“Everything from birth control to condoms to IVF would have been immoral in the world I grew up in. They all resemble an attempt to play God, to take control over our bodies, our fertility, the number of our children. … A woman who tried to control her own body was a woman who hated families, hated herself, hated God” (pp. 215-6).

#Christian #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #MaleDomination #FemaleSubordination #complementarianism #gender
/17

“Patriarchy thrives anywhere men are praised for their will to dominate – and Christian patriarchy blesses this pursuit of earthly power by imagining it's a heavenly duty. Like abuse, Christian patriarchy, at its core, is about power and control – at any cost” (p. 212).

#Christian #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #MaleDomination #FemaleSubordination #complementarianism #gender
/16

Instead I wish they would say, ‘That was wrong.’ I wish they could acknowledge how they are tied to a broader group of people, that they would seek accountability and justice instead of washing their hands clean of the so-called bad apples” (p. 200).

“I am not the prodigal, and I am never returning to my father” (p. 202).

#Christian #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #MaleDomination #FemaleSubordination #complementarianism #gender
/15

“When I tell my story, some Christians will say, ‘That wasn't really Christian. Your church wasn't really Christian.’ It's easier to call my story an anomaly than to face the reality that Christians have caused both great good and great harm. But that only perpetuates the problem, and the harm. (continued in /15)

#Christian #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #MaleDomination #FemaleSubordination #complementarianism #gender
/14

“For a long time after leaving the Christian patriarchy movement, I still went to church, wanting to hold on to a divinity that loves me, while throwing away all that has harmed me. But the very experience of being inside a church building, interacting with people who seem to have no problems with church and no questions about God, became too much for me” (p. 197).

#Christian #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #MaleDomination #FemaleSubordination #complementarianism #gender
/13

“I was raised on a fundamentalism that kept me thinking in binaries. We were ‘us,’ and the world was ‘them.’ You were either evil or good; There was no fence-sitting” (p. 194).

#Christian #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #MaleDomination #FemaleSubordination #complementarianism #gender
/12

“He was a reader of our diaries, a listener to our phone calls. He controlled every aspect of our lives. He found a home in the Christian patriarchy movement because that justified this control. Perhaps authoritarianism was the outcome of his own anxiety or insecurity. Maybe he would have joined any group if it meant he could be in charge” (p. 176).

#Christian #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #MaleDomination #FemaleSubordination #complementarianism #gender
/11

“According to Dad, I was a rebellious, sinful, disobedient feminist – the worst insult he could imagine. I've grown up hearing things like feminists want to be free from the family, feminists destroy families.

I worried that it might be true, that I was killing my family” (p. 132).

#Christian #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #MaleDomination #FemaleSubordination #complementarianism #gender
/9

“On Facebook and blogs, I found stories of homeschoolers who had survived abuse. Reading their stories was like reading my own” (p. 123).

“I had been told so many times that I needed to submit to my father no matter what, that I mistook his abuse and control over my life for love” (p. 124).

#Christian #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #MaleDomination #FemaleSubordination #complementarianism #gender
/8