Betty Friedan (Short bio sketch)

By Brannon S. Howse

If “tolerance” is the core value of political correctness, feminism is its most cherished cause, and the implications of our cultural devotion to feminism are monstrous. Feminism is not about equal rights for women but about the feminization of the American male. The feminist ideology is anti-family and anti-father—and virtually guaranteed to bring about the wholesale destruction of the American family.

Among the champions of feminism have been Gloria Steinem, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and, most prominently, Betty Friedan. Friedan was also co-founder of the National Organization of Women (NOW), one of America’s most radical feminist organizations.

Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, could be described as the Feminist Manifesto. Released in 1963, it was a major force behind the 1970s explosion of the radical feminist agenda. Like many of the “Grave Influencers” I’ve discussed, Friedan was an atheist who embraced Marxism. As Benjamin Wicker points out:

Before she published The Feminine Mystique, Friedan had spent years in Marxist-inspired agitation on behalf of mistreated lower-class workers—and the abstractness of her analysis is fundamentally Marxist. She had been a Marxist since her college days at Smith in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In the years after, she belonged to, worked for, or wrote positively about a string of leftist organizations and publications—like the Popular Front, the Federated Press, UE News, Congress of American Women, Jewish Life—that had significant Communist membership or Soviet sympathies. Knowing that the call to revolution in The Feminine Mystique would be damaged if it was associated with the call to revolution in the Communist Manifesto, she hid her radical past.

The bottom line is that feminism has been a tool of humanists to destroy the family. Leading humanist Paul Kurtz said, “Humanism and feminism are inextricably interwoven.” Humanists and communists have sought the destruction of the American family because they know that the family has been the instrument for passing on Christian values and a biblical worldview—the source and foundation of our freedoms and constitutional republic.

With the help of the feminist movement in the late 1960s, divorce laws were liberalized. The resulting drastic increase in divorce began to break down the strength, respect, and permanency of the marriage covenant in the civil arena. No-fault divorce made separation fast and allowed couples to split up without admitting fault or accepting responsibility. 

In the 1972 Stanley v. Illinois case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that custody laws distinguishing between married and unmarried fathers was “constitutionally repugnant.” Fathers would be given the same rights and face no consequences for fathering a child outside of marriage. Thus, one of the main reasons for entering into the religious and civil covenant and contract of marriage was removed. Those who were married and those who were not married were given the same respect and legal standing. 

Divorce and illegitimacy has undercut the institution of the family. The incubator for nurturing offspring who would safeguard the republic and, for Christians, discipling children in biblical truth, is now relatively in shambles.

Friedan and the cultural Marxists have used civil law, courts, and the media to destroy the family and fathers and to make possible the rise of the welfare nanny state. The break-up of the family has been the leading cause of generational poverty and the permanent underclass. And the chaos is having its intended effect: the American people increasingly call for government to solve the problem by greater intervention into family life.

Feminism has some natural appeal. One consequence of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden is that women will challenge men for leadership (Genesis 3:16). But this does not mean women really want it—even if they think they do. If a woman takes the leadership position, she ultimately doesn’t find it satisfying and usually ends up discontent with her man. What women really want in a marriage is the protection, provision, and servant leadership of a loving husband. Whether people admit it or not, it is evident there are God-ordained roles for men and for women—each complementing the other. This is what makes a great marriage great—the different and sometimes opposite but complementary gifts, abilities, insight, and interests of each spouse. 

Many people in the Church now embrace feminism, and as a result, the biblical roles of men and women are not taught in most churches. While once only mainline liberal churches permitted women to teach men in the church, today many “evangelical” churches encourage women to teach men. In a sermon series on the biblical role of women, John MacArthur accurately describes the impact feminism has had on the Church: 

[quote] One of the most devastating and debilitating and destructive movements in our day is the Feminist Movement. It is changing not only the world but sadly it is changing the church. And as a result, the Word of God is being dishonored, opponents are having plenty bad to say about us, and God, our Savior, is being dishonored and shamed. Radical feminism has brainwashed our culture. It has brainwashed our culture to the degree that even the church has fallen victim to this. Church leaders, theologians, professors of theology who are supposed to be profound in the Scripture as well as lay people in the church have bought the feminist lies. There is even an organization in America called “CBE” having to do with Christians for equality. And this is an evangelical group advocating a feminist agenda….The real feminist agenda is frightening. The real feminist agenda is satanic….Feminism with all of its assorted features and its unique companionship with homosexuality is an old, old heresy that is meant to destroy God’s design. It really started in the Garden when Eve, the original feminist, stepped out from under Adam’s authority and thought she would act independently and led the whole race into sin and thus the first act in Satan’s feminist agenda was successful….

What you see today in the feminist agenda is a repackaging, a reincarnation of ancient Gnosticism. In fact, the parallels are very striking….Ancient Gnosticism focused on women. This is what it said, for example, “Eve was a spirit-endowed woman who saved Adam….” They said, “Final salvation for the whole world from the imprisonment of matter will come through female power.” And the key is, “Female self-actualization, self-realization, self-knowledge in which a woman becomes so fully in tune with herself and so well knows herself and actualizes and realizes and fulfills herself that she becomes fully divine, and as she becomes divine she will rescue the rest of these lame men just like Eve fully divine rescued poor Adam....”

By the way, if you look at Hinduism you see where some of this stuff comes from because the Savior in Hinduism is a goddess. Radical feminism today is being moved along by the idea that women must be liberated, and they can redeem humanity, they can save humanity. [end quote]

How many pastors today do you hear talk from Scripture about feminism? Some pastors, like John MacArthur, understand the prevailing antibiblical philosophies of the day and warn their flocks by not only explaining these philosophies but by destroying them through faithfully teaching God’s Word. However, many “evangelical” pastors are among the most uneducated men I know when it comes to understanding the times, the worldviews and philosophies ruling our day, and how to biblically destroy arguments raised up against the principles of the Lord as we are called to do in 2 Corinthians 10:5. As a result, much of the flock unknowingly eats the poison served up by false teachers and the culture. 

Copyright 2012 ©Brannon Howse. This content is for Situation Room members and is not to be duplicated in any form or uploaded to other websites without the express written permission of Brannon Howse or his legally authorized representative.