HuffPo: In Some Evangelical Circles, Grown Men Pursuing Teens Isnt All That Unusual

[TomCADem]

Who needs to fight fundamentalist Sharia law, when we have our own brand of oppressive practices in the heartland of America? While Roy Moore and evangelicals like to push "courtship" as being driven by morality, it is nothing more than a systemic effort to oppress women.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roy-moore-evangelicalism_us_5a05f4f8e4b0e37d2f37573d

In the fundamentalist Christian circles that Samantha Field grew up in, the word “courtship” doesn’t evoke romantic images of men and women batting eyelashes at each other in a parlor, or writing love poetry by candlelight.

Rather, in these communities, “courtship” refers to an intricate set of rules and practices intended to help young people find godly, parent-approved spouses. While it’s meant to be beneficial and holy, this practice of courtship can also result in abuse ― particularly when it gives older men an opportunity to prey on much younger teen girls.

Field is a writer, seminarian and ex-fundamentalist Christian who attended several Independent Fundamental Baptist churches in Florida and other parts of the South as a child. In those communities, she says, a significant age difference among couples was seen as ideal for allowing men and women to carry out their God-given duties ― the husband to provide and lead, and the wife to run the household and give birth to many children.

While the ideal age for girls to get married was 16 or 17, Field said that “below 16 wouldn’t be unusual.” “Younger than 15, people would probably start raising their eyebrows a little bit, but just a little bit. If they knew the couple personally, they probably wouldn’t have a problem with it,” she said. “They’d think, this is so godly and God-led.”

[NastyRiffraff]

1. This is icky, but that's not what we're talking about with Moore

He certainly didn't follow an "intricate set of rules and practices intended to help young people find godly, parent-approved spouses." He trolled in a mall, in a restaurant, in a Y, and despite what he claimed, he didn't ask their mothers.

[TomCADem]

2. It Is Exactly The Same Thing. Consider This Example of Courtship...

...that was noted in Salon about an evangelical couple who became a minor sensation on the homeschooling circuit. The story of their marriage was held up as an exemplar of the push to replace dating, which is self-directed, with "courtship," where the father and would-be husband arrange the marriage and the young couple is not allowed any private contact until their wedding day. But a community of bloggers who have escaped fundamentalism came forward with claims that the wife was only 15 when married to her 27-year-old husband and only 13 when they started "courting." The couple then withdrew from the professional speaking circuit:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2013/12/the-rest-of-the-maranatha-story.html

So now let’s talk ages. When Matthew first expressed his interest in Maranatha—interest Stan affirmed as from God but asked Matthew to put on hold—Maranatha was 13 and Matthew was 26. When Matthew heard from God that he was to marry Maranatha, and begged Stan to let him propose marriage to her, Maranatha was 14 and Matthew was 27. When Stan gave Matthew the go ahead to propose to his daughter, Maranatha was 15 and Matthew was 27. They were the same ages when they married just over a month later, and when Maranatha left her father’s home and the couple began their married life together Maranatha was 15 and Matthew was 28.

The original story doesn’t include any ages at all. I suspect that Lindvall and others felt these ages were appropriate, but were concerned that some might be put off by the idea of a 15-year-old girl marrying a 27-year-old man. I found the ages by looking them up on public record. They’re not available on the internet or in print otherwise.

Marrying girls off so early does several things. For one thing, it precludes them having other options. They have not finished their academic education and are not qualified for anything besides homemaking. And even then, what fifteen-year-old is truly ready to run a home in today’s world? For another thing, such early marriage means a girl marries before she has time to completely mature and form her own outlook on life. But then, sadly, that’s rather part of the point. This sort of arrangement, after all, functions not as an independent adult making her own decisions but rather as a property transfer—and it is explicitly stated as such.

[Hekate]

5. Your last para is exactly the point in all patriarchal cultures: create dependency, mold the girl. n

[TomCADem]

7. The Extreme Christian Right Approaches Marriage Like Buying a Puppy

Get them young before they learn bad habits, like thinking for themselves and being independent. Yet, they are supposed to represent, "Real America"?

[Fred Sanders]

3. Christia law is far more a threat to the country than nonexistent Sharia law. Now that is clear.

I think even fundamentalist Saudi would he creeped out by this Christian horror, driven by a delusional beliefs that God commands it.

[Girard442]

4. Not complicated. If women are property then they're property at any age.

[rockfordfile]

6. That's sick and not surprised

Think about that list of pastors.