If you are reading this then you are probably familiar with a case that is sweeping the nation as we speak. Pundits from all corners of the internet are giving their takes. Each one focused on details of the case that they believe matter to their point of view they are expressing.
Debates are being held. Positions are being made clear. Tribes are forming. Ultimate claims are being made. Juries are being swayed. And judgements are being issued. And in some cases punishments for the crimes committed are being examined as a proper way forward.
But time and time again, I see Christians buying into a bad way of reading this crisis.
Christians are adopting the way of the world without even knowing it and the result is gonna be deadly. Not just to the possible victims of our judgement but to our own state of our soul.
So to give the briefest outline of what this case is let me explain.
An Overall Timeline of Events
At the Chi Phi Fraternity House at Cornell University, a Jane Doe has claimed to be gang raped by a group of fraternity boys while she was intoxicated.
The Jane Doe on the night of October 19th, 2024, drank Vodka to the point of being intoxicated at her sorority house before she was to go to an event. From around 8:30-11 pm this Jane Doe went along with her sorority mother and sisters to two different bars, being served alcohol at the first even though she was visibly marked as being under 21.
By 11pm, Jane Doe walked to the Chi Phi fraternity house by herself to visit a friend. The Jane Doe had already had more than enough to drink within the very few hours before she entered the fraternity house. After entering the fraternity house to hang out with a friend, the “friend” danced with her, drank with her, and then proposed a threesome with another male in the house. The boys then gave Jane Doe more to drink and got her to do Ketamine while she was already deeply under the influence of alcohol. According to her statement at this point she was “pretty ok” with everything that was going on.1
The boys then began sexually assaulting Jane Doe at a point when she was very clearly unable to make clear decisions for herself.
At some point before 1:42 am, a third member of the Frat came in and also sexually assaulted Jane Doe. By 1:42 am, a message went out on Snapchat to the ‘Chi Phi Actives” group chat with the proposition that Jane Doe is free upstairs for anyone to enjoy.
According to the statements made about the incident, multiple men then came in and got Jane Doe to do more ketamine and then assaulted her as they wished. The assaults kept on throughout the night, eventually with Jane Doe serving as a table for the boys to pour alcohol and ketamine on. Eventually two boys moved Jane Doe to another room and gave her more ketamine and continued with the assault.
Jane Doe was unconscious at about 5:45 am and later that morning when she came too she walked alone to her sorority house with the description of the night being that she had slept with multiple men and done ketamine.
It was clear to some of her sorority sisters that Jane Doe was not fully aware of what all had seemingly happened to her that night. Jane Doe initially never referred to what happened to her that night as being raped or being assaulted according to one of her sorority sisters.
Over the next few weeks through conversations with her sorority sisters, Jane Doe began to come more to terms with what actually took place that night. In some instances, by merely reading some comments about Chi Phi fraternity brothers “gang raping” a girl on campus and realizing that she was not just a girl who slept around but instead someone who was possibly taking advantage of in a traumatic way.
This is the point in the story that I want to stop.
At this point Jane Doe goes to a health professional to be treated for a UTI and sexually transmitted diseases and eventually makes a report.
But as I reflect on what our values are as Christians I cannot help but to be bothered by how little some Christians seem to understand how to look in at this case and in wisdom come to terms with what happened.
So I want to focus on what as Christians we keep getting wrong in the narrative about this case.
What Christians Get Wrong About Rape Allegations:
A Foundational View of the ”Image of God’
We each have a foundation to our understanding of the world. Whether you are christian or not, there are some basic assumptions you are building your philosophical views on that guide how you will see the world. If how you see the world is through a certain lens, the foundation you see the world from is like the frames around the lens that hold the glass in place. The frames give a context in which everything can be set in perspective of.
As Christians a foundational claim that we hold to is that every person is made in the image of God(Gen. 1:26). Not one person on this planet is devoid of the inherent integrity and dignity that comes with them being a human because all humans are made in God’s image and thus deserve on a foundational starting place level: to be treated with the utmost respect. All people are made valuable before they have ever done anything good or bad. Before you can be defined by your actions, you are defined by the creators handiwork. And according to the Creator: you are good!
How this applies to our story of the Jane Doe is even though Jane is nameless to the public. Her identity is being concealed, Jane Doe before any of her actions can change our perspective or our judgements moving forward must be approached with dignity and respect. As a human being she deserves that regardless of what you believe she has coming to her later on. The fact, is that these boys did not see her as valuable in the slightest. The Jane Doe was heavily under the influence before she even walked in that fraternity house. She was not able to think clearly. She was not able to make wise decisions. Her ability was impaired. She was in a vulnerable place by way of her actions before entering the fraternity house and instead of her dignity being acknowledged and respected with in an alternate world the first boy giving her a ride home to a safe place instead the fraternity bro gave her more to drink and led her to commit sexual acts as if she had a choice to begin with.
As we start this story, our first impulse must be to acknowledge Jane Doe’s inherent worth. Before she is a victim, before she is responsible for her actions, before you can make a claim on whether Jane Doe is innocent or guilty of a crime; she is made in the image of God.
An Understanding of How a Person Accepts the Trauma They Just Experienced
Trauma is foreign to people who have yet to experience it. As someone goes through a traumatic experience they will likely never use categories to place their experience within, especially in the beginning stages of realizing what they have just went through.
No one as they are being raped while under the influence or not under the influence wants to believe that they are now “one of those stories”. As someone who has a different type of experience in life the best way I can explain this is by sharing how as a child I thought having a drug addicted father was what everyone had. What I experienced I thought was normal. It never occurred to me that I was in an “unsafe environment” as a child. Instead, it would not be until years and years later that I began to have the language to properly describe on a technical level what my childhood experience was during the turbulent years of my family.
Jane Doe initially thought she had just hooked up with some friends and then things went off the rails a little bit. It was not until later within the coming weeks that she would come to terms with the reality that she was raped. That does not mean she was never raped because she did not use that term from the jump. Rather what it means is that as human beings we tend to detach from our lived experiences. It is a way for us to process what it is that has actually happened to us. She had sorority sisters who were concerned, but the response to trauma is a delicate one.
Anyone who has had to walk a person through dealing with their trauma of being raped specifically knows it is not something to take lightly or to jump the gun with. The trauma response process is a place where as Christians we must be delicate. Paul’s line that we are to “mourn with those who mourn” is good advice for us to take during a situation like this. Fighting the perpetrator does not help, getting overly angry does not help, instead the best way to help is by being with the victim as they navigate through all the emotions and reality as it sets in that they are in fact a victim of a horrific crime. It is at this point, that their identity will change. Not to God, but to others and more importantly to themselves. Jane Doe likely will never fully see herself as anything other than a victim of rape. The crime, the status, the perception from others now haunts you. It wakes you up at night unable to live with yourself. It colors how you treat yourself in the day to day and as Christians, our job is not to run to the perpetrator’s defense, but to run to the person whose life was taken away from them. Our job is to go to them in grace and tender mercy.
As the popular quote credited to St. Francis of Assisi says: “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.”2
An Understanding of Why Victims Do Not Speak Up
You may be new to the world of rape allegations. You may be wondering how is it fair that Jane Doe gets to be anonymous while the Cornell 7 have their names and images thrown all over the 24 hours news cycle.
I just want you to take a step back and examine the conversations around these two characters. We know only the worst about Jane Doe. We know arguably what is the worst night of her life. We do not know if she has lived honestly or dishonestly. We do not know if she has made allegations like this before or not. We do not know if she is known around campus for sleeping around or for being a partier. We do not know anything about her character. Yet the conversation quickly always turns to what she should have done differently.
For the boys, the conversation does not center around what they should have done differently, instead it centers around how they are being treated unfairly through the allegations. It centers around how they were probably misled by Jane Doe’s words or actions. It gives the offenders more of a pathway for understanding than Jane Doe gets.
We have one Jane Doe, in a house full of supposed men and the Jane Doe is the one who takes the blunt of responsibility.
For a good person who is ignorant in the best sense of that word; it is understandable to scratch your head as to why it took her so long to speak up. In fact, why does it take so long for women to speak up about rape allegations? Why don’t they make a report immediately after?
The answer is simple yet sad. The conversation once opened, will never be in the woman’s favor. She will be judged on what she wore, how she behaved, what she should’ve done differently. Every part of her identity will be open to the public’s scrutiny and the reality is, the public is harsher with women than with men.
There are never perfect villains or victims. But in our world, villains get way more of a pass of grace. Whereas for the victims, specifically in cases of sexual assault if the woman is not a perfect pristine virgin in a skirt that goes to her ankles, covering all of her curves, and is as innocent as inhumanely possible then she cannot possibly be a victim in our world.(Yes, I said inhumanely because it’s not humanely possible to be “perfect”)
Sometimes the battle to fight for justice is too much of steep climb uphill that requires to much dodging of the boulders being hurled at you to even want to fight. For many victims, navigating the world does feel easier with the perpetrator of their assault out on the loose than having to go through the hell of exposing them for who they really are.
The victim will be looked at as a whore, while the rapist is looked at as a “guy who messed up a little bit” or as a “guy who just got a little too rough”.
As Christians we live in a world where sin makes advances. Sin takes multiple steps forward while often we take a step back. When we are interacting with someone who has been assaulted, our goal is not to add more baggage to their plate about coming forward. Our goal is to let them know their story matters, their voice matters and no one can take that away. And whether the victim comes forward or not, our goal should be to stand beside them. Because whether they step forward or not, the road ahead will be hell. Support them.
Jesus was a Friend to the Victim
Jesus ‘interactions with women are puzzling. In some ways you could paint him as somewhat of a conservative Jewish rabbi. Yet, Jesus also did things that were directly opposed to the conservatism of his day.
Jesus gave a Voice to the Voiceless
One of those ways in which Jesus breaks the rules is how Jesus continually gave a voice to the voiceless. The voiceless being the women in his life.
In Jesus’ day, women were assumed to be more prone to lying. Their testimony on a witness stand was barely even acknowledged. Credible would not be the word they would use to describe a woman’s testimony. I have heard it was even expected that if you used a woman as a witness on your behalf you could almost guarantee that hurt more than helped your case.
That feels awfully similar to how our world works today.
Jesus rewrote the story though.
In a world where a woman’s testimony was unreliable, Jesus resurrected from the dead and appeared to a few women. He gave them the authority to go tell the good news about his resurrection to the male disciples who had all fled in fear. The male disciples lived in a world where they were not supposed to believe anything a woman said, especially something as bonkers as a man raising from the dead. Yet Jesus made a woman’s testimony reliable. He backed their claim. He made their voice something to be heard and respected.
Jesus Defended the Defenseless
In a case earlier on in Jesus’ life a woman is caught in the act of adultery. Adultery is a junk drawer term. But the point is that she is caught in a sexual act that goes against the law of God. The people who catch her are religious leaders and teachers who use her as pawn to trap Jesus in his own words. The woman in the story is a pawn, a prop for these men’s own agenda.
The story goes that these men throw her naked in front of Jesus. They, in following the law, want to throw stones at her. But they ask Jesus if he disagrees with the law and its verdict.
Jesus in a calm patient way draws in the dirt and responds by saying “he who knew no sin, may cast the first stone.”
It is at this moment that the men from oldest to youngest begin dropping their stones and walking away.
The woman in the story regardless of whether she did something sinful or not was a victim. She was humiliated not because of her sin but because of these religious men’s desire to make a point, to exercise their “authority”.
At a moment where this woman was thrown around and unable to defend herself. Jesus took to her defense. He did not justify sin, but rather acknowledged everyone’s failure to meet the standard in the room.
As I have reflected on the Cornell 7 case and even over some of what my faith has taught me over the years, I cannot help but to think about God’s grace on our lives.
Part of the conversation that is going around about Jane Doe really boils down to “did she deserve what she got based on her actions prior to the event?” This is a question that is in other words asking: “did Jane Doe get what she had coming to her?”
The reason this question is posed is because Jane Doe was out drinking and she was seemingly okay with the initial hook ups(though I would argue she could not have been). She was acting in a way that was unrespectable and what she got is what you can expect from living that type of lifestyle.
As a christian, I am thankful I routinely have not got what I deserved.
I have sinned more than most people know. I am not perfect, I believe I am the worst of the worst. Yet Jesus met me where I was and his response to whatever devastation my life was, was not: “you deserve the mess you are living in.”
Instead Jesus welcomed me into his arms, he picked me out of my mud, cleaned me off, and walked with me to a new life.
Jesus never gives us what we deserve. And as christians, it should be telling when we are so quick to give others what they deserve. What that exposes in us is a dark reality that we don’t actually understand the gospel as much as we may think we do.
When justice is served to everyone but you in your worldview, somethings wrong.
The gospel hits home with us at two different intersecting points in our lives.
We are offered grace for the sins we have committed and for the sins committed against us. We both have sinned and sinned against. The gospel offers healing for both.
Jane Doe may not have been living the perfect Christian life you wished she would have. But that does not discount the harsh treatment these boys had given her.
There was one girl in a house full of boys. No one stood up. No one put a stop to it. Where the boys failed to defend her, Jesus defends the defenseless.
Jesus Identifies with the Unidentifiable
Jane Doe was stripped naked, exposed, humiliated and brutally treated in a way that seeked to take away the value built into her.
I recently heard a Pastor make a connection from Jane Doe to Jesus that I believe will help any victim of sexual assault not feel so alone.3
Jesus’ death was not just an atonement of sins. Jesus’ death existed in a structure within the real world that seemed to humiliate people in their most vulnerable state.
Crucifixion was a game to be played. There was a science to it. There was a way to do it well.
Part of the crucifixion many of our images miss is that Jesus would have been naked hanging on the cross. Every part of him would have been exposed for the world to see, laugh at, make comments at. The Romans used crucifixion as a sort of a sexual exploitation. And there is where Jesus identifies with every person who has been sexually assaulted. Jesus identifies with victims in their harassment. Jesus takes the place of the victims that have had their all exposed for the world to see.
Jane Doe is unidentifiable. She is a real person whose identity is being concealed. And in that, many women are able to find themselves within her story. But the greater story that provides healing for all of the Jane Doe’s out there is the one where Jesus lets his identity be revealed. Jesus, the Son of God, comes down to take on the full brokenness of this world. Jesus bears all the humiliation, the assaults, the pain, the shame that this world can bring all so that we may have life after destruction. Where these boys tried to take her God-given identity away, Jesus offers a new one!
Jesus Sees the Unseeable
As a victim, it’s hard to not feel like you’re not alone. At moments it will feel like the whole world is against you. And the truth is that maybe the world you are living in, the community you called home, the people you entrusted yourself too have been exposed to be people who you cannot trust.
In these moments, despair will come. It will look like there is no way out.
Jesus offers a way.
Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.(Matthew 11:28-29 CSB)
In the early pages of the Bible, the father of our faith shows his brokenness in one of the saddest stories the Bible has to offer. The story goes that Abraham and his wife Sarai had been promised a child by God in their very old age. God had chosen Abraham to be the means by which God would bring salvation to a broken world.
In the story though, Abraham and Sarai bring devastation to the world.
In their inability to trust God at His word that He would provide a child for them, the couple devised a plan to take matters into their own hands. Sarai instructed Abraham to sleep with her slave Hagar and conceive a child that would deliver on the promise God had made to them.
As a situation like this would obviously go, Sarai eventually is given a child by God after Hagar is impregnated by Abraham.
Hagar is eventually ran out of the camp. Abraham becomes a dead beat father and Hagar is left defenseless with a child that she cannot provide for.
As Hagar is out in the wilderness alone and scared; she places her child under a bush far away enough from her to where she cannot see him. She says: “I can’t bear to watch the boy die.” This is a mother in a desperate situation doing what she only feels like is her only option.
As she sits far away, Hagar cries in a way only a mother can for her child.
And when all hope seemed lost, God hears the boy crying. A messenger(angel) from God appears and says: “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is. Get up, help the boy up, and grasp his hand, for I will make him a great nation.”
Where Abraham, the biological father failed to provide, God the Father provides a well of water for the struggling mom and son.
The unspoken tension in this story, is that Hagar never asked for a son. Hagar was raped by Abraham. She had no choice in the circumstances she was living in. Consent was not an option for Hagar. And in her circumstance, where she is used and abused by the people who should have looked at for her. It was God who saw her.
For Jane Doe, the people she thought were her friends at this fraternity turned out to be the cause of maybe the greatest pain in her life. The people she trusted would see her value, used her as pawn for their enjoyment.
God sees Jane Doe. He sees her value, her beauty, her dignity. Where everyone else failed Jane, God does not.
- https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/03/us/cornell-rape-case-timeline-hnk ↩︎
- This quote is credited to St. Francis but there is no evidence he actually is responsible for these words. ↩︎
- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-esau-mccaulley-podcast/id1770229436?i=1000793845393 ↩︎
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