Loading ...In a recent column, I asked the question, "Has Spiritual Abusiveness Driven Some Men From America's Churches, "Volunteer Organizations, and More?" One reader at Mensactivism responded:
http://news.mensactivism.org/node/8231
"The icon of Madonna and Child, without Joseph (social father of Jesus) is what has caused the problem in the first place. Gynocentric misandry, started 2000 years ago, the icon should have been a family portrait, i.e. Mary, Jesus and Joseph!
Personally, I never thought about the ramifications of a “Mary, Mother of God” factor or a “Joseph Syndrome,” in Christian Iconography. It never really crossed my mind that the Church, through such Iconography, may have created a bias favoring Mothers, and disfavoring Fathers. I’ll bet many other Christians haven’t thought about that either.
To the best of my historical recall, several hundred years after Jesus’ life and death, Icons of Mary and baby Jesus first appeared. That would more closely approximate when the “Gynocentric misandry” began to become institutionalized in Christian Churches, in my opinion.
One need only see ancient Icons of “Mary with Holy Child” to see proof of the Church's "Joseph exclusion policy" regarding his family.
http://www.liturgy.ru/~philip/mholyvirgin1.jpg
This European coinage from the 1500's to 1600's shows the societal reverence of that time for the Holy Mother and baby Jesus.
Biblically, it is clear that Mary had a special favored status among all women by virtue of her being choosen by God for the Immaculate Conception. However, has the "Holy Mary effect," been subconsciously over-extended to all Mothers in the Christian Church, where they appear to be afforded a virtue beyond their holiness? It would appear so, in my opinion, as evidenced by the number of divorces filed by “Christian” Mothers and women. As I’ve mentioned before, the rate of divorce in the Christian Evangelical Church is the same as the rate of divorce among non Christians, and it is women who are filing the vast majority of those divorces (inside and outside the Church).
Mariology, historically, has been a big issue in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Church, and other denominations. For many, many centuries, when the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church were in their ascendancy, high veneration of the Madonna was integral to official Christian Church doctrine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariology
Mariology is the area of Christian theology concerned with Mary, the Mother of Jesus. It not only deals with her life but her veneration mainly through Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Assyrian Church of the East and Anglicanism, and her aspect in modern and ancient Christianity.
St. Irenaeus of Lyon called Mary the "second Eve" because through Mary and her willing acceptance of God's choice, God undid the harm that was done through Eve's choice to eat the forbidden fruit.The Third Ecumenical Council debated whether she should be referred to as Theotokos or Christotokos. Theotokos means "God-bearer" or "Mother of God"; its use implies that Jesus, to whom Mary gave birth, is God. Nestorians preferred Christotokos meaning "Christ-bearer" or "Mother of the Messiah" not because they denied Jesus' divinity, but because they believed that God the Son or Logos existed before time and before Mary, and that Jesus took divinity from God the Father and humanity from his mother, so calling her "Mother of God" was confusing and potentially heretical. Others at the council believed that denying the Theotokos title would carry with it the implication that Jesus was not divine.
and
Some Protestants accuse Roman Catholics of having developed an un-Christian adoration and worship of Mary, described as Marianism or Mariolatry, and of inventing non-scriptural doctrines which give Mary a semi-divine status by seeking to duplicate in the life of Mary events similar to those in the life of Jesus. They also attack titles such as Queen of Heaven, Our Mother in Heaven, Queen of the World, or Mediatrix. Roman Catholics respond by stating that Mary was human and so is not worshipped, but is special before other saints, and therefore worthy of particular veneration.
It was not until the reformation (500 years ago) by Martin Luther, that the high veneration of Mary abated somewhat. However, in the past few years, I’ve personally heard a conservative Lutheran Pastor say, “We don't afford Mary the honor and respect she deserves for being the 'Mother of Holy Jesus.'" Upon hearing that, I was left to wonder, "What about Joseph, the primary caretaker and protector of Holy Jesus during his infancy and formative years?" The Bible does document that Joseph was around during Jesus birth and childhood, but beyond that, the Bible doesn't say anything about his life or death in any detail that I recall. To the best of my recollection he disappears from the pages of scripture after Jesus' childhood. TALK ABOUT AN ABSENT FATHER!!!
Iconography is totally absent from Calvinistic, protestant Churches. Christian pictures, symbolisms or other medieval representations have been described in a depiction of one Calvinistic Church as “Popish rubbish.” You will find that reference in the movie Cromwell, starring Richard Harris.
Even though Calvinistic Churches eschew Iconography and Popish symbolisms, there still appears, in my opinion, a legalistic (almost idolatrous) veneration of Mother's and women's roles in those Churches. At the same time, these Calvinistic Churches require an almost slavishly accountable role of Fathers, especially if they are misfortunate enough to find themselves engaged in matters of marital discord or dissolution.
As I’ve stated before, little or no consideration is given in these legalistic protestant Churches for the fact that America's Family Relations legal system considers Christian (Patriarchal), Spiritual Leadership a form of domestic violence against women. Even less consideration is given by these legalistic Churches to the women’s studies propaganda that young women (and men) are exposed to in today’s tax-payer funded, public colleges and universities. Very little, to nothing, is ever done by any Churches I’ve observed when it's come to confronting the anti-male, anti-heterosexual family, gender feminist attitudes instilled in young women of the Church by the massively gender feminist infiltrated, public education system, and public colleges and universities. Yet overwhelming accountability for marital discord and dissolution is heaped on Father’s and men by Churches and Church leaders, in my opinion.
Could the recent court decision in the Mary Winkler case, where she killed her Pastor husband (and Father of her children), also be an indication of the scorned-Fatherhood/venerated Motherhood mental disorder affecting American Churches and American society? You decide.
http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=1037
It appears to me that the Christian Church’s historical focus on Mary and baby Jesus fosters a "Christian" adoration of Motherhood, while at the same time it ignores the equal importance of Fatherhood. It appears to me that America’s Churches are all too willing to exclude Fathers from the respect, honor and spiritual support they should be afforded in Churches, and families, while they're more than eager to shower respect, honor and spiritual support on Mothers.
Acquiescence by today’s evangelical Churches to a divorce rate roughly equal to that in secular families, along with their acceptance of Mothers as deserving custodial parents, reflects a Christian prejudice that is all too willing to accept the exclusion of Fathers from their families, in my opinion. Has anyone ever heard one of these Churches speak up for a divorced Father's visitation rights as fervently as they speak up for a Father's financial responsibility to his ex-wife and children? I have not.
God in His love did not say that he favored women over men or men over women, just that Mary alone was favored among all women. God in His love did not say that women are more perfect (less sinful) than men or vice versa, just that Mary alone was favored among all women. Many Churches seem to have invented their own interpretations to the detriment of Fathers.
Is there a subconscious prejudice, built into all “American Christian Churches,” that promotes the disappearance of Fathers from families, through “the Joseph syndrome (and other anti-Father worldly influences)?” The Pygmalion effect would seem to say, “Yes.” According to the Pygmalion effect, people tend to live up, or down, to expectations put on them by those in authority positions over them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect
“The purpose of the experiment was to support the hypothesis that reality can be influenced by the expectations of others.”
For that matter, the Hawthorne effect seems to offer parallel support, underscoring the effects of expectations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect
“The Hawthorne effect refers to a phenomenon which is thought to occur when people observed during a research study temporarily change their behavior or performance (this can also be referred to as demand characteristics). Others have broadened this definition to mean that people’s behavior and performance change following any new or increased attention.”
The expectation in the Hawthorne study was for “more production,” and the subjects of the study worked hard to “live up to expectations.”
It appears most Churches have a big problem today with a kind of “Joseph syndrome” - a lack of recognition and respect for Fathers, their roles, and what they endure in the process of supporting a wife and children.
Does such negligence now extend to America’s legal system and contribute to America's war against Father's and men? In my opinion, “overwhelmingly yes,” and more.
In America today, one need not go to a Church to find the institutionalized worship of women and a shunning of the rights of Fathers and men. One needs venture only as far as the closest tax-payer funded college or university to find immoderate adulation of women and Mothers in women's studies classes, and other liberal arts disciplines. Hypocritically, you'll never hear a peep from any of these "liberated women" about the chivalrous and over-extended pampering of Mothers and women. That should be covered in their curriculum, or at least in the curriculum of an American men's studies program - just as soon as the "Gynocentric misandrists" in charge of our educational institutions allow men to have at least one (1) men's studies program in America. At least then, the women's studies, cultural Marxist religion would have a counter point based on academic principals, logic and facts.
The religious and other institutional discrimination against males in America today leaves many males no refuge from the oppresions and abuses they suffer under. The average guy, expected to be responsible for the well-being of his family, appears to have no place in the family picture.
