Christianity's Version of India's Caste System

Where did the idea come from that one group of humans had the right, since birth, to rule over another group of humans. We know that was true in slavery found in the Bible and to a large degree in segregation. We know it was true in India and many places in the ancient world. But, where does it exist today and why?

In parts of Christianity. Currently it goes under the name complementarianism.  Complementarianism was born in the 1970's in response to growing rights and opportunities for women. Religious men invented a theological argument that women must remain "in their place." 

It starts with God who is assigned a male gender. After that the God character is assigned the title of "Father" and those under him are assigned the role of children. After that, what's the pecking order?

You know it well. It is for men in a relationship with women to be in charge and for women to gladly and cheerfully accept that role. Millions of women do just that. They have been taught this is the way their god intend to order things. That this order exists is just as much a myth as that this god or any other god exists. Neither the pecking order nor gods of any kind have been established as objective facts.

The current version of complementarianism has been traced back to the women's equality movement. When women began to be successful in their argument of equal pay for equal work men in conservative Christianity became alarmed. Just how fair could women carry this argument for equality? How might it affect us male leaders? 

The link author, a professor who does research in this issue, found the new version of discrimination came began in the 1970's and was embellished in the 1980's. The old version was women deserved to be discriminated against because of Eve's major role in the Original Sin. Instead, the reason became that men were created to rule over women and women were created to gladly accept men ruling over them. They each "complimented" the other's role that God intended. According to conservative preacher and author John Piper this part of the faith is so important if people get it wrong they will be wrong about everything else.

Whether it is the Indian Caste System, slavery or racial segregation, one groups' power over another uses religion to justify the winners. It is no surprise the leaders who attribute this to their religion are the winners. That some Protestant denominations have only male preachers and the Catholic Church has only male clergy comes from the same source as caste and racial segregation.