Mark Harris’ backward views on women continue to haunt his candidacy in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District as he struggles to keep up with US Marine Corps Veteran, Dan McCready. This week, Roll Call reported on Harris extolling the importance of “wives submitting to their husbands,” comments from which Harris scrambled in vain to distance himself.
That follows reporting from ABC that Harris had “questioned whether careers were ‘healthiest pursuit’ for women,” and scolded women who had never learned “how to sew a button.” Adding to Harris’ troubles, the Charlotte Observer Editorial Board quickly took Harris to task for “demoniz[ing] women (but not men) who put great value on a career.”
As Harris’ campaign continues to fizzle, the big question remains: what’s the next quote from Mark Harris that will flash us back to the 19th Century?
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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North Carolina GOP Candidate Preached Extensively on Wives Submitting to Husbands
Eric Garcia // Roll Call
KEY POINTS
- Mark Harris on multiple occasions — as a preacher and political candidate — has said that women should submit fully to their husbands and that he believed homosexuality is a choice. Before venturing into politics, he was a pastor at First Baptist Church in Charlotte.
- In one sermon from Feb. 3, 2013, he said the majority of marital problems could be linked to couples not following that guidance.
- “Many marriages could save beaucoups of marriage counseling money if they would just understand; husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church. Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord,” he said in the sermon.
- Sandra Glahn, the interim chair at the Dallas Theological Seminary, said Harris was trying to say that “submission is a hierarchy.” But women’s role in submitting can be over-emphasized, she said.
- “When you continue to emphasize wives, you sure set yourself to be saying, ‘Put up with abuse,’” she said.