Our readings this week focused on women and gender roles in religion. The most poignant piece of writing was about the Christian Nationalist Movement and their promotion of abstinence for youth and adults prior to matrimony. I was not at that time as interested in the woman’s role as I was with the thought of: Where are these people coming from? What I found through my investigation was that the concept of moral freedom is not a new one, and is actually nearly as old as the Christian religion itself. It is the concept of moral freedom, the freedom to transcend feelings of lust. That is the driving force behind the promotion of abstinence before marriage.
This ideology of a moral freedom was not always prevalent for Christians, but from the time of St. Augustine, some two to three hundred years after the bible was produced, there was a shift in belief from a natural part of the natural state of things to a mindset that sex was something dirty and something that should be atoned for. This shift in belief continues to influence how Christians act in the public sphere. One of the many movements that came out of this, is the Abstinence Movement. Interestingly enough, the focus of this particular campaign is on women. This makes sense, because from the story of Adam and Eve, we know that Eve was the temptress. So, in the Abstinence movement, women are given a disproportionate responsibility to enforce this moral freedom mindset.
Enforcing moral freedom on the other hand seems to be a quest for both male and female and if these religious groups really want to transcend and resist the feeling of sexual desire they need to do this as a unified front. Christianity would actually be strengthening their forces in the battle for moral freedom if the men would take equal responsibility for what is perceived as the sin of sex.
Moyers, Bill Elaine Pagels Part 1, Public Affairs Television Inc, Copyright 1988
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