Monday, September 10, 2012

Phillip Jensen's article on female submission has elicited a response from a reader about the abuse and cruelty that can be attached to submission

Phillip Jensen has tried to pick up the pieces of a disasterous performance by Peter Jensen on ABC's Q & A (The fact that David Ould has said....I had the great privilege and, as it turned out, pleasure, to be in the studio audience for the ABC‘s live panel show Q &A...I left the studio delighted.... proves the performance was a shocker!) by writing a piece called Submission and Clash of the Cultures .

You know something Phillip... People are sick and tired of your offensive tirade about egalitarian marriages...I think it's sad that your marriage requires such certainity about the difference between the roles of husbands and wives to function. I wonder what would happen if your marriage was not based on the fundamental principles of female submission? ...How many Sydney Anglicans understand Sydney Anglican's version of submission?

Phillip Jensen's article has elicited a comment on the cruelty of submission by Suzanne McCarthy ...

Attending a church where the minister was from Sydney for 15 years, a woman was in a violent marriage. She had vowe to obey and was held to this by her husband, and physically harmed when she did not. She was told by her husband that she did not have permission to go for counselling on this issue. For 15 years she attended church and listened to sermons on submission. Not once was there an offer of shelter for abused women. In fact, the mininster and his wife did not offer any resources or counselling for this circumstance.
Finally, after involvement from the police, the woman did leave and started life over again.
She came back and talked to the minister who was naturally shocked and sympathetic. One thing he assured her was that he did not believe that a woman should have to vow to obey. He did not mention a vow to submit.
I want readers to know that for 20 years this woman was hit routinely, and as he hit her, this husband said to her “you vowed to obey.” For 20 years, week in and week out, he hit her and shouted at her that she had vowed to obey. She was told that she did not have permission for counselling, or to talk privately with her family or counsellor or clergy. She was a very rebellious woman in that she sometimes sneezed or coughed when she was asked not to.
She never knew what it was like to vote for the candidate of her choice, or to leave the house without permission or to talk privately on the phone.
This was her life under the ministry of Sydney. The horror is not the concept of submission, but the reality of submission. For some this is the reality. But my sense is that some women are a throw away, that Christianity is for the lucky.
What I have seen is that some of my friends are married to atheists, and they have been in loyal, faituful, stable relationships without violence. No, submission will not make a happy marriage.

If you email me I can give you the name of the minister and he can verify this.

Everyone knows that the Sydney Diocese was built on the backs of submissive women who paid the price when they spoke out in the late 70's and 80's about the cruel abusive behaviour of some Sydney Anglican men towards some women...and Peter Jensen who said on Q&A that he found abuse abhorrent, has been diligent in keeping women repressed within the Sydney Diocese. What kind of men cannot work along side women as equals within the home, workplace or church? Actually what kind of men cannot lower themselves to appreciate what a woman might have to say in church?...It kind of says it all!

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