If Only He Knew: First, Assume Women Aren’t People

Lately, we’ve been discussing the terrible Christian marriage-advice book If Only He Knew. Written by Gary Smalley, the book seeks to walk men through repairs to their failing marriages. But his fans only want advice that will allow them to keep the ideology destroying their relationships. They especially protect one central idea, the pillar of complementarianism: women as less-than-human. Indeed, complementarianism only works if women aren’t really people. Here’s why.

Evangelicals React to Their Newest Bad News

These believers in objective morality can always find a way to turn their frowns upside-down with a little spin doctoring. In the wake of yet another bad-news study, their best and brightest have been working overtime to figure out a way to sell their religion’s current losses to the flocks as a win. Today, I’ll show you what they’ve come up with.

If Only He Knew: The Target Audience Within Complementarianism

Though he kept these facts on the down-low, Gary Smalley himself was a big-name complementarian and evangelical Christian. Because he wrote from that perspective, his tribe didn’t even care that he lacked any qualifications for counseling married couples. Today, I’ll show you why that perspective matters more than qualifications to Gary Smalley’s target audience–and why that audience would turn to poor-quality advice like his for help.