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Christian patriarchy — and its oppression — focus of FFRF TV show

This week’s episode of the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Freethought Matters” TV interview show focuses on Christian patriarchy — and the women still trapped in it.
Guest Cait West was raised in the Christian purity movement, where women are taught to be completely subservient to fathers. She eventually found the courage to break away and is now a writer and editor based in Michigan. She co-hosts “The Survivors Discuss” podcast and currently serves on the editorial board for Tears of Eden, a nonprofit providing resources for survivors of spiritual abuse. West is also the author of a gripping new personal account, “Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy.” West explains in the book that in Christian patriarchy, each family’s father is deemed a prophet, priest, even a Christ figure.
“My understanding of the Christian patriarchy movement is that starting in the 1990s, there was something called Patriarch magazine and a kind of a grassroots movement of male pastors who were promoting this idea that men are in charge of all aspects of society and that women should submit to them,” West tells co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “It taught things like girls such as me couldn’t go to college or work a job. We had to live with our fathers until our fathers helped us find a husband to get married to.” She poignantly describes how she got the courage to break free.

“Freethought Matters” now airs in:

(To view details on channel variations depending on your provider, click here.)

If you don’t live in any of the marquee towns where the show broadcasts on Sunday, you can already catch the interview on FFRF’s YouTube channel. New shows go up every Thursday.

Upcoming guests include an expert on the Comstock Act, an author of a new book on the Scopes Trial and another author writing on the dangers of vouchers to aid religious schools. You can catch interviews from previous seasons here, including with Gloria Steinem, Ron Reagan, author John Irving, actor John “Q” de Lancie and award-winning columnist Katha Pollitt.

Please tune in to “Freethought Matters” . . . because freethought matters.

P.S. Please tune in or record according to the times given above regardless of what is listed in your TV guide (it may be listed simply as “paid programming” or even be misidentified). To set up an automatic weekly recording, try taping manually by time or channel. And spread the word to freethinking friends, family or colleagues about a TV show, finally, that is dedicated to providing programming for freethinkers — your antidote to religion on Sunday morning!

Freedom From Religion Foundation

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