By Eric Blauer
The letter written by the victim of a sexual assault by Brock Allen Turner on Stanford University campus, has to be one of the most raw, vulnerable and courageous letters I have ever read.
Commenting on it or the issues surrounding the assault almost seems irresponsible in light of the deep horror and drama involved. In some ways, I think our country should read, listen and mourn before the cultural commentary ignites.
“This is what the LORD says ‘A cry is heard in Ramah–deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted–for her children are gone,’” Jeremiah 31:15.
But the loss of innocence, the shock of violation, the anguish of wisdom born out of trauma by a woman standing in defiance of the young man and the act done to her must move and mobilize us. Reading her letter exposes a side of our culture and the justice system that can’t be allowed to get lost in the feed of new news.
Vice President Joe Biden wrote a deeply moving letter to her that anyone of any party would agree is a clarion call to work to educate, protect and provide communities and universities with more safety and humanity than they possess at this time.
“You were failed by a culture on our college campuses where one in five women is sexually assaulted—year after year after year…The statistics on college sexual assault haven’t gone down in the past two decades. It’s obscene, and it’s a failure that lies at all our feet. And you were failed by anyone who dared to question this one clear and simple truth: Sex without consent is rape. Period. It is a crime.”
-Vice President Joe Biden (author of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act in the U.S. Senate.)
One in five women is sexually assaulted — year after year after year.
These tragic crimes are happening on our college campuses at an alarming rate. We must examine and confront the crumbling hedges of protection that we are seeing disappear in our communities.
Our Vice President also said the most important truth: “Sex without consent is rape. Period. It is a crime.”
But after he also said: “Our culture is still so broken.”
I agree.
- When progressive institutions that are meant to educate (another word for civilize) our youth fail to stem the tide of the rape culture, something is broken.
- When a culture grows it’s young people in a petri dish of hyper-sexualization from toothpaste to politics, something is broken.
- When families are missing fathers who can provide strong authority, boundaries and physical examples of how to treat a wife or daughter, something is broken.
- When we idolize and promote entertainment that denigrates women, celebrates lawlessness and gives the finger to moral foundations that have been in place to stabilize and steer youth to adulthood, something is broken.
- When we blame sexual assaults on ‘drinking and dressing’ instead of individual responsibility for our actions, something is broken.
- When we fail to give young people a moral center that understands the responsibilities of freedom, something is broken.
- When we celebrate a drug and alcohol culture, unrestrained exploration and personal satisfaction and ‘happiness’ as the preeminent ideology, something is broken.
The bible warns of this moral rot and that we will face a future with more atrocities like these against our beloved children, family and friends if we don’t repent and change.
“And know this: in the last days, times will be hard. You see, the world will be filled with narcissistic, money-grubbing, pretentious, arrogant, and abusive people. They will rebel against their parents and will be ungrateful, unholy, uncaring, coldhearted, accusing, without restraint, savage, and haters of anything good. Expect them to be treacherous, reckless, swollen with self-importance, and given to loving pleasure more than they love God,” 2 Timothy 3:1-4
When I read that the judge sentenced this man to less than six months in jail, I am thankful that God has set a day to judge the living and the dead according to the deeds they did in the body (2 Cor. 5:10).
“The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them,” -1 Timothy 5:24.
Justice will be served and that which is broken will someday be fully restored.
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true,” Revelations 21:4-5
Until then…I weep and warn.
Eric, I agree wholeheartedly with each and every caution of brokenness you list above. Because of FāVS I have come to recognize you and your works as a brother in this life who has served so many towards grounded, balanced, responsible choices in living. You base your unique moral compass upon the written word of the Holy Bible in open understanding that millions of people around the world do the very same according their own translation, interpretation and conscience whose boundaries vary from your own. Through FāVS you have publicly embraced and befriended dozens of folk in whom you have found common overlap in MORAL VALUE, if not RELIGIOUS DOCTRINE.
Personally, I believe these overlaps in shared VALUES originate from the same place. However, what we each label as the Source of such authority in values in my mind is infinitely less significant than our ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COMMON GROUND and the significant efforts required to expand such ground. How many millennia did it take for humanity to forge a governance by the people for the people in which many of its highest shared values are deemed SELF-EVIDENT? Is it not possible the task before all free citizens today is to push forward into the existential abyss that we might return to concede and communicate in secular, plural, universal language even further VALUES (reflected in scriptures) as self-evident? Am I not right to say ONLY those who choose to invest in THIS effort become way showers for ALL the Brock Allen Turners of the world?
I have a very different interpretation of scriptural ‘end times’ than most, and while I am not commenting here to invite any such cross referencing, I must ask, as a Christian, surely, we must never place our faith in a seeming forever-distant FUTURE reckoning? Is not the work of all Christians ALWAYS to envision correcting humanity’s path TODAY?