Religious Misogyny

It is a well-known fact that misogyny is rooted in religion – namely, the 3 major patriarchal, semitic religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Nearly every ‘saint’ or Christian writer was well versed in sexism, revealing a strong hatred for women simply because of the Adam and Eve Myth, which I find almost laughable (grown people thinking that such tales are true).

Notable woman-haters include St. Augustine, Tertullian, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Peter, Clement of Alexandria, St. Odo, John Scrotus Erigena, and apparently even that all-loving Son of God himself, Jesus Christ (Gospel according to The Egyptians). Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali is a prime example of a Muslim misogynist.

Religious Sexism

Here are several verses from the Big 3 that should get any fair-minded person’s blood boiling:

Christianity

As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head–it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. (For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.) That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels.

Also that women should adorn themselves modestly and sensibly in seemly apparel, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire but by good deeds, as befits women who profess religion. 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.Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Islam

Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and forsake them in beds apart, and beat them.

 

Women shall with justice have rights similar to those exercised against them, although men have a status above women.

And if ye are unclean, purify yourselves. And if ye are sick or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have had contact with women, and ye find not water, then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces and your hands with some of it.

When Allah’s Messenger was asked which woman was best he replied, ‘The one who pleases (her husband) when he looks at her, obeys him when he gives a command, and does not go against his wishes regarding her person or property by doing anything of which he disapproves.’

Judaism

If a man sleeps with a female slave who is promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.

If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father, she must be burned in the fire.

You shall speak to the Children of Israel, saying, If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass on to his daughter. If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has not made me a woman.  

The man who divorces is not in the same situation as a woman divorced. 

A woman’s shame is greater than a man’s. 

A good wife is a crown to her husband.

No one can tell me that the countless rapes, murders, denigration, and loathing of women in the world since these despicable belief systems came about isn’t the result of religious misogyny. Without the ugly sexist teachings of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, women would not be in the lowly status we find ourselves in. This is still another reason for spreading atheism throughout the world – or at the very least, Wicca, Paganism, or some other truly peaceful religion that does not preach any hate.

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