Rachael Denhollander is well known activist in evangelical and non-evangelical circles. She rose to prominence as the first of hundreds of female gymnasts that publicly accused Larry Nassar, a doctor that was later convicted of sexual abusing the gymnasts that he treated. A lawyer by trade, Denhollander devoted her life to being an advocate for sexual abuse accusers (which she calls survivors), and she was pivotal in starting the #ChurchToo movement off the heels of the #MeToo movement.
On December 18, 2024, Rachael recorded a podcast episode with the “Sons of Patriarchy.” According to their website, the entirety of their program is devoted to exposing sexual abuse in the church:
What happens when biblical patriarchy, christian (sic) nationalism, and a theology of authority and submission become the pillars of a movement? Scores of abuse stories in marriages, schools, churches, families, and more. Though these ideas have filtered throughout the United States for decades, they found a home in Moscow, Idaho, through the ministry and work of Doug Wilson. From there, they have influenced churches across the United States, and across the world. In this series, you’ll hear from experts on all aspects of these movements, and the stories of abuse from those who survived. Some are Christian, some are not, but one thing they’ve got in common? They’re finally speaking out.
As you can see, the man conducting this interview is fully on Rachael’s side, viewing her as the utmost authority in this area.
What is micro-corroboration?
At the beginning of the podcast and throughout, Denhollander refers to micro-corroboration in situations where an accusation has been made. These are little tells or patterns of behavior that a trained observer (like her) can recognize. It takes great skill and nuance to be able to observe in this fashion, she says. This is already going down a very dangerous road. Notice here that we aren’t talking about actual evidence of a crime, but rather the hints of one based on someone’s (an expert’s) intuition, of which there is no basis for admissibility.
What should pastors do if they’re informed of an abuse accusation?
Rachael gives lip service to law enforcement, but you’ll find that she doesn’t want that to be the focus. Yes, pastors as mandatory reporters should contact law enforcement when informed of an accusation, but that’s really not enough since the conviction rate for rape is so low. Denhollander says that out of the 300 rapes reported to police each year, between 5 and 9 will result in a conviction. She adds that 25 convictions out of 300 is about the best that we can hope for. And since all of our best studies show that 92 to 98% of sexual assault reports are true, that means 275 rapists are going to walk free. This again is a major problem. How can a “study” determine whether a rape accusation was true or not?
As a solution to inexperienced and untrained pastors, Denhollander promotes outside investigators and independent assessors, and she’s happy to provide training for such individuals too. She continually uses the phrase “trauma-informed” to describe these abuse experts, who can magically evaluate evidence and credibility. One wonders why such experts would be needed if indeed over 90% of abuse/rape accusations are true! Rachael also makes the claim that the only reason why a pastor wouldn’t want one of these investigators is that it would be a threat to his authority, but she also concedes that the pastor might just be confused about why this kind of help is necessary.
Response to Doug Wilson and the presumption of innocence?
The interviewer, who is obsessed with smearing Moscow and Doug Wilson, asks Rachael Denhollander if she has a response to Doug Wilson. He doesn’t bring up any scandal in particular, but we can infer that he’s referring to Doug’s handling of accusations of abuse. Rachael goes off on some very strange tangents here, stating that the Bill of Rights is not codified in Scripture. This is a very silly thing to say, given that no one is actually making that argument. However, she is trying to drive the listeners away from the due process championed by American jurisprudence, toward her twisted view of Scripture. Denhollander does affirm that the accused have the presumption of innocence, but of course, this is undercut by the fact that she refers to accusers as victims or survivors, which has not yet been proven. Denhollander then reassures the audience that these independent investigators are all licensed by the state, which is no reassurance at all to anyone familiar with state accreditation.
The only other noteworthy takeaway from the interview is that Rachael Denhollander mentioned Paige Patterson (former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) as an example of what not to do when informed of a sexual assault. Patterson won a lawsuit relating to his handling of a not-so-credible rape allegation via summary judgment, after being fired as president in 2018 because he never tried to cover anything up! Clearly, Denhollander was working off old information by bringing up his name and smearing an innocent man because of his ties to the SBC.
What about Rachael Denhollander’s own track record?
Speaking of the SBC, I think it’s fair to examine Denhollander’s history in this area. Is she able to magically discern credibility and examine evidence? Not as well as you might think. In 2019, Rachael was informed of a 12-year sexual abuse allegation by a Lifeway Publishing executive named Jennifer Lyell. The perpetrator was David Sills, a seminary professor who taught Lyell as a student. Lyell, who had a troubled childhood, claimed that the Sills family unofficially adopted her. She went on family trips and celebrated holidays with them. Lyell would travel long distances to stay with the Sills family, and on these trips, she claimed that the abuse occured. Jennifer described this as inappropriate touching by David Sills. She said that he would attempt to have sexual intercourse, but she was always able to fight him off. Even more shocking is that Lyell admits to lying to the rest of the Sills family, in order to protect how they saw their father and grandfather. Sills, for his part, admits that he was involved in a consensual affair, but he denies all accusations of abuse or rape. The details of Lyell’s story come from a leaked interview in 2021 that Lyell did with Ron Henzel (a writer in the PCA). Henzel took it down via a copyright strike and it is no longer available, but having listened to it at the time and wrote a long Twitter thread about it, which you can read here. Jennifer later turned on Ron, accusing him of writing a hit piece about her and colluding with Tom Buck of the SBC. To Henzel’s credit, he wrote a lengthy response to her accusations, saying that he could no longer believe her claims of abuse since she had clearly lied about him! But in spite of her nonsensical tales of abuse, Lyell was able to secure a $1 million dollar settlement from the SBC Executive Committee, with Denhollander’s support.
So, we have an adult woman who began an affair with her professor and continued that relationship for 12 years, even lying about his behavior in order to provide cover for him. And not only that, she traveled extremely long distances to be with him, very strange for someone who is actively being abused! There is no evidence that Lyell reported any of this to the police, but she did tell David Sills’ boss Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. There’s no evidence that he reported any of this to police, but he did bring Rachael Denhollander into the fray, ostensibly to lean on her expertise. And wow, did Rachael ever make some hay with this story? She helped Jennifer to secure a massive monetary settlement as previously mentioned, she pushed for the SBC Executive Committee to hire Guidepost Solutions to report on this case as well as a few others, and finally, she was going to be featured in a full-length documentary about the Lyell story!
This documentary entitled “Out of Darkness” never actually got made, but you can still watch a 16-minute introduction of it here. One thing that stood out to me is that Jennifer Lyell is not emotional at all when discussing the abuse she allegedly received. She only gets close to weepy when publications refer to her case as a consensual affair, which is what all the facts clearly point to.
David Sills is now involved in a defamation lawsuit against the SBC Executive Committee and Guidepost Solutions, alleging that he was a scapegoat for “Church Too” virtue-signaling. That is likely the reason that Rachael Denhollander no longer talks about Jennifer Lyell at all, preferring to avoid any involvement in the said lawsuit. Denhollander really tried to make a name for herself off of this case, but it backfired in spectacular fashion. And yet, she would still have you believe that almost every abuse claim is true. What is true is that Rachael is a danger to the church, especially men in leadership positions. She will stop at nothing to enrich herself at the expense of truth and justice, and because of this should be marked and avoided.
2 Responses
Doug Wilson is very creepy and looks like a pedophile. He exudes evil. Even his photo is repulsive and exudes evil. It wouldn’t surprise me if Doug Wilson turns out to be another Robert Morris or Mike Bickle.
“And not only that, she traveled extremely long distances to be with him, very strange for someone who is actively being abused!”
Many abusers are very skilled at manipulating and gaslighting their victims. It isn’t uncommon for many victims to be deceived or manipulated into a Stockholm syndrome type attachment to the abuser. Often, the abusers gaslight and deceive the victim into wrongly believing that they (the victim) are actually the guilty party, for “causing the holy pastor to stumble and sin” or whatever. Abusers also manipulatively prey upon the conscience of their victims, and try to guilt-trip the victims into silence, by saying things such as “if you tell anyone, I’ll go to prison. Do you want me to go to prison?”
So even if the alleged victim travelled to meet David Sills, and lied to people to protect his image as a religious leader, that doesn’t mean that she is necessarily lying about the abuse.
“Lyell was able to secure a $1 million dollar settlement from the SBC Executive Committee, with Denhollander’s support.”
I can’t say that this bothers me at all. One million dollars in Lyell’s pocket means one million dollars less for the SBC to use for promoting zionism, open borders, race-mixing, and jew-worship.
The SBC made up the million dollars thanks to David Platt taking over that Washington DC church for them.
The ecidence to me is that Calvinist pastors engage in sexual scandals more than any other Protestants. Now Calvinists usually respond to me by claiming the SBC is Pelagian and is full of sex scandals. But come on, bro, everyone knows the SBC is primarily Calvinist. And note I said sex scandal not abuse per se. If you believe God predestines all your actions, even sin, as Steve Lawson did, then its easy to gaslight yourself into thinking you must have this affair for God predetined it. And this by itself would explain a higher incidence of sex scandal in churches associated with Doug Wilson’s influence.