Child actor turned evangelical Christian activist Kirk Cameron and his sister Candace Cameron Bure say that everything men and women need to know about marriage is "right there in God’s word," the Christian Bible.
The Progressive Secular Humanist blog published a report on Sunday about an interview Cameron did with the Christian Post in which he cited the Book of Colossians for tips on how women should relate to their husbands.
"Wives are to honor and respect and follow their husband’s lead, not to tell their husband how he ought to be a better husband," Cameron said. "When each person gets their part right, regardless of how their spouse is treating them, there is hope for real change in their marriage."
"A lot of people don’t know that marriage comes with instructions. And, we find them right there in God’s word [in the Bible]," he added.
"The Christian Post points out Cameron is alluding to Colossians 3:18-19, which states, 'Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord,'" noted Michael Stone at Secular Progressive.
This type of patriarchal view is common among fundamentalist Christians and is often used as a cudgel to keep women in dogmatically Christian families silent and subservient to their male family members.
So-called "Quiverfull" families like reality TV's Duggar clan adhere to a strict dogma that women's place in the world is to bear their husbands as many children as they physically can. The ultimate aim is to raise an army of fundamentalist believers.
Cameron, now 50, got his start as a child actor on the sitcom "Growing Pains." He has starred in Christian films like "Left Behind" and "Saving Christmas," which was voted to be the worst film of all time according to users of the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).
His sister Candace Cameron Bure, also a former child star turned evangelical Christian activist wrote in her own book, Balancing It All: My Story of Juggling Priorities and Purpose, "The definition I'm using with the word 'submissive' is the biblical definition of that. So, it is meekness, it is not weakness. It is strength under control, it is bridled strength. And that's what I choose to have in my marriage."
"My husband is not a dictator," she insisted. "We work together but I don't want to dig my heels in and I have no aspirations to be the ruler of my family. We are two equal people but I love my husband and I want him to lead."
