I cannot provide historical context, but I would like to add literary context to your question. I think that Atwood meant to say that the religious abuse in that novel was based on religious abuse in general, not necessarily among Christians. At the time, she took some specific knowledge of the situation in Iran, for example, to imagine how a nation could go backwards so quickly politically. She has stated as such in interviews.

There are certainly sects now that do not allow women to speak or read scripture aloud in church, but I believe that is a different question to what you asked.