Blaming Purity Culture for the Spa Sex Murders

Blaming Purity Culture for the Spa Sex Murders

Problems with Mark Silk’s Analysis

Mark Silk opens his RNS essay with the following question.

“Should we blame evangelical purity culture for the murderous assault 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long is charged with launching on three Atlanta-area spas?”

Then Silk answers his question with a hedged (seems) certainty.

“It certainly seems that way.”

I think he’s wrong. But I won’t defend purity culture.

Spa Sex Shooting

Briefly, the spa-sex-murder connection refers to the shooter’s statement that he had a problem of sex addiction. And he shot the women in the spas because “they were a temptation for him he wanted to eliminate.” (See Craig et al., 2021 in WP.)

What is purity culture?

Purity culture enthusiasts might pick at Silk’s summary of the culture; however, he relies on David French—a popular blogger who, in turn, refers to the FAQs provided by Joe Carter of The Gospel Coalition.

I’ll just quote Carter’s opening and encourage you to click the link if you want more detail (Carter Link).

“Purity culture” is the term often used for the evangelical movement that attempts to promote a biblical view of purity (1 Thess. 4:3-8) by discouraging dating and promoting virginity before marriage, often through the use of tools such as purity pledges, symbols such as purity rings, and events such as purity balls.

What Silk Hasn’t Done

Silk mentioned the shooter’s comments about sex and the response of his church to remove the shooter from membership. But Silk did not establish that the shooter was raised in purity culture. Nor did he consider how many men who were raised in purity culture did not kill women when they failed to control their sexual activity according to the teachings of purity culture.

Purity Culture- Not Guilty of Inciting Murder

Purity culture may be guilty of some of the problems described by David French but Silk hasn’t provided evidence to blame purity culture or the church for the spa murders.

Isn’t it possible that a lot of Christian young men struggle with their sexual desires?

Isn’t it possible that most Christian young men raised in purity culture have not killed anyone because of their inability to live up to the teachings of the movement?

Think about it

People have a long history of having sex with someone who doesn’t want it.

Some people have a hard time controlling their sexual desires.

People have a long history of killing other people they think cause them to have a problem.

Christians and non-Christians often fail to recognise sexual predators.

Christians and non-Christians often fail to recognise people who will soon commit a violent act.

What causes a particular young man who allegedly struggles with sexual desire and the teachings of his faith to buy a gun and kill women at a spa may include some environmental factors but the causes may be internal as well. We simply don’t have many relevant facts.

Given a considerable lack of information about the shooter’s life and mental state, blaming the purity movement certainly seems irresponsible.

Let’s return to Mark Silk’s question and answer.

SILK Q:“Should we blame evangelical purity culture for the murderous assault 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long is charged with launching on three Atlanta-area spas?”

SILK A: “It certainly seems that way.”

My view: It certainly does not seem that way.

I am a retired clinical psychologist with experience in interviewing, evaluating, and treating victims of sexual assault as well as perpetrators of sexual violence.

I have written about sex and Christian culture in A House Divided: Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures available from Amazon and many other booksellers worldwide.