Persepolis  

Religious discrimination  

Abrahamic God vs. women

Welcome

Introduction

Most modern scholars agree that the rights of women decreased immensely with the spread of Abrahamic religions such as: (Judaism, Christianity, and especially Islam). The gendering of those religions is oppressively male . The creator in Genesis is presented as an Old Male Sovereign Outsider who relate to the world by way of command. It is a male story of power, a story of hierarchical command and control. Women became second rate citizens, lost all their power, autonomy, independence, rights and consistently assigned a passive role in the society each time the powers of state and religion were fused through history. Religious discrimination against women is still alive and thriving! The texts of the Torah, Bible and Quran preach discrimination against women, degradation and subjugation of women, and even violence against women! They teach that women are not only inferior, but also must obey men, because God tells us that men are their masters.

The texts of these so-called holy books systematically ensure a second-class status for women! And all these things are forced upon us by a Loving God, and preached by the prophets of this very same Loving God. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all berate women for causing humanity to be driven out of paradise. As a result of the original sin of the first woman, people lost the gift of immortality, had to work hard to find food, and were no longer blessed with the ability to interact directly with God ^{Genesis, chapter 3}. The fault of this first and original sin rests heavily upon the shoulders of womankind, justifying all manner of religion-justified nastiness directed against them.

Adam and Eve - The Original Sin of the first woman , A Myth Whose Time Is Up

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The Bible:

Verses that are quoted below are from the revised New International Version of the Bible , a favorite of evangelicals who describe themselves as liberal. Similar verses from Torah, Older Testaments and especially Quran are much worse and preach discrimination against women beyond imagination...

1. To the woman God said:

   I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. ^{Genesis 3:16}

2. A wife is a man’s property:

   You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. ^{Exodus 20:17}

3. Daughters can be bought and sold:

   If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. ^{Exodus 21:7}

4. A raped daughter can be sold to her rapist:

   If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. ^{Deuteronomy 22:28-29}

5. Collecting wives and sex slaves is a sign of status:

   He [Solomon] had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. ^{1 Kings 11:3}

6. Used brides deserve death:

   If, however the charge is true and no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. ^{Deuteronomy 22:20-21}

7. Women, but only virgins, are to be taken as spoils of war:

   Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. ^{Numbers 31:17-18}

8. Menstruating women are spiritually unclean:

   When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, . . . The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the LORD for the uncleanness of her discharge. You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them. ^{Leviticus 15: 19-31}

9. A woman is twice as unclean after giving birth to girl as to a boy:

   A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. ‘ On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding. ‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. ^{Leviticus 12: 1-8}

10. A woman’s promise is binding only if her father or husband agrees:

    When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. When a young woman still living in her father’s household makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand. But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the LORD will release her because her father has forbidden her. . . . . A woman’s vow is meaningless unless approved by her husband or father. But if her husband nullifies them when he hears about them, then none of the vows or pledges that came from her lips will stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will release her. Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself. ^{Numbers 30:1-16}

11. Women should be seen not heard:

    Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. ^{1 Corinthians 14:34}

12. Wives should submit to their husband’s instructions and desires:

    Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the ^{Lord. Colossians 3:18}

13. In case you missed that submission thing:

     Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do 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. ^{Ephesians 5:22-24}

14. More submission – and childbearing as a form of atonement:

    A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. ^{1 Timothy 2: 11-15}

15. Women were created for men:

    For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head. 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 did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. ^{1 Corinthians 11:2-10}

16. Sleeping with women is dirty:

    No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as first-fruits to God and the Lamb. ^{Revelation 14:3-4}

The Quran tells the followers of Islam that men are superior to women and also claims they are incapable of earning money themselves or loving independently. It also claims that women should be obedient to men and any woman who does not accept her inferior status should be violently beaten by men to force her into submission.

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. ^{Quran 4:34}

This verse in the Quran has done more than any other to justify discrimination against women, to justify their inferior position, as well as actually encouraging violence against women.

Arabs Raping and Enslaving women and selling them in Mecca and Medina markets

1. Inheritance Sexism is mathematically established in Islam:

   The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females. ^{Quran 4:11 & 4:176}

2. Court testimony Man’s testimony in court should be valued twice as highly as a woman’s:

   And call to witness, from among your men, two witnesses. And if two men be not found then a man and two women. ^{Quran 2:282}

3. A man is valued higher than a woman:

   Women shall with justice have rights similar to those exercised against them, although men have a status above women. A male shall inherit twice as much as a female ^{Quran 2:228 & 4:11}

4. A man has dominion over his wives bodies as he does his land:

   Women are your fields; go, then, into your fields whence you please. [Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will] ^{Quran 2:223}

5. Wife-to-husband ratio:

   Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four" Inequality by numbers. ^{Quran 4:3}

6. Lower your gaze around men:

   Women are to lower their gaze around men, so they do not look them in the eye. ^{Quran 24:31}

7. Angels are sublime beings, and would therefore be male:

   Those who believe not in the Hereafter, name the angels with female names. ^{Quran 53:27}

8. Sex slaves, you may rape or do whatever you like:

   You can’t have sex with married women, unless they are slaves obtained in war (with whom you may rape or do whatever you like). A man is permitted to take women as sex slaves outside of marriage. ^{Quran 4:24 & 33:50}

9. 99% of women go to Hell: ^{ummal: 22:10}

   Women comprise the majority of Hell’s occupants. The only women in heaven mentioned explicitly by the prophet are the virgins who serve the sexual desires of men. ^{Sahih Bukhari 2:28 & 54:464}

10. The most important thing a woman brings to marriage is between her legs:

    The stipulations most entitled to be abided by are those with which you are given the right to enjoy the (women’s) private parts (i.e. the stipulations of the marriage contract). ^{Sahih Bukhari 62:81}

11. Women are like domestic animals:

    Treat women well, for they are [like] domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves. ^{Tabari 9:1754}

12. Women have no control of their persons:

    Lay injunctions on women kindly, for they are prisoners with you having no control of their persons. ^{Ishaq 969}

13. Woman’s heaven is beneath her husband’s feet:

    A traditional Islamic saying is that: (A woman’s heaven is beneath her husband’s feet). One of the world’s most respected Quran commentaries explains that: (Women are like cows, horses, and camels, for all are ridden). ^{Tafsir al-Qurtubi}

14. Do justice among your sons:

    The Prophet said: Do justice among your sons, and repeated it thrice. ^{Abu Daoud}

15. Husbands may hit their wives even if the husbands merely fear highhandedness in their wives:

    As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them first, next, refuse to share their beds, and last, spank them; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means of annoyance. …if this is not sufficient, some slight physical correction may be administered. ^{Sura 4:34}

16. Mature men are allowed to marry prepubescent girls:

    Such of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the prescribed period, if ye have any doubts, is three months, and for those who have no courses (it is the same): for those who carry (life within their wombs), their period is until they deliver their burdens: and for those who fear Allah, He will make their path easy. ^{al-Talaaq 65:4}
    
    (This highly controversial Quranic verse prescribes the waiting period of a female who has not yet reached puberty thereby permitting men to have sex with girls who have not reached puberty; Paedophilia!)

Sexism is quite rampant in the Torah, considering the Hebrews were once a very chauvinistic society when it was written. We can not possibly list all of the injustices that the Torah mentions. Everything from the story of Lilith (who was booted out of Eden for having dominant sex with Adam) to how women are blamed for the fall from grace. We are merely just presenting a short sample list below.

1. One of the most cruel and sexist passages of the Torah:

   Women who are raped and fail to “cry out loud” in a populated area are most likely enjoying the attack should be killed. ^{Deuteronomy 22:23-24}

2. Be sure to keep the tokens of your virginity:

   Women, be sure to keep the tokens of your virginity. Otherwise the men of your city may stone you to death. [if a man hateth his wife he may say she did not have the tokens of her virginity]. ^{Deuteronomy 22:13-22}
   
   (Since there is no way a woman can truly prove she had a hymen upon marriage the word rests on the husband and she can be disposed of simply when he tires of her).

3. Unjustified punishment:

   We must cut off a woman’s hand if she touches the “secrets” of a man who is fighting with her husband… And thine eye shall not pity her. ^{Deuteronomy 25:11-12}

4. A rapist must buy his victim:

   A rapist must buy his victim from her father for 50 shekels. ^{Deuteronomy 22:28-29}
   
   (What about the victim here, what if she doesn’t want to marry a pig who raped her? All that matters is her father receives payment for his “property”).

5. God sanctions selling ones daughter into slavery:

   God not only sanctions selling ones daughter into slavery, but he also gives out laws on how it should be done. ^{Exodus 21:7}

6. God ordains men taking several wives:

   God ordains men taking several wives and even sets up laws as to how multiple wives should be handled. ^{Exodus 21:10}

7. Wrath of God:

   A man named Lot offers his daughters to a crowd of would be angel rapers. Later, Lot impregnates his own daughters after God kills his wife for simply looking back at the remains of her city. ^{Genesis 19:8}

8. About women wearing men’s clothing:

   Women that wear men’s clothing are an abomination unto the Lord. ^{Deuteronomy 22:5}

9. Take her and go in unto her:

   If you see a pretty woman among the captives then just take her home and go in unto her. ^{Deuteronomy 21:11-14}

10. Keep the women of war for raping:

    Kill all the men and boys in the cities that God delivers into your hands, but keep the women for raping. ^{Deuteronomy 20:13-15}

11. Women not allowed to make a vow:

    A woman can’t make a vow unless her husband allows it. ^{Numbers 30:3-16}

12. Women are considered the weaker species:

    Moses takes a poll of all the men who are able to fight in war, women aren’t even counted in the census. [Back then, just like today, women are considered the weaker species and unable to battle]. ^{Numbers 1:2}

13. Women are worth less than men:

    God places a value on human life; with women worth less than men. ^{Leviticus 27:3-7}

14. Women are punished for simply having a biological function that God claims to have created:

    A woman having her menstruation must be avoided to the point of not even touching what she has touched. Even looking at a menstruating woman is wrong. ^{Leviticus 15:19-30 & 18:19}

15. From the point of birth a woman is dirty simply for being a woman:

    A woman has to be purified after giving birth because she is unclean. Birthing a male is cleaner then birthing a female, hence a mother must purify twice as long when having a daughter. ^{Leviticus 12:1-8}

16. Woman and children are merely property:

    If a male slave is given a wife by his master (regardless of how long they are wed, how much they love each other or if they have kids) he can not leave servanthood with his wife or children. The woman and children are merely property of the master and their personal happiness or sanctity of family doesn’t matter. ^{Exodus 21:3-4}

Orthodox Jewish morning prayer:

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe,
who did not make me a Gentile,
who did not make me a Slave,
who did not make me a Woman.

As mentioned earlier religious discrimination against women is still alive and thriving even today, in the 21^st century! This prayer is said every morning by many fundamentalist Jewish men around the world and it is just one of many examples to show the hierarchical command and control of Abrahamic religions. Women here are viewed as inferior as Slaves and God is portrayed as a Sovereign Male King of the Universe.

The short example lists above are just a sampling of the Abrahamic verses that either instruct or illustrate proper relationships between men and women. Fundamentalists believe that the texts of Torah, Bible and Quran is the literally perfect word of the Almighty, essentially dictated by God to the writers. To believe that these holy books are the literally perfect word of God is to believe that women are tainted seductresses who must be controlled by men.

Traditional rules that govern male-female relationships are grounded more in property rights than civil rights. Men essentially have ownership of women, whose lives are scripted to serve an end—bearing offspring. It is very important to men that they know whose progeny they are raising, so sexual morality has focused primarily on controlling women’s sex activity and maintaining their purity and value as assets. Traditional gender roles and rules evolved on the presumption that women don’t have control over their fertility. In other words, modern contraception radically changed a social compact that had existed for literally thousands of years.

Some people don’t welcome change. Modern scholars now challenge such fundamentals as a historical Adam and the special status that Abraham’s God gave to straight males. Fundamentalists are fighting desperately to hang on to certainties and privileges they once saw as an Abrahamic birthright. If they can’t keep women in line; it’s all over. The future ends up in the hands of cultural creatives, scientists, artists, inquiring minds, and girls. It’s horrifying.

Morality is doing what is Right regardless of what you are told...

...Religion is doing what you are told regardless of what is Right

Religions have a long history of intolerance and there is a remarkable lack of self-awareness by those who complain it is now the religious who are being silenced. Religion often goes hand in hand with culture... Political Correctness is slowly but surely eliminating freedom of speech and ultimately freedom of thought. We don't usually like to criticize religion in our modern society, but sometimes we should when religious leaders inject themselves into politics. If they are trying to shape public policy based on their theology, potentially causing harm to others, that theology should be subjected to scrutiny.

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