It seems that the more a person is disconnected from the world, the worse their objectification gets and their worldview twists into something weird.
Church leaders are often incredibly disconnected from the world. They spend time reading and studying old and ancient texts, or reading commentaries from old western white dudes, so they’re exposed to a lot of casual mysogyny. On top of that, depending on their beliefs, they may avoid normal places of human interaction like bars and such, which limits their experience further.
Even if they get out, they’re often under greater scrutiny from their congregation, so they limit their exposure (for example, lots of male pastors would think it improper to meet at a coffee shop to talk with a female parishoner). And if they are very black-and-white with their belief system, it effectively blocks any external interaction from modifying their views–any contradictory ideas are discarded.
And when their perspective and minds start getting weird, they often have nobody to talk to about it. Those within their religion would judge them harshly for it, and they often don’t trust non-religious counselors and therapists. So instead, they villify other people to justify themselves.
So they end up doing two things: condemning others from the pulpit (because of course it can’t be their own fault), and getting into scandals and abuse.
This is just what I’ve seen from my perspective in the mid west, but I imagine there are similar trends in other areas and religions.
Probably.
It seems that the more a person is disconnected from the world, the worse their objectification gets and their worldview twists into something weird.
Church leaders are often incredibly disconnected from the world. They spend time reading and studying old and ancient texts, or reading commentaries from old western white dudes, so they’re exposed to a lot of casual mysogyny. On top of that, depending on their beliefs, they may avoid normal places of human interaction like bars and such, which limits their experience further.
Even if they get out, they’re often under greater scrutiny from their congregation, so they limit their exposure (for example, lots of male pastors would think it improper to meet at a coffee shop to talk with a female parishoner). And if they are very black-and-white with their belief system, it effectively blocks any external interaction from modifying their views–any contradictory ideas are discarded.
And when their perspective and minds start getting weird, they often have nobody to talk to about it. Those within their religion would judge them harshly for it, and they often don’t trust non-religious counselors and therapists. So instead, they villify other people to justify themselves.
So they end up doing two things: condemning others from the pulpit (because of course it can’t be their own fault), and getting into scandals and abuse.
This is just what I’ve seen from my perspective in the mid west, but I imagine there are similar trends in other areas and religions.