Why Women Need Freedom From Religion
Organized religion
always has been and remains the greatest enemy of women’s rights. In the Christian-dominated Western
world, two bible verses in particular sum up the position of women:
“I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
By this third chapter of Genesis, woman lost her rights, her standing—even her
identity, and motherhood became a God-inflicted curse degrading her status in
the world.
In the New
Testament, the bible decrees:
“Let the woman
learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to
usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed,
then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the
transgression.” 1 Tim. 2:11-14
One bible verse
alone, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” is responsible for the death of
tens of thousands, if not millions, of women. Do women and those who care about
them need further evidence of the great harm of Christianity, predicated as it
has been on these and similar teachings about women?
Church writer
Tertullian said “each of you women is an Eve . . . You are the gate
of Hell, you are the temptress of the forbidden tree; you are the first
deserter of the divine law.”
Martin Luther
decreed: “If a woman grows weary and at last dies from childbearing, it matters
not. Let her die from bearing, she is there to do it.”
Such teachings
prompted 19th-century feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton to write: “The Bible and
the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of woman’s
emancipation.”
The various
Christian churches fought tooth and nail against the advancement of women,
opposing everything from women’s right to speak in public, to the use of
anesthesia in childbirth (since the bible says women must suffer in childbirth)
and woman’s suffrage. Today the most organized and formidable opponent of
women’s social, economic and sexual rights remains organized religion.
Religionists defeated the Equal Rights Amendment. Religious fanatics and
bullies are currently engaged in an outright war of terrorism and harassment
against women who have abortions and the medical staff which serves them. Those
seeking to challenge inequities and advance the status of women today are fighting
a massive coalition of fundamentalist Protestant and Catholic churches and
religious groups mobilized to fight women’s rights, gay rights, and secular
government.
Why do women remain
second-class citizens? Why is there a religion-fostered war against women’s
rights? Because the bible is a handbook for the subjugation of women. The bible
establishes woman’s inferior status, her “uncleanliness,” her transgressions,
and God-ordained master/servant relationship to man. Biblical women are
possessions: fathers own them, sell them into bondage, even sacrifice them. The
bible sanctions rape during wartime and in other contexts. Wives are subject to
Mosaic-law sanctioned “bedchecks” as brides, and male jealousy fits and
no-notice divorce as wives. The most typical biblical labels of women are
“harlot” and “whore.” They are described as having evil, even satanic powers of
allurement. Contempt for women’s bodies and reproductive capacity is a bedrock
of the bible. The few role models offered are stereotyped, conventional and
inadequate, with bible heroines admired for obedience and battle spirit. Jesus
scorns his own mother, refusing to bless her, and issues dire warnings about
the fate of pregnant and nursing women.
There are more than 200 bible verses that specifically belittle
and demean women. Here are just a few:
Genesis 2:22 Woman created from Adam’s rib
3:16 Woman cursed: maternity a sin, marriage a bondage
19:1–8 Rape virgins instead of male angels
Exodus 20:17 Insulting Tenth Commandment
21:7–11 Unfair rules for female servants, may be sex slaves
22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”
38:8 Women may not enter tabernacle they must support
Leviticus 12:1–14 Women who have sons are unclean 7 days
12:4–7 Women who have daughters are unclean 14 days
15:19–23 Menstrual periods are unclean
19:20–22 If master has sex with engaged woman, she shall be scourged
Numbers 1:2 Poll of people only includes men
5:13–31 Barbaric adulteress test
31:16–35 “Virgins” listed as war booty
Deuteronomy 21:11–14 Rape manual
22:5 Abomination for women to wear men’s garments, vice-versa
22:13–21 Barbaric virgin test
22:23–24 Woman raped in city, she & her rapist both stoned to death
22:28–29 Woman must marry her rapist
24:1 Men can divorce woman for “uncleanness,” not vice-versa
25:11–12 If woman touches foe’s penis, her hand shall be cut off
Judges 11:30-40 Jephthah’s nameless daughter sacrificed
19:22–29 Concubine sacrificed to rapist crowd to save man
I Kings 11:1–4 King Solomon had 700 wives & 300 concubines
Job 14:1–4 “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one . . .”
Proverbs 7:9–27 Evil women seduce men, send them to hell
11:22 One of numerous Proverbial putdowns
Isaiah 3:16–17 God scourges, rapes haughty women
Ezekiel 16:45 One of numerous obscene denunciations
Matthew 24:19 “[woe] to them that are with child”
Luke 2:22 Mary is unclean after birth of Jesus
I Corinthians 11:3–15 Man is head of woman; only man in God’s image
14:34–35 Women keep in silence, learn only from husbands
Ephesians 5:22–33 “Wives, submit . . .”
Colossians 3:18 More “wives submit”
I Timothy 2:9 Women adorn selves in shamefacedness
2:11–14 Women learn in silence in all subjection; Eve was sinful, Adam blameless
Genesis 2:22 Woman created from Adam’s rib
3:16 Woman cursed: maternity a sin, marriage a bondage
19:1–8 Rape virgins instead of male angels
Exodus 20:17 Insulting Tenth Commandment
21:7–11 Unfair rules for female servants, may be sex slaves
22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”
38:8 Women may not enter tabernacle they must support
Leviticus 12:1–14 Women who have sons are unclean 7 days
12:4–7 Women who have daughters are unclean 14 days
15:19–23 Menstrual periods are unclean
19:20–22 If master has sex with engaged woman, she shall be scourged
Numbers 1:2 Poll of people only includes men
5:13–31 Barbaric adulteress test
31:16–35 “Virgins” listed as war booty
Deuteronomy 21:11–14 Rape manual
22:5 Abomination for women to wear men’s garments, vice-versa
22:13–21 Barbaric virgin test
22:23–24 Woman raped in city, she & her rapist both stoned to death
22:28–29 Woman must marry her rapist
24:1 Men can divorce woman for “uncleanness,” not vice-versa
25:11–12 If woman touches foe’s penis, her hand shall be cut off
Judges 11:30-40 Jephthah’s nameless daughter sacrificed
19:22–29 Concubine sacrificed to rapist crowd to save man
I Kings 11:1–4 King Solomon had 700 wives & 300 concubines
Job 14:1–4 “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one . . .”
Proverbs 7:9–27 Evil women seduce men, send them to hell
11:22 One of numerous Proverbial putdowns
Isaiah 3:16–17 God scourges, rapes haughty women
Ezekiel 16:45 One of numerous obscene denunciations
Matthew 24:19 “[woe] to them that are with child”
Luke 2:22 Mary is unclean after birth of Jesus
I Corinthians 11:3–15 Man is head of woman; only man in God’s image
14:34–35 Women keep in silence, learn only from husbands
Ephesians 5:22–33 “Wives, submit . . .”
Colossians 3:18 More “wives submit”
I Timothy 2:9 Women adorn selves in shamefacedness
2:11–14 Women learn in silence in all subjection; Eve was sinful, Adam blameless
Why should
women—and the men who honor women—respect and support religions which preach
women’s submission, which make women’s subjugation a cornerstone of their
theology?
When attempts are
made to base laws on the bible, women must beware. The constitutional principle
of separation between church and state is the only sure barrier standing
between women and the bible
No comments:
Post a Comment