Ravi Updates: Ravi Zacharias Hid Hundreds of Pictures of Women, Abuse During Massages, and a Rape Allegation

Ravi Zacharias Hid Hundreds of Pictures of Women, Abuse During Massages, and a Rape Allegation

I first blogged about the perverted shenanigans of his months ago.

This goes to show (yet again!) that being married and part of a “nuclear family” does not make a person more godly, ethical, mature, or responsible, as so many marriage-promoting Christians like to argue.

The “nuclear family” also doesn’t improve society as so many Christians argue – note I am not opposed to the nuclear family, only I don’t hype it to a degree that is unwarranted as do so many other conservatives.

(Link): Evangelist Ravi Zacharias accused of rape, spiritual abuse by own church

(Link): Law firm details sexual misconduct by global ministry leader

NEW YORK (AP) — Ravi Zacharias, who died in May after a high-profile career leading a global Christian ministry, engaged in sexual misconduct with massage therapists and carried on many amorous extramarital relationships via text message and email, according to a scathing, in-depth report from a law firm hired by the ministry.

Five of the therapists said Zacharias touched them inappropriately, and one said she was raped, according to the report. It said investigators searching Zacharias’ mobile devices found more than 200 photographs of younger women, including nude images of a salon employee in Malaysia.

(Link): ‘Criminal, sociopathic, satanic’: Christian leaders react to Ravi Zacharias sex abuse report

(Link): Famed Evangelist Ravi Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct, his ministry says

(Link): Ravi Zacharias Hid Hundreds of Pictures of Women, Abuse During Massages, and a Rape Allegation

Excerpts:

His ministry, preparing to downsize in the wake of a new investigation, expresses regret for “misplaced trust” in a leader who used his esteem to conceal his sexual misconduct.

by DANIEL SILLIMAN AND KATE SHELLNUTT|FEBRUARY 11, 2021

A four-month investigation found the late Ravi Zacharias leveraged his reputation as a world-famous Christian apologist to abuse massage therapists in the United States and abroad over more than a decade while the ministry led by his family members and loyal allies failed to hold him accountable.

He used his need for massage and frequent overseas travel to hide his abusive behavior, luring victims by building trust through spiritual conversations and offering funds straight from his ministry.

A (Link): 12-page report released Thursday by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) confirms abuse by Zacharias at day spas he owned in Atlanta and uncovers five additional victims in the US, as well as evidence of sexual abuse in Thailand, India, and Malaysia.

Explanation of the Difference Between Flirting and Sexual Harassment is Spot On by S. Ankel

Explanation of the Difference Between Flirting and Sexual Harassment is Spot On by S. Ankel

(Link): Explanation of the Difference Between Flirting and Sexual Harassment is Spot On by S. Ankel

Ever since sexual harassment has become a widely discussed topic, there have been people complaining about how the #MeToo movement has ruined flirting.

This was especially the case after the allegations against Aziz Ansari were made in January 2018.

But no one has managed to sum it up quite as well as comedian Kate Willett, who articulated the clear black-and-white difference between flirting and sexual harassment in a Facebook post that has since gone viral.

A #MeToo Divorce Debate in the Philippines by James Hookway

A #MeToo Divorce Debate in the Philippines by James Hookway

(Link): A #MeToo Divorce Debate in the Philippines by James Hookway

Excerpts:

April 27, 2018

When the tiny island nation of Malta voted to allow divorce in 2011, Melody Alan realized that her own strongly Catholic country, the Philippines, was the only one left in the world without that right (aside from the Vatican).

Last fall, as the #MeToo movement began to ripple out from the U.S., she and fellow advocates for divorce seized the moment and tried to recast the debate.

Ms Alan’s own husband left her and their two children for another woman in 2010. He offered to support an annulment of their marriage (an elaborate court or church procedure) but only if she would pay the entire cost – more than a year’s worth of her schoolteacher’s salary.

“I wanted to be free of him and call myself a free woman, but I couldn’t,” she told legislators in February, when a parade of women appeared before a committee of the country’s House of Representatives. Some recounted abuse at the hands of their husbands, abandonment to a life of poverty and single motherhood with no chance of remarriage.

Last month, a divorce bill cleared the House of Representatives for the first time. …

Saving Our Sexuality: Is #MeToo Enough? by A. Arndt

Saving Our Sexuality: Is #MeToo Enough? by A. Arndt

(Link): Saving Our Sexuality: Is #MeToo Enough? by A. Arndt

Excerpts:

…Is #MeToo Enough?

“Carelessness” and “brutality” are two words that certainly typify the sexual “moment” we are in as a culture. How we expect to live in a 50 Shades sexual fantasy world while also managing to avoid it’s unintentional (but by no means unforeseen) ugly consequences totally escapes me.

…I rejoice that with the #MeToo movement we are seeing at least the beginnings of a reckoning—of society’s attempt to say, with a unified voice, “This we will not tolerate.”

But is #MeToo enough? It seems obvious to me that it is not.

As long as the roots of the problem are left unaddressed, the same ugly fruit will continue to spring up from polluted earth—now in one way, now in another. We will keep recycling brutality and abuse.

Your Boss Hired You to Perform A Job Not Flirt With Co-Workers – The ‘Me Too’ Backlash

Your Boss Hired You to Perform A Job Not Flirt With Co-Workers

About me: I am a right wing person who is not affiliated with any political party after leaving the Republican Party a few years ago.
I don’t call myself a “feminist” because many feminists tend to be liberal, and I am not liberal.
However, I do agree with feminists on some topics, not all.

---

In the weeks after women began sharing their workplace stories of sexual harassment on social media (starting around fall of 2017), using the “Me Too” hash tag, there began a steady stream of backlash, some of which includes push-back by both men, and unfortunately, a fragment of women, saying how so terrible the “Me Too” phenomenon is, all because now, some men may be too afraid to flirt with women at their jobs.

I for one do not want to be flirted with at any job I hold.

When I am in a workplace, I am there to perform work-related tasks. I am not there to get dates or humor single men who may be lonely.

My boss or the human resources department hired me to do work-related tasks.

Unless you were hired by a john to be a prostitute or to be a porn actor, you are not at your job to have sex, ask for dates, flirt with others, grope others, wink suggestively at them and make suggestive jokes.

You’re there to give status reports, Power Point presentations, and file memos, and to do other standard, day- to- day office- grind stuff.

If you’re a single man who wants a girlfriend, you need to use venues or media that is applicable to that very purpose, such as dating sites or nightclubs – a job is not a proper place to do that.

Get your friends to set you up on blind dates.

Try to strike up conversations with single women in the produce section at your local Kroger’s grocery store, or use the “Meet Up” site to meet others who have similar interests to yours.

Get a pet dog and go take it on walks at your local park; maybe a dog-loving, single woman will approach you to chat with you about the dog, and you can ask her on a date at that point.

But your workplace is NOT the appropriate venue by which to flirt or pick up women.

If you are a single man who does not like dating sites or nightclubs, that is not my problem.

If you ask a woman out on a date once (or flirt with her), and she either sends signals she does not want to date you, or else plainly communicates she is not interested, she indicates she is not receptive, you need to leave her alone at that stage. Stop flirting.

Stop winking, asking her out, and you should NOT be grabbing a woman co-worker by any part of her anatomy in the first place, nor should you be showing her porn photos, or whipping out your nude penis in front of her.

If you keep pursuing a woman, (and why do so many of you men do this – because you assume women find it cute, endearing, flattering, or sexy, or you actually believe in the false cliche “women love playing hard to get”?), that woman will come to view your attention as sexual harassment.

Complementarian Christians Do Not Think Women are of Equal Worth to Men – Case 2 – Christian Men Mocking the “Me Too” Sexual Assault and Harassment Twitter Tag (Part 1.1)

Complementarian Christians Do Not Think Women are of Equal Worth to Men – Case 2 – Christian Men Mocking the “Me Too” Sexual Assault and Harassment Twitter Tag  (Part 1.1)

(Part 1) | Part 2 | Part 3

In this post, I will mainly be discussing the insensitive, sexist tweet by a guy calling himself “Bible Thumper Wing Nut” (whose real name is Tim?), and Fred Butler’s participation. I’ll start by addressing Butler first, then move on to Tim who posts under the name “Bible Thumper Wing Nut”.

In part 2, I will be addressing Ricky Mauser’s replies to me, and, later, perhaps, maybe in a part 3, tweets from a Bob‏ (Twitter handle: “@JustBobThx”) to Dee.

I’d be very surprised if the Christian men in this Twitter conversation were not complementarian.

I seriously doubt they are egalitarian or would refer to themselves as “feminists”.

(I myself am right wing and do not refer to myself as feminist either – however, I also despise sexism, no matter where it comes from, right wing or left wing.)

First, here is the tweet containing a screen shot of two Christian men, “Bible Thumping Wing Nut” (Twitter handle: @Biblethumpingwi) and Fred Butler (Twitter handle: @Fred_Butler),  mocking the “Me Too” twitter tag, which women have been using to share their experiences of being sexually assaulted or sexually harassed on jobs:

How two men from, one with a Reformed website and one from John MacArthur's group, discuss women on social media when they KNOW they are being read. Can you imagine what goes on behind the scenes? SMH. They need to publicly apologize. pic.twitter.com/iCR5kTzpOk

— Dee Parsons (@wartwatch) December 7, 2017

Bible Thumping Wingnut’s tweet says,

Today a female security guard referred to me as “love”. #MeToo I don’t feel safe anymore.

Fred Butler replied:

Was she hot?

Note that both men, and the several who replied to defend those two, were ridiculing a serious issue: the (Link): “Me Too” tag began after sexual abuse and harassment stories (Link): about movie producer Harvey Weinstein broke.

This should be apparent to all, but it’s lost on those who are paranoid of the “Me Too” hash tag, of women wanting male accountability for male sexual misbehavior against women:
All sexual misconduct against women is wrong, A-L-L of it, whether it’s considered more serious – such as rape – or not as serious – such as cat-calling, or groping, or unwanted flirtation.

Although I am a conservative, I am absolutely appalled at the number of other conservatives or libertarians who think women and girls should just ignore, accept, or overlook “less serious” sexual harassment offenses.

Cat-calling may not be “as bad” as rape – but it is still bad. And no, no female should have to put up with it.

Unwanted flirtation is a form of sexual harassment, so no, it’s not acceptable when men do this to women.