Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
The Myth of Patriarchy is Unnatural (but it’s also strong)

The Myth of Patriarchy is Unnatural (but it’s also strong)

Last updated on: September 27, 2020 at 3:00 am by John Beckett

The Myth of Patriarchy is Unnatural (but it’s also strong) 2020-09-23T18:24:42-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Last week I read a long blog post by a Calvinist, arguing that 2020 is proof that “God’s Judgment is Upon Us.” I’ve included a link for reference, but I don’t recommend you read it – it will just raise your blood pressure to unhealthy levels.

Why does this person think his God is judging us? Because we’ve exploited the natural world with no respect for other species or even a thought towards long-term consequences for ourselves? Because we’ve been inhospitable to those in need? Because we’ve oppressed whole groups of people due to their race, gender, orientation, or religion?

No. He thinks his God is judging us because we haven’t maintained in-person church services in the middle of a pandemic, because we haven’t been brutal enough in suppressing dissent, and because women aren’t sufficiently submissive.

I’m not going to bother debunking this screed. Like political conspiracy theories, religious claims of divine judgment are impervious to rational appeals to cause and effect.

Nor am I going to challenge his interpretation of the Christian tradition. No doubt he’s familiar with the Jesus of the Beatitudes and the Jesus who chased corrupt bankers out of the temple with a whip. But the Jesus of compassion and justice is incompatible with his true religion – patriarchy – and with his greatest value – order.

Instead, I want to call attention to the myth behind his rant.

The myth of Good and Evil

Our wider culture often hears the word “myth” and thinks “made up story.” It assumes myths are inferior to facts. But the purpose of a myth isn’t to communicate facts. Its purpose is to communicate identity and values. A myth is a story to live by.

The myth behind this rant says life is a constant battle between Good and Evil. More than that, Evil cannot be accommodated, reasoned with, or tolerated. It must be violently opposed and put down without mercy.

That stark dualism is the core of religious fundamentalist and political ultraconservative mythology.

Patriarchy and the Strongman

From that core is built a foundation of patriarchy: the idea not just that men should rule, but strong men – men who maintain order and who punish disorder and weakness.

This view says that women are always a threat to men’s strength. Their sexuality can distract men from their mission to preserve order. Their nurturing can tempt men to tolerate weakness and even Evil. After all, wasn’t it Eve who made Adam eat the forbidden fruit?

Gay people? Transgender and non-binary people? They don’t fit into a binary world. They break the myth – they’re living proof the myth is wrong.

And people would rather fight you than consider that their myths might be wrong.

The myths of Good and Evil and of patriarchy are unnatural

The myth of Good and Evil is attractive because it’s simple. It presents life as an epic battle between primal forces… and of course, everyone always thinks they’re on the Good side. It says that if we could just get rid of “those people” (or at least, beat them into submission) everything would be OK.

Real life, of course, isn’t so clear-cut. While some acts are so horrible they are properly classified as evil, a look at Nature and at history shows there is no such thing as Evil with a capital E. We all have the capacity to do terrible things… and also to do good things.

Most of the time what we label as “evil” is just persons other than us doing what they do in a way that negatively impacts us. Competitors aren’t evil. Hurricanes and wildfires aren’t evil – they’re simply things that are part of this world that aren’t favorable to humans.

Nature shows that Life isn’t all about us.

Patriarchy values stereotypical male traits over stereotypical female traits, and further demands that all people perfectly embody those stereotypes, whether that’s who they are or not. Even before we get to the issue of basic human rights like autonomy and self-determination, patriarchy denies the value of half of humanity (actually much more than half, when you consider that only the most powerful men end up being patriarchs).

But also, puritanical patriarchy is no fun, even for the patriarchs. Why do you think they’re always so sour? Humans have a natural inclination to “sing, feast, dance, make music and love.”

Savonarola was burned at one of his own stakes. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson became objects of mockery.

People will only tolerate unnatural myths for so long.

But people run to them in times of trouble

But when people get scared they look for someone to protect them. And they will give a strongman pretty much whatever he wants in exchange for his promise of protection – his promise to “make us great again.”

Of course, this gives would-be patriarchs and strongmen an incentive to make people afraid.

Whether they actually deliver that protection – or if they stand by while 200,000 people die – is a question that usually doesn’t get answered until long after the fact.

Motivated people get stuff done

Those of us who prefer a more tolerant and inclusive society have Nature and time on our side. Unfortunately, people who think they’re protecting “their way of life” tend to be motivated. People who think they’re on the side of Good fighting Evil tend to be highly motivated.

And motivated people get stuff done. Left unchecked, they’ll run over the rest of us. We need to be motivated too.

How do we motivate ourselves without turning into what we oppose?

Tell better stories

Long-term, the only thing that beats a bad myth is a good myth.

Facts can’t beat myths – people deny inconvenient facts, truth be damned. Rational explanations can’t beat myths – people jump to ad hominem, straw man, or other logical fallacies, or they just tune it out.

If you want to beat a bad myth you have to tell a better story.

Over the course of my lifetime, our society has done a progressively better job of telling stories about women, LGBTQ people, and some religious minorities. We see these stories both in our popular entertainment and in the “real” world. The conversion hasn’t been complete – the blog post that sparked this one is proof of that – but it’s generated real tangible improvements for countless people.

We still like to tell stories about Good and Evil, but we’re not quite as simplistic about it as we used to be.

We still like stories of heroes who fight for truth, justice, and the American way. And we don’t always distinguish between heroes who do the right thing even though it’s hard, and strongmen who don’t give a damn who gets hurt so long as they get what they think is right.

We haven’t done a very good job of telling stories about de-escalating conflict, righting structural wrongs, and compromising in the name of the greater good.

Which tells us that the myth of Good and Evil is still very much alive. We want our heroes to be Good, and to never accommodate Evil. We know life isn’t a football game, but heroes and villains still sell movie tickets and Netflix subscriptions.

We need to find a better myth, a more true myth. We need to tell better stories.

But we have to live long enough to tell them

In his 2014 book Pagan Britain, historian Ronald Hutton looks at why the English converted from their native religions to Christianity. By then all their neighbors were Christian, putting pressure on the English to convert as well. The rise of kings made conversion easier for missionaries – convert the king and it becomes much easier to convert the population. But perhaps most importantly

Unlike Christianity, native English forms of religion were not missionary and militant faiths … the more aggressive, determined and monopolistic religion had the edge over its rivals, simply because it cared more about winning, and demanded absolute victory. [emphasis mine]

In August I said that Trump was the fundamentalists’ Battle of the Bulge and that we can win a decisive victory against fundamentalism in the November election.

That was before the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and before all but two Republican senators gave in to Mitch McConnell’s demand for absolute victory. A third Trump appointee on the Supreme Court is the death knell for reproductive freedom in this country, puts marriage equality in danger, and who knows what else.

The long term work of telling better stories has to be accompanied by the short term work of keeping storytellers alive and well.

Moving forward in uncertain times

I’m going to focus on doing what I do best: telling the stories of the Many Gods, of the sacredness of Nature, and of the need to live in harmony with the Earth and all her creatures.

But I’m not going to surrender to the patriarchs and fundamentalists. I’m going to use all the political tools at my disposal, and I’m going to use other tools as well.

Long term, I like our odds. Short term, we’re going to have to fight to keep what we’ve won, and to continue the drive for freedom for all.

37 days until the election.

Previous Post

September 23, 2020

Embrace the Art of the Possible, not Accelerationism

Next Post

October 1, 2020 They Can’t Take October From Me

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the name "Jacob" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Friend of God Full of light Supplanter Justified