Posted by
Sam Heath on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 6:30:02 PM
When confronted by God, Adam was quick to blame both God and Eve for his transgression: “The woman you gave me; she did it!” And ever since that time women have borne the brunt of the curse all the while “seducing” and “defiling” men and called by many men and their religions “unclean” and “a sin by definition.”
Harper Lee had some marvelous insights about religion in her masterful novel “To Kill A Mockingbird,” in which she has Aunt Maudie pointing out to little Scout how some fundamentalist preachers denounced women as “a sin by definition.” Then to emphasize this, Harper Lee has Scout asking Aunt Maudie “Is that why Mr. Arthur stays in the house, to keep away from women?” Aunt Maudie replies, “I’ve no idea.” She goes on to explain “… but sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of—oh, of your father.” When Scout protests her father never drank whiskey in his life, Aunt Maudie replies in explanation that men like Scout’s father Atticus at their worst were better than some men at their best.
An old friend of many years once wrote me he thought women confused sex and religion. As I thought about that it occurred to me women do seem to have a predilection for “men of the cloth,” and as I began to write about this, putting some of my speculations and conclusions on the subject in my book “Birds With Broken Wings,” one of the reasons for women being such easy targets for the clergy goes all the way back to The Fall. The story of Eve tempting Adam and his succumbing resulting in God’s curse upon all humankind has made women as the temptresses and the cause of such trouble throughout human history looking for a way to cleanse themselves of their being “a sin by definition.” And there is the ancient legend of “Lilith,” the seductive wiles of Delilah, Jezebel, and so many others to add fuel to the smoldering passions leading men astray concluding women are a sin by definition.
Now Mr. Arthur, Boo Radley, was the neighborhood boogeyman, someone children were warned to stay far away from. But Harper Lee must have taken delicious delight in having little Scout ask Aunt Maudie whether this neighborhood madman stayed in his house in order to keep away from women so as to stay pure and not to commit sin with them and cheat himself of his chances at going to heaven. I can just imagine how Harper Lee loved putting that question on the lips of little Scout to Aunt Maudie; talk about getting in a proper jab at the Bible Thumpers, professional “Celibates” and Pulpiteers across America!
But, who better to get close to than some rabbi, priest, or preacher as a way for women getting closer to God and wash away their sins? That this sometimes results in the preacher running off with the choir director is almost legendary. So it was my old friend mentioned how women sometimes confuse sex and religion, and this too often is the case.
So, when someone like Governor Spitzer falls prey to a smoldering temptress who are we to judge him harshly? Well, maybe because like Harper Lee the stench of hypocrisy and mendacity surrounding such men is more than we can bear and we recognize the preacher is the one at fault; not the choir director. And we know the Bible in the hand of some men is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of some others.