I was reading in Christianity Today about a man named Ravi Zacharias, who wrote and preached extensively on why Christianity matters and why it’s real. He was a Christian apologist. But he also sexually exploited many women as he went about the world spreading the “Good News.” I was impressed by Christianity Today because it covered the story at all. So I clicked on the link. Turns out they covered it in detail. This is what needs to happen more often. People have even stopped selling his books. His organization is taking his name off of it.
Then I thought about it in more detail and I thought, why is Yoder, who sexually exploited his graduate students, still being published and talked about even though he did something similar? I bought his book and then learned about his sexual exploits and sexual relationships with graduate students he seduced or coerced, and I thought, wow, I guess liberal Christianity (Yoder is very progressive), is more forgiving of this behavior than I thought. Or see this article (link) about how Bill Clinton is speaking at the 2021 women’s conference with Kamala Harris. Liberals let men slide way more often than they would like to know. I can’t believe Cuomo is still in office after the accusations about him, either.
I have been through this personally, about how liberal organizations protect liberal men for their indiscretions or violence against women. It is so harmful. If you’ve been through this your not alone. And you’re not imagining the disconnect. Zacharias’s legacy has been wiped clean. Yoder gets a slap on the wrist. Apparently his theorizing about non-violence while sexually exploiting women while in power doesn’t seem as hypocritical as Ravi, a Christian apologist, travelling the globe spreading the Good News while sexually coercing women in massage parlors, and other indignities.
I’m still a Christian, and as I gain more influence through this blog and also through my book circulating about my life with mental illness after my own #metoo extravaganza, I have felt the pull to study Christianity and write about it more. But I think this would be a mistake. The more serious one’s evangelizing, the more likely it is that worldly success and corruption will follow. There are so few truly ethical Christian moral leaders. And I get it. The atheist who was denouncing Ravi on his blog was more Christian than Ravi and I think Christ would have stood by his witness more than Ravi’s.
Christ is bigger than Christianity. He must be. While I am Christian and hope others will follow Christ if it makes sense to them, there should be no compromise. The church has compromised on racism and sexual indiscretion. This is human nature. But it doesn’t make it any more excusable. Which is why I published my book for free and decided to run a free platform, so I don’t become one of the many corrupt spreaders of the faith.
My book is free and about my life overcoming schizoaffective disorder. Share it with people you think might need it:
Erin Michael Grimm 