Some were Baptist. Others were Methodist. We were the Church of Christ. While some white evangelicals believe in equality among sexes, most, including my church, pushed a concept known as complementarianism. It means men and women have different but complementary roles. Men are supposed to be the providers and protectors, while women are the nurturers and supporters.
Complementarians believe the Bible backs these differences. Ironically, growing up, I rarely felt protected by the men in our church. The accusation was confusing because it simultaneously infantilized us and accelerated us into adulthood. Men who leer at children are the dangerous ones, not the children themselves. That is certainly true of Trump. The man who is vying to be the most powerful in the country has a long history with uncontrolled sexual behavior.
He infamously boasted to Billy Bush on Access Hollywood about forcefully groping and kissing unwilling women. He bragged about strolling into Miss Teen USA dressing rooms to get a glimpse of the half-naked underage contestants. A jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing E. Evangelicals are taught that God cursed Eve for tempting Adam to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, making all women subordinate to men forever. In the highlight reels of social media, tradwives make the outdated concept appear trendy and idyllic.
Christian influencers tell women there is strength in submission. I was fed a steady diet of these messages until I had my own daughter β and realized I wanted better for her. My daughter was 2 when Trump was elected.
Those were disagreements we could parse. Trump was not. Every excuse our fellow church members made for Trump told the same story β protection exists for men, not the women they violate. My husband and I began to distance ourselves from the church we loved, where we had spent hundreds of hours serving.
