DailyKenn.com — Ravi Zacharias was, perhaps, the most respected apologist among evangelical Christians. How did he get away with it for so long?
The 'it' we is sexual abuse. He was also busted for faking credentials in addition to engaging in gross sexual misconduct that ran divergent from moral ideals held by fundamentalist Christians.
It turns out that Zacharias' double lifestyle may have been the greatest argument against Christianity.
David French wrote a recently published account of the extensive coverup that kept Zacharias ministry afloat and his sexual deviance out of sight. See link below.
The mainstream media has focused its laser light on Catholic priests who abuse children, primarily little boys. But sexual abuse is far greater than the media would lead us to believe. One begins to realize that children and others are at risk whenever we entrust their care to those we presume are morally astute. Google the search term "teacher arrested," for example, then click on 'images.' You will discover that sexual abuse is widespread and the abusers are often women.
But the story they heard from Zacharias had a certain brutal simplicity. Ravi—a person who’d lived an apparently exemplary public and private life—was the victim of a woman who’d preyed on his naivete and kindness, sent him unsolicited nude messages, and then demanded millions of dollars to maintain her silence.
In other words, there was a predator, and there was victim. The predator was Thompson. The victim was Zacharias.
Zacharias stuck to that narrative so ferociously that he sued Thompson and her husband, Bradley, claiming they violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act when she made her monetary demand. Zacharias claimed: “Defendants labored relentlessly to foster a relationship with Plaintiff in hopes of manipulating him into a compromising position.” When the alleged scheme to create a relationship failed, Zacharias claimed: “Defendants resorted to simply plying Plaintiff with electronic messages containing unwanted, offensive, sexually explicit language and photographs.”
In November 2017, Zacharias settled his suit. Within RZIM, employees were told a reassuring narrative. The RZIM board of directors (oddly enough, its members are anonymous, allegedly out of a desire to protect them from cultural or economic reprisals for their association with a Christian ministry) had “looked into everything.” Ravi’s denomination, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, had conducted a thorough and complete investigation and had cleared Zacharias of wrongdoing. No money had exchanged hands between Zacharias and the Thompsons.
None of this was true. The board of directors had not “looked into everything.” In fact, Zacharias had flatly refused to hand over his personal electronic devices for examination. His denomination had not conducted a complete investigation. And Zacharias had agreed to pay the Thompsons $250,000 to settle his own lawsuit against them, and all parties were bound by a nondisclosure agreement.