In answer to letter writer Mark Gelbart wishing to eradicate all religions ("Religion -- who needs it, anyway?) Aug. 6), I wonder if he has considered how some religions affect women.
The cartoons showing cavemen dragging women by the hair are more accurate than he knows. Liberals demonize both Christian fundamentalists and radical Islam, but in truth, women have a miserable existence even under moderate Islam. There is no moral equivalence unless you are blind.
Islam encourages polygamy, which degrades women. Islamic law allows men to beat wives; capriciously divorce; and commit honor killings. Some Muslims even mutilate the genitalia of women. Jews and Christians embrace monogamy, which elevates women in comparison.
Polygamy also is vicious to men, because for every extra wife there's a man who will never marry. They are sent off to war or jihad to die. Polygamy always devolves into brutality. Even our home-grown polygamists brutalize wives to keep them obedient, and ostracize hundreds of younger men from their close-knit communities.
Mark Gelbart is naive if he thinks we would be so much better off without all religions.
Louise Albert, Grovetown
Comments
Louise: although you never develop the point, you're correct in saying that Judaism and Christianity elevate women in comparison with Islam.
But only "in comparison." The Catholic church and most conservative Christians continue to accept the Biblical restrictions placed on women.
One blatant example is from Corinthians: "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church, for Adam was formed first, then Eve." Do you really believe, Louise, that when a woman wants to learn something, she should ask her husband? If you do, welcome to the 15th century. If you don't, you're disobeying "the word of God [sic]."
The Catholic Church agrees with this message. Just not sure which one. How many children have been brutalized? How systemic was the cover-up?
How bout this verse from Ephesians, Men love your wives as Christ loves the church. Jesus gave his life for the church and did everything possible to build the church up. So likewise a Christian man loves and values his wife and is willing to lay down his life for her. How is that supposed to be considered being mean or devaluing her life? When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, it was to a messed up church that had some women trying to run it and gossiping. So Paul was addressing a specific issue in this passage. There are many examples of how God used women in the bible, (Ruth, Ester, Mary, Martha etc.) Jesus elevated the status of women. However, women do have a specific function which is to be man's helper. Lets face it men we need all the help we can get. LOL Just because someone has a different role does not mean they are less than important than someone else. Jesus was not less God simply because he submitted to the Father. Neither is a Woman less of a person because she is to submit to her husband. I just share this with you to help you understand that Christianity is not only better than Islam in how it treats women but better than how society treats women today.
nice try, brimisjoshan, but you sound as if you just got back from a Promise Keepers meeting. You obviously are familiar with their "talking points." In my view, anyone who thinks he ought to listen to the marital advice of an ex-football coach is a fool. But I'd like to know whether your claim about women ("women do have a specific function which is to be man's helper") also works in reverse? Do men have an obligation to be woman's helper? And what's all this Christian talk about women "submitting"?
EEL, I seem to see all kinds of women in the Catholic church. they are called nuns. Though not allowed to be priests, they perform many wonderful functions for humanity through out the world. In the Christian church, I see women participating every Sunday, even from the pulpit. First Baptist of Augusta has eithet two or three female ministers on it's staff. Reid Presbyterian had a female interim preacher for a couple of years. I know little or nothing about the Jewish faith or synagogue, so will not, like you, make statements on a subject I know nothing about. As for the Old Testament teachings, they pretty much folllow many of the prohibitions on women that the Quran does. However, Christ changed all that as well as religion itself as practiced then.
Shiv, and how many $millions has the Catholic Church had to pay for the sins of a few?
jack: the opening of your post was so self-evidently supportive of MY position that I can only believe you secretly agree with me! Let's see,
"Though not allowed to be priests, they [nuns] perform many wonderful functions for humanity through out the world." "Though not allowed to have authority over their husbands, wives perform many wonderful functions around the house...." Not much difference, it seems.
I can't believe you didn't see that coming. It's the "not allowed" part that is so ridiculous. Women don't want to be told the church, backed by the Bible, "doesn't allow" them to be fully functioning human beings.
I think the letter writer proved Gelbert correct (while ignoring centuries of Christian crimes against humanity).
I have to ask: Are the only ones commenting those who are angry and anti-God. It seems like everyone is looking for anything to put down God and Christians? What did God ever do to all of you but love you and give His son, Jesus, to die for you. What is it that makes you so angry at God? Sure from time to time I see some ugly comments from Christians but they tend to be rare and not the norm and certainly God is not pleased with "ugly"
brimisjoshan: no, not "angry and anti-God." We're amused that so many people like you still swallow the whole Christian schtick, you know, Virgin Birth, loaves and fishes, Rising form the Dead, all the looney stuff you all believe. Plus, it's pretty tough to be angry at God if you don't even think He/She/It exists! Oh, I would be angry at God if I were convinced He [sic] existed for some of the lame stunts He's pulled, such as creating women and homosexuals and then condemning them to second, or third, class status. Or claiming Heaven [sic] is available only through Christ when 2/3s of the world has no chance!
How is that fair? 2/3 of the world condemned to Hell [sic] through absolutely no fault of their own? If that's God's way of doing business, we're much better off without Him.... The only time we really get angry is when you holier-than-thou types try to ram your version of right and wrong down our throats. Why don't you all go to Utah, or Idaho, and set up your own theocracy; only then would you be happy.
Well I guess I am just a fool for Jesus! Because I know what my life was like before I asked Jesus into my heart and after and I am much happier. If I am wrong and you are right then no loss but if we foolish Christians are right and you are wrong the consequences will be quite enormous! It is only our love for others that causes us to want to share but if you want to be left alone then there is nothing I can do---------------- but pray------------even if you don't want me to!
brimisjoshan: the little intellectual "game" you make of belief (If I'm wrong, no harm; if you're wrong, too bad) is childish, old, tired, and insulting to real people of faith. When faith is justified through self-interested and self-serving calculation, it's not faith at all. The "bet" you describe was first proposed by the 17th century French mathematician Blaise Pascal (Pascal's Wager). Pascal was an early enlightenment figure who didn't have the guts to accept the consequences of rationalism for Christian faith. I'm glad you have your faithful "bankie" to cuddle with, but I choose adult solutions to the mysteries of life and death, thank you.
The best preventative to female brutalization, regardless of religion, is a loaded gun combined with the knowledge that the ba$tard has to sleep sometime.
brimisjoshan, there's a passage that says "Cast not thy pearls before swine." Don't waste your words on those who will not hear. The Bible also says "Brush the dirt off you shoes and leave" This was in reference to a town who wouldn't hear the Word. Christianity is not demeaning to anyone. Those who do wrong know they are doing wrong, and seek to change society to believe that an evil is not an evil. The call it "diversity" and "choice". God gives us all the right to choose, and for those who choose wrongly, He laid out consequences. Let them take it up with Him when they look at His face. IC XC NIKA "Jesus Christ Conquers"
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