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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (34836)	4/5/2013 8:22:15 AM
From: Brumar89	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

You're just wanting to go back to the good old Greco-Roman days when men could tell their women to expose unwanted infants.

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (34836)	4/5/2013 8:55:57 AM
From: Brumar89	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

Abortion and infanticide had a major role in Christianizing the Roman empire. The Greco-Roman world had a serious problem reproducing itself. Widespread infanticide made that problem worse. Recognizing the demographic problem, in 59 BC, Julius Caesar secured legislation that awarded land to fathers of three or more children. Thirty years later, Augustus Caesar passed laws giving political preferences to men who fathered three or more children and imposing financial sanctions on childless couples, on unmarried women over 20, and on unmarried men over 25. But these and similar policies followed by later emporers failed to reverse the ongoing population decline. The empire lasted as long as it did only by constantly importing barbarian settlers and soldiers. When Marcus Aurelius warred against the Marcomanni he settled subdued Marcomanni in the empire. There was no problem finding empty land for them. Under Roman law, a male head of a family had the power of life and death over his family members so he could demand either an abortion or the killing or abandonment of an unwanted child. And this was very common. Yes, abortion was practiced even though it was incredibly dangerous in an age without anesthesia or soap. As for infanticide, Seneca regarded the drowning of newborn children as reasonable and commonplace. Tacitus called the Jewish teaching that it was "a deadly sin to kill an unwanted child" one of their "sinister and revolting" practices. Plato and Aristotle had both recommended infanticide to dispose of deformed, weak, or simply inconvenient children. As in modern China and India, female children were often unwanted. Historians say sex rations in Rome were 131 males per 100 females. In the rest of Italy, Asia Minor, and N Africa, the ratio is estimated at 140 males per 100 females. Hardly any Greco-Roman families raised more than one daughter per household. Inscriptions at Delphi make it possible to reconstruct 600 familes ... of these only SIX raised more than one daughter. Don't imagine that unbalanced gender ratios were good for women .. the reverse is true. Consider pre-Roman era Athens and Sparta: In Athens, women were in short supply due to female infanticide. Women's status was low. Girls received little or no education (all those ancient Greek philosophers .. they were all men). Athenian law treated women of any age as children and they were the property of either their parent or husband. Males could divorce women as easily as Muslims do. Athenian law required divorce of any woman seduced or raped. A woman could only get divorced if a father or other male relative took her case before a judge. Meanwhile, in Sparta, infanticide was also practiced but WITHOUT gender prejudice ... only well-formed healthy babies were raised of either sex. From birth on, there were more women then men. Male deaths from war made the female imbalance greater. Boys were sent to military school at 7, served in the army till 30. Spartan women had power and status unknown elsewhere in the ancient world. Women are estimated to have owned 40% of all land and property in Sparta. Girls received as much education as boys including gymnastic training. Spartan women seldom married till their 20's (elsewhere women were married at puberty of before). Spartan women wore short dresses (Athenian women wore heavy concealing gowns) and went where they wanted. Infanticide and abortion were very bad for women and, just as today, are associated with cultures that treat women shamefully. Jews are believed to have made up about 10% of the Roman empire's population at the time of Christ ... how did a small ethnic group get so numerous? Because they forbade abortion and infanticide and their population grew. The only negative for their population growth was the frequent rebellions against Rome - 3 major wars (not limited to the land of Israel) over about 70 years of time were devastating. Christians had the same morals as Jews and their population grew remarkably fast (40% per decade from AD33 - 300 per Rodney Stark). BTW Hellenized Jews in the Greco-Roman cities were a prime conversion target and it's likely that a majority of Jews in the Roman empire converted to Christianity over a period of several centuries. Much of the anti-Jewish and anti-Christian rhetoric in Christian and Jewish literature was aimed at Jewish Christians. On the ground, ordinary Jews and Christians seemed to get along better. Both Ignatius and John Chrysostom of Antioch complained bitterly of Jewish Christians who continued to practice Judaism. The two men were separated by almost 300 years of time (which means this wasn't a temporary 'problem'). Chrysostom said synagogues were filled with Christians on the Sabbath and holy days and he wasn't happy about it. Apparently a lot of people would attend a synagogue on one day and go to church the next. At Dura-Europas, excavations have revealed a synagogue and a church (first a house church later expanded) directly across the street from one another. Info from The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark.