Kevin DeGraaf’s Blog

The following blog post was brought to my attention this morning: Should Women Discuss Doctrinal Issues Amongst Each Other?

I do not feel that women should be recieving teachings, drawing conclusions and beliefs in areas of doctrine, nor trying to teach other woman (or men!) in areas of theology. [...]

If you as a wife are off studying things for yourself and coming to your own conclusions without the direction, blessing and oversight of her husband, it can easily lead to disunity in the marriage along with the wife feeling superior to her husband and overriding his authority. It can also easily lead to the wife being led astray and decieved.

The primitive, backwards misogyny of these statements left me reeling in disgust. The moral Zeitgeist that lives within civilized society has made tremendous progress since biblical times, and one of the central themes of this post-religious enlightenment is that all people, regardless of gender, deserve freedom of thought, expression, and actions. This principle stands in stark contrast to the biblical sentiments expressed by the author of that post. (The Christian denomination in which I was raised almost tore itself apart over these same issues a decade ago.)

As moral humans in the twenty-first century, we need to emphatically reject any ideology, dogma, or worldview that asserts that some people deserve less freedom simply because they happen to be of a certain gender or race.

As I mentioned, when I read that blog post, my first reactions were anger, disgust, and even pity — after all, if it weren’t for religion, this woman would not feel burdened by archaic, misogynistic dogma and could feel free to express her opinions, on any subject, without subjecting them to the verification of her “man” first.

But now that I’ve thought about it for a while, I’ve decided that I simply don’t care. To each, his/her own. If this woman is so wrapped up in baseless delusion that she wants to ignore the progress of morality over the last two millennia and instead infantilize herself by clinging to a “sacred” text that commands her to be submissive to her husband, fine. Let her persist in her self-created mental prison. She doesn’t deserve our pity.