How is the status of women in the 19th century the fault of the Shakers?
I already knew just about everything that was in the article. I think women under fifty have no idea what it was like for women before the movement gained the traction it did. At one time women were viewed as chattel. I just finished the article on “God made me do it” and think that this is connected somehow to the darker side of the Shaker… A Mormon woman once told me she left the church because women got into heaven on the hem of mens’ pants. Religion still remains a dark place for women. Think of Colorado City and the tyranny of Polygamy or my church, Catholic, which will not allow that women can be priests. Separation of church and state protect some bizarre beliefs about the place of women in the eyes of God. Aside from the all male priesthood I am Catholic in part because there is canon law which grants rights to all Catholics. I would no more belong to a church without written individual rights than I would be a citizen in a country without any.
