So in conjunction with my previous two posts, I thought that I would focus on men in religion. In that last blog, I talked about how I viewed women in the book, and women in religion. Interestingly enough, there is not too much about religious men in that I have encountered in the book, just as in society I feel like "men of faith" are something that isn't necessarily celebrated...
You read in textbooks about these "religious giants" and "enthusiastic evangelists," men who reign in newspaper headings for religious uprisings. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Dwight Lyman Moody, all these names are associated with historic religious founding and events. But I feel that as time has gone on, this has greatly diminished, and men are becoming more and more quiet about their faith. I read a statistic a few years back (forgive me, the exact numbers escape me at the moment) which stated that the least religious social group of our society was white, middle-aged men. The most was single, African American women (very interesting but not the topic of this particular post). I could be very wrong about this, but my hunch is that the reason for this is that men associate religion with submission. That submitting to a Higher Being, without concrete fact or proof of their existence, shows a weakness or a gullibility. Men are supposed to be logical, straightforward, uncomplicated. Faith requires discarding logic, bending your mind around difficult subjects, and is simple yet complicated in a whole different host of ways. Apparently, women are supposed to be the weak ones. We are supposed to need a God to carry us through life. Women are the ones wearing crucifixes around their necks and carrying Bibles in their purses. I rarely see a man with a Bible in hand and a briefcase in the other. It just doesn't happen that way.
In the text, Commanders also seem to serve as religious leaders. For instance, during the Prayvaganza the Commander is the one who speaks on religious terms, and it quite a demeaning fashion i might add. "The Commander continues with the service: "I will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel," he says, "with shamefacedness and sobriety..." (Atwood, 233). "The Commander in charge of this service comes in...This Commander ascends the steps to the podium, which is draped with a red cloth embroidered with a large whitewinged eye. He gazes over the room and our soft voices die. He doesn't even have to raise his hands." (Atwood, 230). He goes on to say "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection." Here he looks us over. "All," he repeats. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression" (Atwood, 233). What I noticed for the first time despite having seen it over and over again throughout the book is that Commander is capitalized. Just as God is capitalized. Just as the Pope is capitalized. This was no mistake. Men, apparently, have the right to have a title, they have the right to be "capitalized."
In Catholicism, the Pope is a man, and clergy members are only allowed to be men. In Islam, Imams are men. Even God we refer to as "He" (with a capital H I might add...). Not that I have anything against any of these positions or customs. I just find it extremely interesting that although historically and traditionally religion is headed by men, nowadays men are rapidly shrinking from the scene.
Even in colloquial language, isn't the term "good Christian girl" ? Not "good Christian boy" ?
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