Why Men Shouldn’t Be Ordained—UPDATE

Remarkably, this little satire has become one of the most popular posts at The Bench, ever.  (Its appeal may be more universal than I ever imagined. It was recently picked up by a Buddhist blog, which thought it had humorous applications to Buddhist monks.)

For some reason, the post is getting renewed attention and traffic this weekend.  And a woman who stumbled upon it took the trouble to drop me a line:

Hello. I read your post, 10 Reasons Men Shouldn’t Be Ordained and I was sad to see the comment thread disabled as I know the source material that inspired this list.  It was a satire written by Alice Duer Miller in 1915.

She enclosed a link. Miller’s piece was about women’s suffrage, but it does have some striking similarities to the ordination list:

Why We Oppose Votes for Men: 

1. Because a man’s place is in the army.

2. Because no really manly man wants to settle any question other than by fighting about it.

3. Because if men should adopt peaceable methods women will no longer look up to them.

4. Because men will lose their charm if they step out of their natural sphere and interest themselves in other matters than feats of arms, uniforms and drums.

5. Because men are too emotional to vote. Their conduct at baseball games and political conventions shows this, while their innate tendency to appeal to force renders them particularly unfit for the task of government.