The Christian Hatred of Women
Civilization has slowly advanced towards the equal treatment of women, but it is the nature of all religions to look backwards to an earlier time, when their gods (who can't be bothered to make an appearance nowadays) allegedly walked the Earth, and told the men that they were better than women.
For the fundamentalist, reality is whatever the Bible says it is, and the Bible was written by primitive tribesmen of the ancient Middle East, whose culture included misogyny (the hatred and fear of women). Fundamentalists, despite their claim that every word of the Bible is the unchangeable word of God, are more than willing to ignore the commands they find inconvenient (Deut. 14: 8, Luke 18: 22). Sadly, the commands that include misogyny are enthusiastically obeyed.
A girl's inferiority begins at birth; "if a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child, then she shall be unclean seven days... But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks: (Lev. 12: 2, 5). Why is she twice as unclean for producing a daughter instead of a son? And why should a woman be unclean in the third book of the Bible for obeying the command to be fruitful and multiply, given in the first book of the Bible (Gen. 1: 28)? In marriage, women are certainly second-class; "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Ben. 3: 16).
Detailed instructions are given on how a man should sell his daughter into slavery (Ex. 21: 7). Human sacrifice, which Christians abhor when it is committed by others, is found in their "Good" book as well. Jephtha killed his daughter as a burnt offering, and not a word of condemnation is given. Indeed, he was then made a judge of Israel (Judg. 11: 30-39, 12: 7).
The New Testament is just as bad; "Let the women 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" (1 Timothy 2: 11-12). "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience; (1 Cor. 14: 34). The submission of women to men is all-inclusive; "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife... Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing" (Eph. 5: 22-24).
Influential churchmen continued this shameful attitude. In the 4th century, St. Augustine wrote, "Nothing so much casts down the mind of man from its citadel as do the blandishments of women, and that physical contact without which a wife cannot be possessed." (1) The Protestants were no better. According to Martin Luther, "it is evident therefore that woman is a different animal to man, not only having different members, but also being far weaker in intellect... For as the sun is more splendid than the moon... so also woman... does not equal the dignity and glory of the male." (2) "Men have... more understanding than women, who have but small and narrow breasts and broad hips to the end that they should remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children." "We can hardly speak of her without a feeling of shame, and we surely cannot make use of her without shame." (3) John Calvin, whose writings helped define the Protestant position, similarly wrote, "Let the woman be satisfied with the state of subjection and not take it amiss that she is made inferior to the more distinguished sex." (3)
The Christian hatred of women was most clearly expressed during the Middle Ages. It was then, when the Church held the reins of power, that an estimated 100,000 to 2 million women were tortured to death for the imaginary crime of witchcraft. Fingernails were pulled out. Red-hot tongs were applied to breasts. The women's sex organs provided special attraction for the male torturer. Bodies were stretched on racks and wheels. Virtually every mangled and broken victim confessed--and was executed on the basis of her confession. (4)
Efforts to humanize Christianity were crushed. The Albigensians taught that by her baptism and by her study, a woman could become the equal of male believers, achieve the ultimate purity, and be called a 'perfecta.' In 1208, Lotario (Pope Innocent III) declared a major crusade to destroy the Albigensians. When the last fortress was taken, the 200 Albigensians inside who had surrendered were burned to death. Years before, when the besieged city of Beziers fell, soldiers asked papal legate Arnald Amalric how they could distinguish the infidel from the faithful among the captives. He commanded; "Kill them all. God will know his own." Thousands were slaughtered--many first blinded, mutilated, dragged behind horses or used for target practice. (2, 4)
Renaissance humanism and modern science have helped to civilize Christianity and wean it away from its worst excesses, but the process is incomplete. Women were first allowed to compete in Olympic track and field events in 1928, the same year that Ambrogio Ratti (Pope Pius XI) was publicly objecting to female participation in any public athletic competitions. "The bishop of Rome cannot but deplore that... the delicate regard due to young women and girls should be weaker than in pagan Rome, which, though it descended to such debasement of habits when it adopted from conquered Greece public games and gymnastic and athletic competitions, excluded women therefrom for reasons of physical and moral good sense... If a woman's hand must be raised, we hope and pray it may be raised only in prayer or in acts of charity." An editorial in the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano added, "Girls should think first of being good mothers of worthy sons." (5) What a pity the pope didn't concentrate his efforts on criticizing Mussolini and the Fascists!
The Catholic Church continues to demand that their priests be celibate, and refuses to ordain women. It is not clear of women are forbidden to be priests due to their spiritual inferiority, or if it is purely a matter of their unsuitable genitalia.
When Pat Robertson, the leader of the powerful Christian Coalition, claimed that a proposed equal-rights amendment for women was "about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians," (6) he wasn't kidding. In a poll taken in 1982, the Equal Rights Amendment of 1972 was favored by 83% of those who never went to church; only 47% of those who attended church several times a week favored it. Neither the media, the American Public, nor most legislators were aware that most of the women who demonstrated against the ERA at state capitols around the country in the last years of the ERA struggle, were Fundamentalists brought there by their pastors. The amendment was never ratified. (7)
Women will be equal, someday. When that day comes, it will arrive in spite of religion, not because of it.
Civilization has slowly advanced towards the equal treatment of women, but it is the nature of all religions to look backwards to an earlier time, when their gods (who can't be bothered to make an appearance nowadays) allegedly walked the Earth, and told the men that they were better than women.
For the fundamentalist, reality is whatever the Bible says it is, and the Bible was written by primitive tribesmen of the ancient Middle East, whose culture included misogyny (the hatred and fear of women). Fundamentalists, despite their claim that every word of the Bible is the unchangeable word of God, are more than willing to ignore the commands they find inconvenient (Deut. 14: 8, Luke 18: 22). Sadly, the commands that include misogyny are enthusiastically obeyed.
A girl's inferiority begins at birth; "if a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child, then she shall be unclean seven days... But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks: (Lev. 12: 2, 5). Why is she twice as unclean for producing a daughter instead of a son? And why should a woman be unclean in the third book of the Bible for obeying the command to be fruitful and multiply, given in the first book of the Bible (Gen. 1: 28)? In marriage, women are certainly second-class; "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Ben. 3: 16).
Detailed instructions are given on how a man should sell his daughter into slavery (Ex. 21: 7). Human sacrifice, which Christians abhor when it is committed by others, is found in their "Good" book as well. Jephtha killed his daughter as a burnt offering, and not a word of condemnation is given. Indeed, he was then made a judge of Israel (Judg. 11: 30-39, 12: 7).
The New Testament is just as bad; "Let the women 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" (1 Timothy 2: 11-12). "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience; (1 Cor. 14: 34). The submission of women to men is all-inclusive; "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife... Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing" (Eph. 5: 22-24).
Influential churchmen continued this shameful attitude. In the 4th century, St. Augustine wrote, "Nothing so much casts down the mind of man from its citadel as do the blandishments of women, and that physical contact without which a wife cannot be possessed." (1) The Protestants were no better. According to Martin Luther, "it is evident therefore that woman is a different animal to man, not only having different members, but also being far weaker in intellect... For as the sun is more splendid than the moon... so also woman... does not equal the dignity and glory of the male." (2) "Men have... more understanding than women, who have but small and narrow breasts and broad hips to the end that they should remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children." "We can hardly speak of her without a feeling of shame, and we surely cannot make use of her without shame." (3) John Calvin, whose writings helped define the Protestant position, similarly wrote, "Let the woman be satisfied with the state of subjection and not take it amiss that she is made inferior to the more distinguished sex." (3)
The Christian hatred of women was most clearly expressed during the Middle Ages. It was then, when the Church held the reins of power, that an estimated 100,000 to 2 million women were tortured to death for the imaginary crime of witchcraft. Fingernails were pulled out. Red-hot tongs were applied to breasts. The women's sex organs provided special attraction for the male torturer. Bodies were stretched on racks and wheels. Virtually every mangled and broken victim confessed--and was executed on the basis of her confession. (4)
Efforts to humanize Christianity were crushed. The Albigensians taught that by her baptism and by her study, a woman could become the equal of male believers, achieve the ultimate purity, and be called a 'perfecta.' In 1208, Lotario (Pope Innocent III) declared a major crusade to destroy the Albigensians. When the last fortress was taken, the 200 Albigensians inside who had surrendered were burned to death. Years before, when the besieged city of Beziers fell, soldiers asked papal legate Arnald Amalric how they could distinguish the infidel from the faithful among the captives. He commanded; "Kill them all. God will know his own." Thousands were slaughtered--many first blinded, mutilated, dragged behind horses or used for target practice. (2, 4)
Renaissance humanism and modern science have helped to civilize Christianity and wean it away from its worst excesses, but the process is incomplete. Women were first allowed to compete in Olympic track and field events in 1928, the same year that Ambrogio Ratti (Pope Pius XI) was publicly objecting to female participation in any public athletic competitions. "The bishop of Rome cannot but deplore that... the delicate regard due to young women and girls should be weaker than in pagan Rome, which, though it descended to such debasement of habits when it adopted from conquered Greece public games and gymnastic and athletic competitions, excluded women therefrom for reasons of physical and moral good sense... If a woman's hand must be raised, we hope and pray it may be raised only in prayer or in acts of charity." An editorial in the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano added, "Girls should think first of being good mothers of worthy sons." (5) What a pity the pope didn't concentrate his efforts on criticizing Mussolini and the Fascists!
The Catholic Church continues to demand that their priests be celibate, and refuses to ordain women. It is not clear of women are forbidden to be priests due to their spiritual inferiority, or if it is purely a matter of their unsuitable genitalia.
When Pat Robertson, the leader of the powerful Christian Coalition, claimed that a proposed equal-rights amendment for women was "about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians," (6) he wasn't kidding. In a poll taken in 1982, the Equal Rights Amendment of 1972 was favored by 83% of those who never went to church; only 47% of those who attended church several times a week favored it. Neither the media, the American Public, nor most legislators were aware that most of the women who demonstrated against the ERA at state capitols around the country in the last years of the ERA struggle, were Fundamentalists brought there by their pastors. The amendment was never ratified. (7)
Women will be equal, someday. When that day comes, it will arrive in spite of religion, not because of it.
