A Christian clergyman in Great Britain has started a brouhaha by actually teaching Church doctrine to his congregation! Vicar Angus MacLeay cited scripture to tell his female parishioners to be silent and submit to their husbands, while his assistant compounded the furor by essentially blaming high divorce rates on women's failure to be subservient enough.
Although we might get all up in arms over these blatantly sexist remarks and attitudes, the fact will remain that they are firmly entrenched in the Bible and Christianity. Indeed, a close study of Christianity reveals that it and its parent Judaism are largely designed to revolve around the suppression, repression and oppression of women.
These facts are brought to light most handily by the great scholar of women's religion and mythology Barbara G. Walker in her book Man Made God, forthcoming from Stellar House Publishing. Basically, the longstanding tradition of goddess worship was systematically destroyed, her temples and rituals wrecked, and her memory obliterated by the patriarchal warrior cult out of the Middle Eastern desert regions. This annihilation was a deliberate contrivance to shift the balance of power into the hands of men, whose male-dominant cults have subjugated women, keeping them in a subservient and infantile state.
Many scriptures from Judaism, Christianity and Islam can be cited to support this oppression and enslavement of women, as found in my book The Gospel According to Acharya S, where there is also a discussion of the less-than-stellar treatment of women in other organized religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
The sexist, misogynistic, woman-hating and enslaving mentality can be found abundantly in the Old Testament:
"In the older code in [Deuteronomy], women are generally viewed as...a property of their fathers and then of their husbands. This property-character of a woman is spelled out specifically in terms of her sexual qualities... In the [Deuteronomy Sex Texts] women are rarely referred to as persons or agents in their own right." Rev. Dr. J. Harold Ellens, Sex in the Bible (69)
Here are a few examples of the women oppression in the New Testament:
"...the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says." 1 Corinthians 4:34
"Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent." 1 Timothy 2:11-12
"Likewise you wives, be submissive to your husbands." 1 Peter 3:1
And from the Koran:
"Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other... Good women are obedient. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them, forsake them in beds apart; and beat them" Q 4:34
Throughout the history of Christ's Church, numerous fathers, saints and so on have made the most obnoxious and hateful remarks about women, including that they are the "devil's gateway," a slander so vicious that it led to hundreds of thousands of women to be systematically murdered by the Catholic Church. This calumny and bigotry continue to this day, and women are regularly attacked merely for questioning Church dogma and doctrine, such as the historicity of patently mythical biblical characters.
Curate outrages congregation by telling women to 'be silent and submit to your husbands'
With Valentine's Day approaching, parishioners might have expected a more heartwarming message. Instead, they got a sermon urging women to 'submit' to their husbands.
The apparent lack of obedience of 'modern women' was blamed for the high divorce rate. In a sermon entitled 'Marriage and women' last Sunday, curate Mark Oden, told the congregation at St Nicholas Church in Sevenoaks, Kent: 'We know marriage is not working.
'We only need to look at figures – one in four children have divorced parents. Wives, submit to your own husbands.'...
The solution to this institutionalized sexism, misogyny and woman oppression is for women to stop following these manmade, male-dominant cults. Stop going to church, synagogue, temple and mosque! Develop your own female-oriented spirituality and communities, and so on.
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It is telling that the only way most people can stomach Christianity is to ignore a vast portions of it's teachings.
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|2010-02-13 22:34:50 HectorSadly many women do not realize how misogynistic are the three main desert cults.
The misogyny is so obvious in the scriptures that it's simply mind blowing.
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|2010-02-14 16:14:26 Jeff HansenThis is actually a really good thing & I really hope they keep it up. They're drawing attention to what is actually written in the Bible & required by scripture, something most professing Christians are ignorant of.
I hope someone points out all the other awful stuff scripture requires of them too. This whole faith continues to exist only by it's modern adherent's practice of cherry-picking scripture & ignoring anything that wouldn't play well to modern sensibilities.
The more aware the public becomes of the actual content of the Bible, the more they'll see it as a sort of watered-down Islam with all sorts of ancient baggage that has no place in a modern civilization
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|2010-02-15 17:09:13 KlaatuThe thing is the vast majority of the Christians are ignorant to their history and what their Bible says. Most churches today completely abandon the Bible and teach the "devotional" aspects. It's is truly amazing to me how four very short books in the Bible (Gospels) are the foundation upon which the Church has built this behemoth of a fable. None of which can be found in the historical record. The evangelicals in particular are completely brainwashed. It's really sad in a way to see it. Free thinking is a wonderful thing!
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|2010-02-15 17:11:05 KeyokweeAfter being smacked for 17yrs and 2 marriages by that so called Book,
my response is "Submit? You first!" "Been there done that Fool! But No More!" Make my day and try and hit me again with it!
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|2010-02-15 21:57:10 Petracca
Well I'll be *** Submit woman !!! I'll tell you one thing... With everyone chiefs and no injuns... You'll have have lots of idependent anarchy/chaos...even kids taking guns to school*** Incidentally... Thats a perfectly good waste of a chain and lock around that womens neck...A simple ring through the nose with a string would do... 
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|2010-02-16 01:21:52 LadyCaduceusOne of my co-workers made a comment today during lunch that was very similar to the topic of this article. She said "Women in the U.S. don't know how to be women anymore. They should exist to take care of men. American women are too independent, and since men don't like this behavior, this is the reason for infidelity, sexual addictions, the increased divorce rate, etc..." Keep in mind this is a young "girl" of 26 who regularly performs sexual favors to acquire things, job perks, whatever, and likes to strip in clubs on the weekends. (No I wont give you her number) Now, if all women behaved the way she does I MIGHT understand how "women don't know how to be women". This would then be a true statement. When a female of any age buys into this behavior it is sad and unfortunate for her, but not the norm. Men who would want a submissive woman would prefer this image. These women can and will tolerate abuse and disrespect while claiming they are empowered. They just don't know any better. Many women have worked to achieve independence, by choice, and in some cases because the man was nowhere to be found...too busy engaging in the behaviors listed above, possibly...
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|2010-02-17 16:56:29 Acharya SSorry, but your co-worker is out-to-lunch in this regard. I have zero interest in such a derogation of women.
"They should exist to take care of men." Yeah right - you can shove that one where the sun don't shine.
Anyone who makes such a statement is mentally ill, period. Any man who wants such a woman is already castrated.
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|2010-02-17 14:54:35 PetraccaActually ..Lady Caduceus...I think your co-worker had a point... though it may take time for the very educated to catch up..its kind of obvious. When the traditional support system of men (wife) becomes a double agent (femininst) and does all that she can do to undermine his occupation, self worth, masculinity,...either he succumbs to this low image of himself, then falls into any low sexual perversity or rebels against this situation (that he probably doesn't understand) and gets a happy young girl..that is not trying to undermine his value as a man. I don't believe in rigid roles...and I'm not saying feminists are wrong...They've got their point of view..I'm only saying....you can't make a man into anything you want...when men allow themselves to be viewed as equivilent to women.. they have partially castrated themselves...a partially castrated man is a devient specie.
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|2010-02-19 13:03:18 Amy - Sexism is a mental illnessMen are not instictually sexist, and many men who have been deprogrammed are completely happy, and content with being equals. In fact many of them preffer to be more of a helper than the "head" of the house. Once they shake the shackles of patriarchal psychosis (aka..western culture) and rely more on their instictual self... female worship comes instictually.
Acharya S,
I'm a women's, and matriarchal studies student and a HUGE fan!
Thank you so much for all you have done, and still do for women's rights.
And, I couldn't agree more about getting women to turn away from desert warrior cults!!
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|2010-05-03 14:24:35 Steven - Interesting...Well, at least they don't defend slavery out of the Bible anymore. I suppose that's progress.
Don't know about the UK, but in the USA, 2/3 of divorces are initiated by women. So unfortunately, this guy's claims aren't going to go unheard.
http://health.discovery.com/centers/loverelationships/articles/divorce .html
The idea that all or even most of these marriages are abusive and demeaning seems incredulous. Personally, I think it's very important to make marriage work without that "old-time religion", before their claims we need is sound plausible.
But frankly, despite the misogyny, the worst part of the Bible is still Romans 13:1-7. (Yes, I have read the whole Bible; as I like to say "I used to believe in the Bible...then I read it."
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|2010-05-19 10:06:04 theresa Mason - since the gardenAccording to Genisis, when God made Adam, he gave him a job to do, to name the animals. Maybe, in his frustration, he did a little more than that.
So then, when God saw what was going on, said,"It is not good that man should be alone!!!!!!!!!"
When Adam first saw Eve , he saw her as his property , an especially sexual piece of property. He was so out of his mind he didn't bother to explain the rules God had set down.Basically, Adam was totally controlled by his animal nature.
Along comes the serpent. He treats woman like she has an intellect, with more respect than Adam ever did. Adam realizes that because he failed to tell Eve about the rules, he may lose his property and sex slave.
When Adam realizes he is in trouble, he blames everything on Eve,and Eve, confused and terrified, explains what happened.
Why did God allow this to happen when it surely could have been prevented? As a result, God killed animals to make decent coverings for their bodies. God banished them from the garden to a life of labor and suffering. Either way, weather in the garden or out if it, woman is the fall-guy and the scapegoat. The stupidity of it all makes me crazy!
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|2010-07-16 01:56:49 Sara - New Covenant means equality for womenJust to throw this into the discussion: Someone posed above about the new covenant as interpreted in the New Testament. I went to that website and it is quite fascinating to read: It dissects the text of the NT with regard to women, divorce and other "hot-button" issues and puts it in context both historically and sematically. It's quite interesting to read.
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|2011-03-31 15:13:57 Robert - Christians Are PsychoAnyone who goes to a church regularly is psychologically disordered. Every single one of you, man or woman. Magical thinking combined with such low self-esteem to allow other people to tell you what to think & how to behave. Then they have the gall to ask for money.
All We Like Sheep
The women.. well this is not even a Christian thing. Women are predisposed to blather & should learn (or be forced) to simply shut up. This is biological not metaphysical. In poetic terms, their voices start off like a songbird's sweet twitter & degrade to either a harsh crowing or simply non-stop clucking. But that's women in general. They should be forced to listen to themselves in headphones for a few hours, they might get the message. Don't be offended bitches, do it & judge for yourselves.. nobody likes listening to your blather.
See a psychologist if you need guidance. Take Sunday off & get a life. All religions are for weak minded individuals. That is why most chuch goers are women. I myself & my children have much more important things to do on Sundays. Mom goes to repent her existence.
So why are the narcissistic clergy here whining? Too much clucking in the congregation? Stop your pontificating, single the bitches out, tell them to shut up or leave. But that would take balls & most preachers are simply wimpy fluffers who like to hear their own voices.
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|2011-09-11 01:49:40 Nick - Yes, rise of the sacred feminine... about time..loThis is actually only one part of the mix (relegating women to 2nd class citizen status) that religion has ALL wrong. The other component I'm talking about is the command to not have sex out of wedlock. Yes, it's always a good idea to be selective, when merging body, mind and energy with another human being. It can't be denied that, in a committed relationship, sex is an important component. Not sure about you, but I have slept with members of the opposite sex that were dismal failures because we didn't click sexually. My point is that their texts highlight abstinence until marriage and once married, they were in it for better or worse. And the ruling about a women being raped and being forced to marry and live with her rapist.... I cannot imagine a more horrifying prospect. This is really a "double whammy" to reinforce that their "god' has told them that women are to remain silent and docile and to keep women in places of submission.
Thank goodness we live in these times, when the sacred feminine is being rediscovered by both men and women.
Namaste.
I always used to laugh and chuckle about the notices for "women's feminist support group" meetings on Tuesday night at the local Methodist Church or other mainstream doggerel. They do not seem to get it that their more evangelical critics are right on target on pointing out the contradictions.
You are right! They should completely abandon the institutions with their unfriendly historical contexts and get on with it.