The Man‐Made World
The Christian religion teaches better things; better than its expositors and upholders have ever understood—much less practised.
The teaching of “Love your enemies, do good unto them that hate you, and serve them that despitefully use you and persecute you,”
has too often resulted, when practised at all, in a sentimental negation; a pathetically useless attitude of non‐resistance. You might as well base a religion on a feather pillow!
The advice given was active; direct; concrete. “Love! ” Love is not non‐resistance. “Do good!” Doing good is not non‐resistance.
“Serve!” Service is not non‐resistance.
Again we have an overwhelming proof of the far‐reaching effects of
our androcentric culture. Consider it once more. Here is one by nature combative and desirous, and not by nature intended to monopolize the management of his species. He assumes to be not only the leader, but the whole thing—to be humanity itself, and to see in woman as Grant Allen so clearly put it “Not only not the race; she is not even half the race, but a subspecies, told off for purposes of reproduction merely.”
Under this monstrous assumption, his sex‐attributes wholly
identified with his human attributes, and overshadowing them, he has imprinted on every human institution the tastes and tendencies
of the male. As a male he fought, as a male human being he fought
more, and deified fighting; and in a culture based on desire and combat, loud with strident self‐expression, there could be but slow acceptance of the more human methods urged by Christianity. “It is
a religion for slaves and women!” said the warrior of old. (Slaves and women were largely the same thing.) “It is a religion for slaves and women” says the advocate of the Superman.
Well? Who did the work of all the ancient world? Who raised the food and garnered it and cooked it and served it? Who built the houses, the temples, the acqueducts, the city wall? Who made the furniture, the tools, the weapons, the utensils, the ornaments—made them strong and beautiful and useful? Who kept the human race going, somehow, in spite of the constant hideous waste of war, and
slowly built up the real industrial civilization behind that gory show?—Why just the slaves and the women.