The men known as the “Founding Fathers” of the U.S. were outraged at the very idea of monarchy because “the rule of one,” they believed, leaves everyone else more or less unfree. If they were right, it is curious that so many Christian Americans today refer to heaven — the perfect place — as a kingdom ruled by one male figure.

Of course, most of the “Founders” (including Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Adams, Madison and Monroe) were deists who accepted the moral teachings of Jesus but not his divinity. Those teachings proclaim that all are equally worthy, yet again it seems that the savior had to be male.

Are only males worthy? Whether or not maleness was significant to Jesus, part of his legacy was an entire apparatus of priests, bishops, cardinals, popes, preachers and ministers — a male-dominated hierarchy worthy of the Roman Empire under which it first emerged.

One might escape this contradiction between love for all and dominance by one by admitting that Genesis simply reflects the norms of its time and place when male pharaohs, emperors, dictators and kings ruled. The role of everyone else was to obey and praise the ruler. Were “men” created in the image of God, or vice versa? Many Christians have agreed with the Founders that humans must see through these time- and place-bound details of scripture to recognize its true essence, especially when the alternative is to believe that the Father is, literally, a domineering male authoritarian.

It is good to remember that moral commitments linked to monotheism can also inspire a concern for the hungry and others near the bottom of the hierarchy. While merely bandaging wounds leaves the hierarchy untouched and may even obscure its full viciousness, openly confronting hierarchy can reveal its full reality.

Whether or not we agree with the Founders that the kingship of the Father is only a story, we must admit it is one of the most central and influential stories of our heritage. It both reflects and helps to shape the world we still inhabit. Because so many have considered it definitive, it deeply informs how we categorize and treat people.

But if it is wrong to define God in human terms as a king, would we say the same thing about his maleness? Does God have a gender like many earthly creatures? Could God be female? Why not? Because a powerful story, at least as old as Genesis, has become so embedded in our thinking? Why can’t we imagine paradise as a place of freedom where no one is ranked and no one rules over another, where all are worthy and treat each other accordingly?

To make this clear, what would we think about a group of white people who insisted that God was white? Would this reflect their own narrowness or that God just happened to look like them and not like darker people? And what if a group of men insisted that God was male? Can we take that at face value?

The problem is how these definitions affect non-whites and non-males. Stories are important that way, but sometimes they have a way of undermining themselves. Genesis presents Eve as the archetype of evil — the reason humans require salvation — because she defies the dominance of the ruler of the kingdom.

In the Genesis account, she seems to want equality, and the knowledge of how to gain it. Genesis leaves room to view Eve’s choice as heroic, but for the God-king it was the deepest sin. I apologize to those who find this blasphemous, but male dominance goes very deep. If blasphemy is defined as demanding equality despite male demands, females, almost by definition, are tinged with evil.

For so long, women have been valued only for their appearance and their child-producing abilities. Yes, things have evolved somewhat, but today in the USA we still sing of the “Land where our fathers died,” as if our mothers were insignificant. I am sorry to have to dig into the heart of this matter and open such basic and difficult questions, but not confronting them is to accept a world where only some are free.

Putting people in binary boxes like black and white, male and female, ignores the complexity of reality. It is the first step in creating a hierarchy. We might even wonder what is the real original sin: Eve resisting domination or the Father establishing hierarchy?

Patrick McGreevy lives in Greenfield and welcomes comments at pmcgreevy64@gmail.com.

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