Motherless

[Jesus said to them,] “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings! – Luke 13:34, abridged (NRSV) 

[Content warning for sexual violence. Parents and church leaders whose young people read the Daily Devotional are encouraged to consider age-appropriateness.]  

CNN recently broke a story about a porn website called, improbably, Motherless. It platformed thousands of videos of men drugging and raping their partners while unconscious. Some of the videos are tutorials, teaching others how to do the same.  

The revelation that so many men are willing to commit such evil acts, and so many more sadistically cheer them and ape them, shook us to the core. Who were these nameless men? Did we know some of them? Were women anywhere safe from men they thought of as partners and protectors? How could rape culture still be so devastatingly widespread in 2026? 

Given the right permission structure—patriarchy plus the dark web—some subset of humans will squelch the ping of conscience and both do and tolerate terrible things. As Solzhenitsyn said, the line between good and evil runs through every human heart. Every one of us can choose which way we’ll slide.  

Permission structures work both ways. After the CNN story broke, women began posting on social media the full names of perpetrators who had sexually assaulted them, sometimes decades earlier. They were heeding the rallying cry of Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman raped the same way by her husband and dozens of other men. Vindicated in court, she said: “Shame must change sides.”  

Beta-male Jesus cried out against the shameless structures that normalized violence. A role model for all genders, he named himself a metaphorical hen: not a manly man, but a maternal one.  

Prayer
Mothering God, may we live in a world where every human can sleep in peace, sheltered under your wing.

About the Author
Molly Baskette is a UCC minister, psychedelic facilitator and author of books about church renewal, parenting, post-traumatic joy and more. Learn more at mollybaskette.com.