I have read a lot of history. Whenever ordinary people have asked for equal rights in the past, those in power claimed it would damage the stability of the home and society. And it was usually God, through the infallible knowledge of the church that clamped down through various laws to keep the flock in order. For example, in Sweden where my dad was born and catechized, the people were legally bound to be in church on Sundays. Each family had their pew, so it was easy to check.
The Swedish Bishops were part of the power structure of the age... And if you ever wonder (when you have visited Scandinavia and went to church) why there are so few people in church, why, it was because, when the common people got democratic rights, they no longer feared what the church could do. In our country, the founding fathers wrote some enlightened words about liberty and equality, but as we know, they didn't include Negroes, Indians, women and people with no property. They all had their place, but subservient to the powerful. The struggle for civil rights was difficult. But then in the annals of history, who has heard of the powerful giving up rights without a struggle. And so the women struggled, the blacks struggled; the workers struggled to get the right to organize, and so on. So what did God think? Those who spoke for God, preachers and priests said that women's place was in the home, not in the voting booth, the blacks place was as servants and sitting at the back of the bus. The Indians were of some uncivilized subservient culture, to be civilized to our standards. I know the most about the women's movement and so even though it pains me to do so, I have to admit some of the dire predictions about what would happen if women voted, did come true. It was predicted that after women got to vote, in twenty years, women would start wearing pants and go to church without hats and gloves. And back then we all knew that God did not like that. So here we are not only not wearing hats and gloves, but wearing pants and even jeans to church! And of course, if we please, not going to church at all. But outside it´s OK to wear hat, as I do on the picture below!
Flo Pendergrast Wilmar Mn
