Women Are Second-Class Citizens

The one point of church of Christ doctrine that I never believed or accepted is that women are inherently inferior to men. Of course, if you ask a CoC-er about this, they'll deny teaching that women are inferior and will insist that the sexes are equal in God's eyes, but that men and women have different "roles to play" in life and that women are not supposed to have leadership over a man in any circumstances. A woman's primary role is to be a wife and mother and stay at home if it's at all possibly economically, while a man's role is to be a husband and father and rule over his household, including his wife.

Whether or not a CoC preacher comes right out and says that women are inferior, however, the attitude of the men in the church is crystal clear. Women are treated with utter condescension, especially if they try to question the men. A woman's opinion carries no weight. Her concerns are met with scorn. And no matter how well educated she is, she still can't possibly understand the ways of God as well as the men do.

I never accepted that I was inferior. Even as a child, I'd look around the congregation and think, "I have to let one of these idiots tell me what to do? I'm smarter than all of them put together!" So even though I did accept other bizarre doctrines, the issue of women's inferiority was the fault line around which everything else eventually cracked. It didn't make sense to me that God would give me intelligence and talent and skills and yet expect me never to use them, because the only acceptable occupation for me was being a wife and mother.

There are some amazingly wise and talented women in the CoC but they're never allowed to share that wisdom or use those talents simply because they lack the correct genitalia. Meanwhile, there are men who are stupid and rude and toxic who are allowed to bellow whatever they want from the pulpit simply because they're men. How is this fair or right? How does this help the church grow? How does this demonstrate that God loves everyone equally? It doesn't, and it's one of the primary reasons I had to leave the CoC.

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