Sexual Abuse Has Become a Huge Problem for America's Bible Colleges
Sexual Abuse Has Become a Huge Problem for America's Bible Colleges
By Grace Wyler
Samantha Field was a student at Pensacola Christian College in 2009, when she claims to have suffered repeated physical and sexual assaults—including two alleged rapes—by her ex-fiancé, a fellow student. Thanks to the school’s strict morality code, which doesn’t allow men and women to use the same elevators, much less be alone in the same room, Samantha was reluctant to report her story to the school for fear of inviting suspicion and scrutiny, if not expulsion. Eventually, other students and faculty members noticed something was wrong, and Field was called in to meet with college administrators, including the school’s dean for women, who, Field says, told her that “confession is good for the soul.” When she remained silent, having nothing to confess, Field was sent to the school counselor.
“I started to tell her that my boyfriend had made me do things that I didn’t want to do, but she interrupted me and asked what I needed to repent of, and told me that I needed to forgive him, because otherwise I would have bitterness in my heart,” said Field, now a writer who blogs about her experience leaving the Christian fundamentalist movement. “I was trying to tell her that my boyfriend had raped me, and her reaction was to tell me that I needed to repent for my sins and not worry about my rapist’s sins.”
A spokesperson for Pensacola Christian College, Amy Glenn, declined to comment on Field’s claims, citing the school’s policy of keeping student records confidential. She added that the college follows a “well-developed set of procedures” for students seeking counseling, but she could not offer specifics on PCC’s policies regarding sexual abuse.
Sadly, Field’s story is neither surprising nor uncommon in the world of Christian fundamentalism, where sexual contact is strictly forbidden outside of marriage and total submission to religious authority figures is required of all believers. Even though the Catholic Church has been home to the most high-profile pedophilia scandals, Evangelical churches, schools, and missionary groups have proven to be similarly susceptible to sexual and physical abuse, and equally adept at shielding perpetrators from punishment.
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Shame on those people, for treating her, and all victims of rape, in this reprehensible manner.
