power of a non-gendered, non-racialized understanding of God who is with us, sustains us, and gives us life.
These various images and understandings of God help us take steps toward a world without sexual violence. Our images of God directly shape how we act, behave, and understand the world around us.
We must build a better future for our daughters and granddaughters that does not perpetuate sexual violence against them. We need to raise young boys to understand that everyone is created in the image of God, and we must do our part to protect, guard and take care of each other.
There is no place for sexual violence in our churches, workplaces, universities and homes. We must do everything we can to prevent it.
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Grace Ji-Sun Kim (Ph.D. University of St. Michael’s College) was born in Korea, educated in Canada and now teaches in the USA as Professor of Theology at Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, Indiana. She is the author or editor of 26 books, most recently, Earthbound: God at the Intersection of Climate and Justice.
Kim is the host of Madang podcast which is sponsored by the Christian Century. She blogs on her substack: Loving Life: Loving Life and has written for Huffington Post, The Nation, Sojourners, Baptist News Global, Faith and Leadership and TIME. Kim has appeared on MSNBC, PBS and C-Span. She has been a guest on BBC Radio, Soul Search Radio, WBEZ Radio, and Keep Hope Alive Radio. She is an ordained PC(USA) minister and enjoys being a guest preacher on most Sundays.