A Republican Congressman claimed in his memoir released in December 2013 that married women should choose to submit to their husbands.
In a memoir titled "Just Fly the Plane, Stupid," New Mexico Representative Steve Pearce said that while wives should "voluntarily submit," this does mean they are inferior to their husbands, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
"The wife's submission is not a matter of superior versus inferior," Pearce writes, according to The Washington Post, "rather, it is self-imposed as a matter of obedience to the Lord and of love for her husband."
Pearce, a Vietnam War veteran, compares the structure of the family to the how he says the military should be organized- everyone has a role to carry out. In other words Pearce's wife, Cynthia, takes a back seat to let Pearce be the leader.
"The wife is to voluntarily submit, just as the husband is to lovingly lead and sacrifice," Pearce writes as a reference to the Bible, The Washington Post reported. "The husband's part is to show up during the times of deep stress, take the leadership role and be accountable for the outcome, blaming no on else."
Though the husband is to make the big decisions, this does not mean the wife has no say in what happens, Pearce writes. But wives should realize her role is to follow her husband. The congressman, who is also a Baptist, admitted that the idea of submission is a sensitive subject
"The principle is among the most controversial of all directives coming from the Bible. Critics about, both Christian and non-Christian," Pearce writes, The Washington Post reported. "Many of my friends dealt with the directive by ignoring it..."
Pearce did stress, however, that husbands do not have the right to completely dominate their wives just because they are the decision makers.
The congressman criticizes men who "bully their wives and families," and that "authoritarian control is not given to the husband," The Washington Post reported.
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