麻豆社

Good morning. Harvey Weinstein has now been sentenced to 23 years in prison-the length of the sentence taking some people by surprise, and one which sends a clear message to people in positions of power that those who abuse their position will not get away with it. At the same time, little noticed in the news, but hugely significant, tens of thousands of women in Mexico have now gone on strike, uniting in protest against the violence being done to them. The figures are quite appalling-10 women in Mexico are murdered every day. And if we think this is just a problem for other countries, the figures for domestic violence in the UK are sobering. One in four women in our own society will suffer domestic abuse at some point in their lives.

The background to this is the fact that almost every society, throughout history has been hierarchical and patriarchal. Men at the top, women, children and slaves in subordinate positions. It is not surprising that the New Testament reflects this social understanding. But there is one life changing difference. Within the Christian community there was to be mutual respect, especially respect from those in positions of power to those lower down the hierarchy. The rich were not to be given more honour than the poor. Husbands were to respect their wives and love them as their very self. Masters were not to threaten their slaves and to remember they both had the same master, who has no favourites. All this was underwritten by their belief that God has come amongst us as one without power, who put himself at human mercy.

It is taking a long time for this fundamental change to be reflected in the political, social and economic structures of society, but it sowed a seed for that change, and that fundamental principle is still vital, for whatever changes take place human relationships will almost always reflect differences of power. It is so easy to be blind to this. One of the strengths of Parasite, the Oscar winning film is that it depicted the main couple not as ogres, but as fundamentally nice, decent people. But they were totally blind to the fact that the society in which they had such privilege was based on power, under which was highly repressed counter violence which breaks out in the end with great savagery.

Abuse of power can take many forms. Recently I went into a shop to find a man leaning over the counter shouting and gesticulating to the lady behind. Why did he think he had the right to do that?

A mark of a civilised society is one in which those with less power, still in most situations, women, are treated with particular respect, and where those who humiliate the less powerful, are treated with particular scorn.

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