Browsed by
Category: abuse rhetoric

Picture of a school hallway to introduce an article on the Nashville school shooting and the danger of a single story
The Nashville Shooting and The Danger of a Single Story

The Nashville Shooting and The Danger of a Single Story

Comments 0 Comment

As I write this, we just passed Transgender Day of Visibility AND there was yet another school shooting this week. But this time it was at a Christian school in Nashville, and by a person who used they/them pronouns (find out more in this NPR story). So yeah, let’s be clear: this is the type of LGBTQ+ visibility that is likely to make the LGBTQ+ community rightfully terrified. After all, this is the kind of edge case situation that unhealthy…

Read More Read More

a picture of wedding rings with a definition of religious marriage to introduce an article on the retracted piece from TGC on a twisted theology of sex
That TGC Piece & Fascistic Sex Cult Theology

That TGC Piece & Fascistic Sex Cult Theology

Comments 2 comments

Okay, so there have, for excellent reasons, been really really strong negative reactions from so so many quarters to an extremely disturbing article about the theology of sex published this past week on the white Evangelical organization The Gospel Coalition’s (TGC) website. Intriguingly, the blowback came not only from progressives but also enough of TGC’s audience members that they actually removed the article really quickly while doubling down by linking to a book chapter from a forthcoming book the article…

Read More Read More

A magnifying lens on the word ads to introduce a rhetorical analysis of the "he gets us" ad campaign
The Unhealthy Rhetoric of the “He Gets Us” Ad Campaign

The Unhealthy Rhetoric of the “He Gets Us” Ad Campaign

Comments 7 comments

I’ll confess I didn’t watch the Super Bowl this year, but I certainly heard an awful lot about the $20 million spent on “Jesus ads” that aired there. I’ve seen a lot of articles pointing out how people from both the left and the right are critiquing various aspects of this total $100 million “He Gets Us” ad campaign, which various sources has reported is funded at least in part by the same fund connected to the founder of Hobby…

Read More Read More

Image of woman putting on a smiley face to introduce an article about spiritual bypassing
The Unhealthy Rhetoric of Spiritual Bypassing

The Unhealthy Rhetoric of Spiritual Bypassing

Comments 4 comments

“Everything happens for a reason.” “She’s in a better place.” Some of us find these kinds of statements helpful, but others of us shudder when we hear them, especially when paired with other spiritual language. In this blog post I plan to unwrap some of the dynamics of why the thing termed spiritual bypassing can be toxic and harmful to a lot of people even when the same techniques and phrases help others. My Background and Standpoint As always, I’ll…

Read More Read More

a folder labeled "top secret" to introduce an article on classified documents and sin-leveling
On Sin-Leveling and Classified Documents

On Sin-Leveling and Classified Documents

Comments 3 comments

Wow, we’ve been hearing a lot about classified documents in the US news lately. If you’re not paying attention to the rhetoric closely enough, it seems like it’s suddenly this huge problem that EVERYONE in government has. AND, significantly, like everyone ON ALL SIDES of US government is equally guilty of mishandling classified documents. In this piece I plan to unwrap why that simply isn’t so, and how this kind of largely right-wing rhetoric mirrors nature and the effects of…

Read More Read More

the word "shame" on a background of torn up words that say shame to introduce an article on purity culture's unhealthy shame emphasis
When Shame–Er, Purity Culture—Becomes a God Term

When Shame–Er, Purity Culture—Becomes a God Term

Comments 0 Comment

So this week I had the strange experience of re-reading the book Pure by Linda Kay Klein when an article came out suggesting that Evangelical missionary, martyr, and purity culture icon Jim Elliot seems to have longed for death at the end of his life because of struggle against something unspecified that he deemed a (sexual) sin. Considering Pure is an ethnographic study of the damage and trauma caused by the Evangelical purity culture movement that was in part pioneered…

Read More Read More

Letters that spell "Bullying Stops Here" to Introduce an article about standing up against bullies in both politics and child abuse
How to Respond When the Bullies (Seem to) Win

How to Respond When the Bullies (Seem to) Win

Comments 1 comment

I don’t know about you, but there are times in weeks like this past one when it just feels so much like however much progress we make, like the systems in place are just too flawed, and allow the bad guys—you know, the bullies and abusers—to win much much too often. In today’s piece I want to unwrap some of the dynamics of these issues and how to understand and healthily respond when things seem like this. (This is going…

Read More Read More

definition of abortion to introduce an article about abortion as a devil term
When Women Use Abortion as a Devil Term

When Women Use Abortion as a Devil Term

Comments 5 comments

This week an AS follower came to me with a request. She had been engaged in a lot of recent discussions with right-wing women, specifically, about the questions around abortion rights. She was very frustrated with these discussions and wanted my take on them as well as my encouragement and advice. In today’s blog post I plan to talk about some breakthroughs in understanding I had in the process of analyzing these situations with her, specifically understanding better why and…

Read More Read More

a dictionary definition of propaganda to ground an analysis of right-wing conspiracy rhetoric against the DOJ
When Right-Wing Media Poisons the Well Against the DOJ

When Right-Wing Media Poisons the Well Against the DOJ

Comments 1 comment

This week a member of the AS community sent me an article they had seen a pastor in the US post on social media from the right-wing source the Daily Wire. They asked for an analysis. This Daily Wire post (which I won’t link to here but you are welcome to Google) was about a supposed “new development” in the case which has already led to many convictions in the case of Keith Raniere’s multi-level marketing scheme meets sex cult/sex…

Read More Read More

pictures to introduce a piece on how the Satanic panic poisoned the well of the debate around recovered memories of abuse
QAnon, the Satanic Panic, and Poisoning the Well Against Survivors

QAnon, the Satanic Panic, and Poisoning the Well Against Survivors

Comments 0 Comment

Okay, so awhile back I blogged, as part of my series about William Cooper, the conspiracy theorist who popularized the word “sheeple,” about QAnon, who claims Cooper as an inspiration. In that post, I specifically talked about how QAnon, with its horrible SaveTheChildren hashtag, was poisoning the well and distracting from genuine cases of sex trafficking. Well, this week I plan to build on that work and connect it to a similar movement I’ve been seeing with people who are…

Read More Read More

A picture showing a therapist with a client to introduce an article about therapy as a devil term
When Therapy Becomes a Devil Term, Especially in Church

When Therapy Becomes a Devil Term, Especially in Church

Comments 0 Comment

So I know so many people who grew up Evangelical who grew up with the overt message that therapy is terrible. I grew up with a more covert stigma about it in my right-leaning moderate neck of the woods, but it was effective all the same with me for a long time. As I’ll explain a bit later, I even see symptoms of this lingering in some progressive Christian spaces. In this piece I’ll unwrap some of this and how…

Read More Read More

A picture that says "fight racism" to introduce an article describing the toxic sides of the phrase all lives matter in the US
The Toxic Side of “All Lives Matter” Rhetoric

The Toxic Side of “All Lives Matter” Rhetoric

Comments 0 Comment

Okay, so we all KNOW a bunch of us get annoyed with the phrase “all lives matter”–for good reason– when it’s abused. A lot of us even know a lot of the reasons it bothers us. But com theory and related research can really help us see why it bothers us in a new light, and since that’s what I study and teach, I hope to explore what happens when seemingly good concepts like all lives matter “go bad,” and…

Read More Read More

A hand on which is written Stop Clergy Predators to introduce an article reading the Gospel of Mark as against clergy abuse
Millstones and Such: The Gospel of Mark as Anti-Abuse

Millstones and Such: The Gospel of Mark as Anti-Abuse

Comments 0 Comment

Editor’s Note: This guest blog piece by Matthijs Kronemeijer was written before the recent horrific anti-trans legislation was passed in Texas. This legislation accuses healthy loving parents and caregivers of trans children of child abuse for affirming trans children’s identities and trying to protect them from the disturbingly high suicide rates among trans folx. I hate the fact that I even have to write a note about how much it is NOT ABUSE to affirm children who don’t fit pre-existing…

Read More Read More

An image of two white girls laughing at a Black girl to introduce a piece on how Nice is complicit with bullying
Why Christian Nice Gets All Complicit with Bullies

Why Christian Nice Gets All Complicit with Bullies

Comments 2 comments

So as I write this it’s Black History Month. Which has me thinking again about Christian White Person Nice and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s words in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” about how “white moderates” are almost a bigger threat to equity and justice than the extremists are. (I previously talked about this here and here.) In this week’s blog post I’d like to parse some more of this out in terms of communication and conflict theory. So I’ll…

Read More Read More

An image of a signpost to help, support, advice and guidance introducing an article on thoughts and prayers
Beyond Thoughts and Prayers: A Spirituality of Equitable Tangible Support

Beyond Thoughts and Prayers: A Spirituality of Equitable Tangible Support

Comments 2 comments

Okay, so probably many, if not most, of the people reading this blog KNOW they get super frustrated when they hear the words “thoughts and prayers.” If you are in this group, you may have even developed an allergy to the phrase. You probably even know that it bothers you because of a combo platter of hypocrisy and a lack of action. But you may not understand why you have such a visceral reaction to it, or why and how…

Read More Read More