Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, the state’s GOP-led Legislature has disbanded a maternal mortality committee, failed to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage and turned down federal grants for child care.
It’s not only hierarchical church groups that can be repressive.
The witch-hanging Puritans of New England were Congregationalists, who recognize no church authority higher than the congregation itself – but who compelled everyone in their colonies to pay church taxes and attend services. Likewise, the Southern Baptists – a denomination literally created to defend the sanctity of slavery – don’t have bishops or a church hierarchy.
Meanwhile the Episcopalians do have a church hierarchy (originally rooted in the Church of England, founded by Henry VIII), but are generally considered the most liberal of the “mainstream Protestant” churches.
There’s a reason why the church hierarchy mirrors the structure of medieval feudal governments. It is one.
It’s not only hierarchical church groups that can be repressive.
The witch-hanging Puritans of New England were Congregationalists, who recognize no church authority higher than the congregation itself – but who compelled everyone in their colonies to pay church taxes and attend services. Likewise, the Southern Baptists – a denomination literally created to defend the sanctity of slavery – don’t have bishops or a church hierarchy.
Meanwhile the Episcopalians do have a church hierarchy (originally rooted in the Church of England, founded by Henry VIII), but are generally considered the most liberal of the “mainstream Protestant” churches.