Is Organized Religion Waging War on Women? Part 1

I recently wrote a post about rape where I asked why women still have occasion to talk about being raped. The abuse of women is reprehensible. We like to think it is a problem of developing nations, but women in western society are still far too vulnerable.

My search for answers led me to some interesting places. I began to wonder if religious teachings play a role in rape and abuse.
I do not believe that religion teaches men to rape. It does seem possible however, that religion contributes to negative attitudes towards women. If so, how would that add to the dangers that women face. I decided to explore the idea that many religious teachings demean women rather than accept them as strong equals of men and that this has serious implications.

This will be a series of three posts about three major religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) and women in the modern world.

This first post discusses Christianity and the concept of submission.
I found several articles with references to Christianity’s war on women and its hatred of women. This seemed unnecessarily polemical, and I decided not to pursue the idea. Yet, what I found both saddened and sickened me and I realize that I have to give it serious consideration.

I will leave it for you to decide if you think Christianity is waging war on women. For myself, after spending weeks on research, I have to conclude that the evidence clearly suggests a correlation between organized religion and negative attitudes towards women. I think hatred is too strong a word for most Christians, but there is negativity directed towards women’s autonomy that has broader repercussions.

Some of what I found made national headlines; yet, a great deal quietly disappeared into the ether. It is time to put it all together and contribute to a wider discussion.

If you think religion doesn’t influence how North Americans live, you are wrong. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are just two examples of men with huge organizations behind them that reach millions of people. The Family Research Council, the Liberty Council, and Focus on the Family are massive political machines that influence law and public policy. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are media personalities who have a wide sphere of influence. It is the huge number of Christians who subscribe to these ideals that has an impact on women.

I decided to begin with the concept of submission. While it should have disappeared with the Spanish Inquisition, it is alive and well in Christianity where it is the foundation of relationships between men and women. Submission is a direct descendant of the ideology of patriarchy. Most modern religions are heavily influenced by patriarchal histories which reinforce dangerous beliefs and attitudes about women.

Bible.org (written by Richard Strauss) says that “submission is the wife’s principle obligation. . . . True Biblical subjection is a woman’s creative and challenging pleasure of discovering how she can show her husband that she respects him, admires him, and depends on him.”

But, what does this mean in practice? According to Michelle Dugger of the television reality show 19 Kids and Counting, submission means that a husband is to be respected as a man at all times. A wife may never question her husband’s authority; is to remain physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and financially dependant; and must always be grateful for any sign of love she receives. To do otherwise threatens a husband’s “manliness”.

However, as disturbing as this is, the degree to which many follow the concept is far worse.

Back to Bible.org which says that obedience is to be practiced in everything. It doesn’t matter if a man doesn’t consider a woman’s feelings because “the wife will become more interested in the husband’s needs than her own.” Dugger advises wives to always give in to their husbands physically, even if they don’t want to.

It is this near erasure of a woman’s hopes, dreams, desires, and self that I find most disturbing.

Every aspect of a submissive woman’s life is to be directed towards her husband. When a woman is forbidden from questioning a man’s authority, she is essentially forbidden from having thoughts of her own. When she is advised to become the wife of her husband’s dreams, she is being told to ignore her own dreams. When she has to conform to her husband’s wishes, she disappears.

This mentality is incredibly insulting to both men and women. The idea that a man is so emotionally weak that only absolute submission will allow him to feel masculine is disgusting. The concept of a strong woman threatening masculinity is archaic. Strong men appreciate and celebrate strong women rather than try to force them to erase themselves.

But, submissive women are not only emotionally and mentally vulnerable: they face physical danger as well. Bible.org says that “obedience is not to be practiced only when you feel like it, or when you wholeheartedly agree with your husband, or when he is treating you with Christ-like love, but in everything (italics mine).” This sentiment is repeated throughout the many organizations whose websites I visited.

The implications are serious. Women are expected to submit thoroughly. This means they can be raped by their husband, beaten, denigrated, separated from family and friends, denied medical care, or a host of other things that a man may decide to dictate. If she fails to fully submit, her faith is called into question.

The idea of submission is both repugnant and dangerous. But, does it necessarily lead to the abuse of women?

It isn’t a big leap to go from expecting a woman to be submissive to abusing her if she fails to comply. After all, it is her god-given duty to obey.

When young men see this role model, where do they learn respect for women? Without respect, it is easy to assume that your gender and greater strength are sufficient reasons to be abusive. Yet, clearly not all men get the message that women must submit. And many who do believe this teaching would not dream of physically hurting a woman.

That doesn’t mean that they recognize the emotional and mental toll that forcing a woman to disappear takes.

Yet, I am not convinced that submission in and of itself is enough to understand why so many women are raped each year. Yes, the concept of submission creates potential problems for women, but it isn’t until it is integrated into other opinions about a woman’s place in the world that the true danger becomes apparent.

In Part II, I will examine the ways in which the Christian Right blames women for the ills of the world and the frightening curtailment of a woman’s right to make choices about her own body. It is this confluence of questionable beliefs about women that can lead to abuse and rape.