Follow Their Husbands: A Comparative Analysis

Some husbands came to the conclusion that a compromise would be best and followed their wives into the same church while others decided neither Baptist nor Methodist would suit them and stayed clear of any church. According to Peter Cartright, those who chose to stay clear of any church were usually drunkards, profane swearers, gamblers, fiddlers, and dancers. Men often saw religion and attending church as weak or not masculine. Some husbands and fathers decided that they were rulers of the household and concluded that their wives and other family members would not indulge in such extreme faiths. If both husband and wife were attending the same church and both seeking a conversion experience, the husband had to experience the conversion first. If the wife experienced the conversion before her husband, she would be considered spiritually superior to her mate. This was a big conflict within many households. Other men found

They did not want to argue with their wives, nor jeopardize their family unit. Many men, attempting to uphold their male honor did not require that their wives share the same religious views; however, according to the monograph, “preserving manly independence did mean that husbands would keep their own counsel on religious matters and that wives would refrain from challenging those view too often or too forthrightly.” Despite the opinion of their husband, women did not give up on spreading the gospel. They continued on with their evangelical worship.

One man who especially disliked women who held strong to their evangelical beliefs was Jerimiah Norman. Norman not only hated women who contested his authority, but he loathed wives