Donald, there is a lot of evil against women in the world, but in fact pre-Christian religions revered goddesses as well as gods, and it was Christianity which began the male-dominated religions. Have you ever read Joseph Campbell, "The Power of Myth" for example? Christianity was very, very bad news for women Even today, there is at least one incidence of abuse in 50% of American marriages, and most Americans are Christian. The Inquisition, in which somewhere between several hundred thousand and nine million women were burned to death as "witches" in Europe by Christians who were sweeping across it and destroying the pagan religions which were in place, is just one example of how Christians have treated women historically.
islandnet.com
I am not sure what has happened to Islam. The original Islamic teachings were of equality for women, or so I have read, and also been told by Islamic women. I suspect this is another situation like Christianity, where the original beliefs have been obscured, and fundamentalists have tried to take all the power. In China, the government instituted a one-child policy to prevent overpopulation, and this is partially the reason for killing baby girls. In their society, men are more valued. The fact that some other cultures do not value women is not a reason to argue that Christianity has, historically. Please excuse me if I have cited this url to you before--I don't get over here very often and sometimes forget what I have already said. But here is something from the PBS series on Jesus, and gives not only the original FEMINIST teachings of Jesus and the powerful women who were his early supporters, but also states that there was a deliberate attempt to cover all of this up as Christianity became a way for men to dominate women:
pbs.org |
