During the colonization of America most if not all the settlers had christian values. With Christianity being the basis of their religion they often used it as a guide on how one should live and their role in society. Within religion there is always a section where gender roles are discussed. With these gender roles there are limitations, one example is within the christian bible. Adam and Eve after being disobedient to God were cast out and each received their own punishment. For men, they would have to struggle and work hard towards their existence, while women would have to bear the pain of childbirth and be ruled over by their husbands. One can argue that the punishment given to women isn’t considered equal to the punishment given to men. Women technically still struggled and worked hard towards their existence. Their survival were dependent on that of men, is that not considered a struggle in that of itself? To know that there is nothing you can do without a man’s permission. This sounds a lot like slavery than anything else. Is being a slave not considered a struggle? Does a slave not work hard to appease its master?
If we’re to ask these questions when thinking about christianity we can often see that women were give twice the work of men. If we acknowledge that women were being treated as slaves, we can look to the story of Moses another biblical scripture where the Israelites were held in captivity as slaves by the Egyptians and were freed from bondage. In that sense are women not allowed to be free as well? In this paper I will explore how religion has been used to oppress American women, as well as how it has been use to liberate them from their oppressors.
Women not being exposed to the harsh cruelties of the outside world as men were, were considered to be morally superior. This led them to be involved in spirituality more than men, which often led them going to church more often. During this colonization period Catholicism gained a strong dislike due to France being an enemy and rival for control of North American colonies. This somehow related to women in the sense where catholicism was considered sensual and seductive which they believed would attract women because they were deemed to be weak. This often lead protestant men to keep women in check so that they would not be tempted by the catholic faith. Those wishing to be catholic left America and headed to Canada which left them estranged from their families (Smith 132). As the towns grew it became harder to get to the church which often presided at the center of the town. It was hard for the elderly and women who were pregnant or had children to walk so far. Women pushed behind the building of more churches, with the permission of their husbands of course. The men would sign the petition and pay the taxes and would begin building shortly after (Smith 131).
With the building of more churches, during the 18th century a movement called the Great Awakening was born. The Great Awakening was a series of christian revivals that dominated Britain and the Thirteen Colonies giving more attention and devotion to protestantism (Smith 135). Despite the overwhelming number of people coming into the church during that period women were more likely to be involved in the church than men were. With this it initially led to men leaving the church looking to dominate elsewhere. Nevertheless the leaders of the church were specifically male and were in charge of supervising women while they were in the church. Leadership in the church during the great revival appears to have taken a toll on the wives of these leaders. One example is the Wife of Jonathan Edwards who was left to take care of their seven children which led to her health deteriorating and eventually becoming depressed. The work load given to her was too much to bear as she would be left alone to take care of everything, because he John Edwards believed he shouldn’t be involved in matters of the world and solely participate in spiritual matters. With her clinging so strongly to her faith she along with her husband believed the reason for her sickness was because of her lack of faith (Smith 135-136). Bluntly speaking she was essentially a slave, this was something she was born into which did not make it any better considering she really believed herself to be sick because of her lack of faith and not because she was being overworked. This is an example of the oppressive nature of religion. Although the Great Awakening bought about this unity in women becoming more involved within the church than men were, the very few men that were there were able to take advantage of religion and use it as a means to oppress and and take advantage of women. Though this may have led to such incidents women still continued to be a part of the church and would try to achieve higher positions.
“There is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus”. This was what was referenced from the Bible by Antoinette Brown, one the first women to be ordained in the congregational church. Although this sermon was about the right of women to preach the gospel. She also believed men had no right to exclude women from anything that they were capable of doing within the Christian ministry. While she does mention women being equal in the church, she doesn’t further it outside the realms of church. She also stated that she did not wish to discuss to matters of politics or anything outside of the church when it came to the interpretation (Lee 3-4). Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a revising committee took on a different approach to the Bible over all. Stanton believed women should be treated as equals in all things. From the book “The Woman’s Bible” Stanton believes that although the Bible has good in it it degrades women like all other religions which led her to think that men never spoke to God about the treatment of women and that these sorts of things are written by men who wish to degrade women and in no way such things were ever written in the holy book. (Stanton 12).
When the subtopic of religion and women comes up the main topic tends to be about a woman’s rights to her own body. Specifically abortion, for years and even today continues to be a debate amongst those who believe themselves to be devout christians. Although there are many talks of miscarriage, premature birth, the word abort never comes up in the Bible (Hare). Roe v Wade was a court case that determined whether abortion should be legalized or not. One of the things debated was when life began. The Catholic Church believed life started from the moment of conception and that it was considered a crime to destroy life Roe V Wade IX. The issue with abortion in America is with it being a melting pot of cultures and beliefs to make abortion illegal based off one religion would be an infringement on the first Amendment. America is no longer just a Christian country to put forth the state and the church together is completely unnecessary. Despite Christianity being the founding religion of America, it would be ignorant to not acknowledge those living the country with their own set of beliefs and force it on them. With Roe vs Wade they came at a decision that women were allowed to abort within the first three months or trimester of pregnancy. One thing that stands out is that Christians should not have abortions (Gouveia Jr). Should that be the case is it necessary to bring such an issue to a country of multiple beliefs? The only thing left to do would be to talk about it among those of your own faith and let them decide whether to abort or not. In Christianity it is common knowledge that God has given mankind free will so that they will decide on their own which path to take. Its contradicting to push your belief on others and make it law when God has granted us free will. Those who are pro life christians believe that the body belongs to God so it shouldn’t be used to do such evil. One way that can be defended is by agreeing that if the body does belong to God who is man to place its own rules on something that doesn’t belong to him. This is something that could also go with the right to privacy, in a sense whatever you do is between you and whatever you believe in. Women have taken up the majority of churches in most faiths yet when it comes to debates about women it tends to be between men. Though times have changed men are still usually leaders in these churches despite the margin between male and female. In most areas of religion women are more like to be involved than men in most aspects of religion (Mitchell).
Throughout this essay my intention was to show the inequalities and the benefits of religion to women. I found that most tend to be contradictory. Women were intended to be ruled over by their husbands in Christian faith, though at the same time the talks of freedom and this dislike for enslavement was relative throughout the bible. If God freed his people from captivity but still felt that women should be ruled over then it would be that the Bible is not only contradicting but bias. With the words of Brown “There is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” it isn’t wrong to believe that women should be granted equality. She may have only used that reference within this church but if ones faith is always with them throughout their lives, if God is with them throughout their lives then such a proverb shouldn’t be limited to just the church. Like all religious text they can all be very vague and can be open to interpretation. Depending on your point of view you can can use the religion to take advantage of others as well as defend yourself against those who use it to condemn you.