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:
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Genesis 2:22 Woman created from Adam’s rib
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Genesis 3:16 Woman cursed: maternity a sin, marriage a bondage
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Genesis 19:1–8 Rape virgins instead of male angels
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Exodus 20:17 Insulting Tenth Commandment
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Exodus 21:7–11 Unfair rules for female servants, may be sex slaves
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Exodus 22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”
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Exodus 38:8 Women may not enter tabernacle they must support
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Leviticus 12:1–14 Women who have sons are unclean 7 days
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Leviticus 12:4–7 Women who have daughters are unclean 14 days
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Leviticus 15:19–23 Menstrual periods are unclean
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Leviticus 19:20–22 If master has sex with engaged woman, she shall be scourged
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Numbers 1:2 Poll of people only includes men
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Numbers 5:13–31 Barbaric adulteress test
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Numbers 31:16–35 “Virgins” listed as war booty
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Deuteronomy 21:11–14 Rape manual
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Deuteronomy 22:5 Abomination for women to wear men’s garments, vice-versa
- Deuteronomy 22:13–21 Barbaric virgin test
- Deuteronomy
22:23–24 Woman raped in city, she & her rapist both stoned to death
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Deuteronomy 22:28–29 Woman must marry her rapist
- Deuteronomy
24:1 Men can divorce woman for “uncleanness,” not vice-versa
- Deuteronomy
25:11–12 If woman touches foe’s penis, her hand shall be cut off
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Judges 11:30-40 Jephthah’s nameless daughter sacrificed
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Judges 19:22–29 Concubine sacrificed to rapist crowd to save man
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I Kings 11:1–4 King Solomon had 700 wives & 300 concubines
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Job 14:1–4 “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one . . .”
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Proverbs 7:9–27 Evil women seduce men, send them to hell
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Proverbs 11:22 One of numerous Proverbial putdowns: "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who ... ... "
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Isaiah 3:16–17 God scourges, rapes haughty women
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Ezekiel 16:45 One of numerous obscene denunciations
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Matthew 24:19 “[woe] to them that are with child”
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Luke 2:22 Mary is unclean after birth of Jesus
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I Corinthians 11:3–15 Man is head of woman; only man in God’s image
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I Corinthians 14:34–35 Women keep in silence, learn only from husbands
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Ephesians 5:22–33 “Wives, submit . . .”
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Colossians 3:18 More “wives submit”
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I Timothy 2:9 Women adorn selves in shamefacedness
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2 Timothy11–14 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.
