You’ve Sunk a Long Way, Baby: An Appeal to American Women

I was deeply saddened by the Women’s March on January 21, 2017. It was neither spontaneous nor noble. It was peaceful for the most part, but reveals a largely unreported problem.

What it demonstrates is how far some women in America have wandered from their hallowed place in the history of the United States. It might be true to say:

You’ve sunk a long way, baby.

I appeal to the women of America to lead us back to goodness.

Some of you might remember the clever Virginia Slims ad that came out in 1968. It displayed a liberated American female lighting up a cigarette–as if women smoking symbolized a tremendous sign of power and progress.

This supposed evolutionary leap took place during the youth rebellion of the 60s that touted free sex, equal everything, and launched the rapid decline of the America family–all in the name of freedom (or feminism).

To be sure, many liberties for women needed boosting in the 20th century including voting rights, pursuing careers and vocations, equal access to sports and the military, and equal pay for equal work. Most people in the free world agree with those sentiments. They are the outworking of the biblical worldview that places men and women on equally-created footing before God.

In fact, the only worldview that balances both men and women’s rights and responsibilities is the biblical one. Here’s the honest comparison:

• Secular view: Men and women are enlightened animals with no differences except for plumbing. Secular society shouts out “rights!” for all to do anything they want and downplays thel aspects of roles and duties. Hence, the re-definition of marriage, the decline of the family, and widespread role confusion.
• Muslim view: Men are superior to women and can treat them like property under authoritarian control. There is no equality of the sexes–just the subjugation of women to a controlling and brutal male culture.  That’s what you see in the Muslim-majority nations. The Muslim view shouts out “Responsibilities!”–meaning keep the little lady in the kitchen.
• Biblical worldview: Men and women are equal in worth, ensuring all the same basic human rights, but called by God to different roles–especially related to the family. Men might be generally superior to women in areas of strength, but women are clearly superior to men in beauty, intuition, nurture, love, and the virtues that are necessary for fruitful families and societies. The biblical worldview touts both equal rights under God with differing responsibilities.

Thus, for many centuries, Judeo-Christian America’s secret to success was the godliness of its women.

Let that sink in for a moment. America remained great for hundreds of years because of the virtue of its females.

Here’s how it worked.

The evidence of history shows that the world’s most peaceful societies are biblically based. Look at Europe, the Americas, Pacific Islands, and many other nations where the Good News has created marriages and cultures that create the greatest amount of peace possible in a fallen world. Why?

Because marriage restrains sin through godly wives who keep men from giving in to their pugnacious natures.

This was a conclusion of Robert Bellah in his 1980s best-selling book Habits of the Heart. In a chapter called “Love and Marriage” Bellah explained that the genius of early America was the centrality of faith, marriage, family, and “superiority of the American women.”

Yes, the superiority of women. 

Bellah quotes Alexis de Tocqueville, the French historian, who visited America during the 1930s: “[Christianity] reigns supreme in the souls of the women, and it is women who shape mores. Certainly of all countries in the world, America is the one in which the marriage tie is the most respected and where the highest and truest conception of conjugal happiness has been conceived.”

Bellah concluded what we men know from experience: Women are the superior sex and we desperately need their spiritual sensitivities to restrain our male excesses, guide and teach our children, provide an environment of love and nurture for the family–and in a phrase–keep the peace.

Is there any honest man out there that disagrees? Godly women are the fulcrum of stable families and nations. And it is the institution of marriage that ties us to their apron strings so that we don’t go off half cocked and destroy the planet.

Thirty years ago, in the margins of Bellah’s book, I wrote in my wife’s name–twice. Yes, I desperately need Shirley to bring peace, love, and unity to our home and family.

If we want peace on earth, less wars, and social stability, then godly women anchoring biblical marriages form the time-tested recipe for success. When American women filled their homes with virtue, then families and the nation prospered.

Fast forward to the 1960s. Due to the inroads of secularism and feminism in the culture, women began taking on all the vices of men–including smoking, drinking, profanity. sleeping around, and having a good ‘ole time. Hollywood championed these behaviors and Virginia Slims made its famous pronouncement of liberation:

You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby.

Really? Was it “progress” for women to producing their own lung cancer by smoking?  Was it progress to de-emphasize children and families and force many mothers into the marketplace? Was it really progress for women to become like men?

Fast forward again to 2017. It was heart-breaking to see the women of America sink to the low of the messages and behavior of the Women’s March. Those included:

• The gross use of profanity on numerous signs and from those who spoke to the crowds. Is it really something wonderful for women to hurl F-bombs and S-bombs (like men do on contruction sites) in every verbal direction? Is that a step up for women, or a terrible step down into the male-oriented gutter?
• Sexual lewdness on display and now just as prevalent among women as it is among man. I’m not saying that men get a pass for being crude and immoral. No one gets by before God. We’ll all stand accountable for our actions one day. But women have been far more self-controlled than men in human civilization–and especially in those permeated by the Good News of Jesus Christ. Women champion decency and fidelity in society and hold the moral fabric together. Is it progress that women are now as lewd and vulgar (“nasty” according to Ashley Judd) as men?
• Women championing the killing of their children through abortion. That used to be the sin of men who couldn’t keep their pants up before marriage and encouraged their frightened girlfriends to get an abortion. But now the women marchers are proud about their choice to kill their own children–65 million of them since 1973. Ashley Judd could not have been more wrong when she talked about the presence of “Hitler” in the streets of Washington. She was referring to Donald Trump. But Ashley: You mentioned Hitler who killed 6 million Jews. The abortion holocaust has destroyed ten times as many. Who really symbolized the actions of Hitler in the nation’s capital this January?

I’ve known for a long time that women are superior to men. That’s Duh! Lesson #1 when you marry–a man learning how desperately he needs a woman in his life and in their family. Women are the shining light of moral decency, the living example of loyalty, and the beauty of love in human relationships. To use Bellah’s words, they are the facilitators of “habits of the heart” that once made America great.

I appeal to all American women at this frenzied moment.  Don’t stoop to male debauchery to find your way. Rise up to God’s beautiful displays of virtue in your marriage and relationships.

You may have sunk a long way down. But your rise will light our way home.