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The Sexism of Religious Extremists

Posted 4 months ago|6 comments|275 views
Photograph by Oren Nahshon/ Rueters
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Altruist
Eugene, OR
There are thousands of Israelis in the streets right now protesting religious extremism. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/art...

In the Jewish City of Bet Shemesh, ultra-Orthodox men spat on an eight year old girl, "insulted her and called her a prostitute because her modest dress did not adhere exactly to their more rigorous dress code".

"Ultra-Orthodox men and boys from stringent sects have hurled rocks and eggs at the police and journalists, shouting ''Nazis'' at the security forces and assailing women reporters with epithets like ''whore'' and ''shikse'', a derogatory Yiddish term for a non-Jewish woman or girl."

Orthodox male soldiers have walked out of a ceremony where women soldiers were singing to adhere to a prohibition on hearing women's voices. Women in some bus routes are expected to sit in the back of the bus. http://www.smh.com.au/world/fury-at-ultr...

Some of the protest banners and signs compared the ultra orthodox zealots to Afghanistan's Taliban.

Are they similar? It is true that the Muslims, Jews and Christians share a common belief in the God of Abraham, and all of the sacred texts from the Torah, the Old Testament, and the Koran, originate from the same cruel tribes.

It seems that when there is a high percentage of any one of the three religions, that there arises extremist sects, that try to impose their harsh religious standards on all others.

Why is there such sexism and hatred of women among these religions? It seems that the religious extremists in each religion take their sacred texts literally. It seems that The God of Abraham was a cruel sadistic sexist.

As evidence break out your own copy of the Bible or Torah and read for yourself:

Genesis 3:16 Says that all women must suffer great pains during child birth due to Eve eating the fruit of knowledge.
Genesis 19:8 Tells of Lot who offers his daughters to a crowd to be raped. Later, Lot impregnates his own daughters after God kills his wife for simply looking back at the remains of her city.
Leviticus 15:19-30 explains how women who are menstruating are unclean, and that anything she touches should be avoided. Leviticus 18:19 Goes onto say that even LOOKING at a menstruating woman is wrong.
Leviticus 21:9 Explains that unchaste daughters of priests must be burnt to death.
Numbers 31: 14-18 God commands that all of the Midianites be slaughtered (including children and old) but that the virgin women should be kept to be raped.
Deuteronomy 20:13-15 Kill all the men and boys in the cities that God "delivers into your hands," but keep the women for raping.
Deuteronomy 21:11-14 If you see a pretty woman among the captives then just take her home and "go in unto her."
Deuteronomy 22:13-22 Women, be sure to keep the tokens of your virginity. Otherwise the men of your city may stone you to death.
Deuteronomy 22:23-24 is one of the most cruel and sexist passages of the Torah. It says that women who are raped and fail to "cry out loud" in a populated area are most likely enjoying the attack should be killed.

The list goes on and on. Extremists can find many justifications in the Torah/Bible/Koran to kill, torture, rape, or start wars. http://www.evilbible.com/

The people who stole this country from the natives, were fleeing religious repression in Europe. Our founding fathers were smart enough to include in the Constitution prohibitions against the establishment of any official religions.

The right wing is still trying to establish the equivalent of a Christian Sharia law. I am glad that we have a strong Constitution to protect all of the women in our country.
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4 months ago: Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament, so let's just go strait to the source, the practices of people are not the practices of God. To say that a follower of God did this or that... doesn't mean it was sanctioned by God. As to those things that were commanded by God, such as cleanliness... it is established that those dietary and hygienic laws remain second to none in the prevention of disease and health problems. Back to Jesus Christ and the treatment of women... both He and His Apostles supported the highest regard for women and their equal fair treatment...

Jesus healed a woman with an issue of blood
Jesus accepted the financial support of women
Jesus first appeared to a woman after His resurrection
Jesus gave safety and freedom to a woman caught in adultery

Apostle Paul said there is no difference between men and women in Christ
Apostle Paul said that a husband needs to love his wife as Christ loves the Church
Apostle Paul allowed woman prophetesses (preachers)
Apostle Paul said that men should not abuse nor exploit women

...so it seem Al you understand little if anything about the reasons certain laws were given to the Jews, and why Jesus came to clean up the mess that was made out of them by man. Certainly you know less about the God of Islam (the Moon god Allah) because it is not the God of the Christian...

"It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth... Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:10-12)

Sorry Al, next time do a little research instead of being a MEME for others that are steeped in the same ignorance. There are some great articles here on RR that plainly establish that most of the Women's Rights and Human Rights today are as the result of proper Biblical understanding and application.
4 months ago: "Christianity: The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Women
Study By: Sue Bohlin
"Probe's Sue Bohlin writes that it's not true, as some feminists charge, that Christianity is anti-female and horribly oppressive to women. In fact, nothing has elevated the status and value of women as biblical Christianity."
http://bible.org/article/christianity-be...
Altruist
Altruist
Eugene, OR
4 months ago:
Truthberry perhaps you should practice what you preach.

The teachings of Christ were radically different from the Old Testament Jewish beliefs. The God of Jesus was a caring loving God. The God of Abraham was a cruel and vindictive God.

For the first 300 years Christians actually lived the life that Christ preached. They gave away personal possessions, lived in communes and cared for the poor.

Then in a period between 325 and 365 the Christian Church was converted to the official religion of Rome. Before this most people didn't even believe in the divinity of Christ. In the Council of Nicea in 325 Emperor Constantine held out the promise of the official religion if they would change. In response the bishops declared the divinity of Christ and came up with the tortured concept of the trinity to make sense of it, and changed the day of worship to Sunday to match the day of worship for Sol Invictus that Constantine had just declared.

Early Christians had a lot of different sacred writings, including the Gnostic texts and writings from women. The Gnostics were more secular and spiritual. They believed that the individual could find God within, and was less reliant on the ecclesiastical hierarchy. http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/index.ht...

At that time women owned the land, thus owned the first churches, and had a significant part in the early religion. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/...

The Council of Laodicea in 365 solidified the canon of the Bible, eliminating all of the feminist and Gnostic texts, outlawed the practice of the Sabbath on Saturday, and completed the conversion of the early Christian Church which honored women, into the Church of the Roman Empire, which was autocratic, paternalistic, and demeaned women.

The Roman Empire which was notorious for absorbing the traditions of those they conquered, absorbed Christianity and merged it with the Jewish religion, Mithrism, and Sol Invictus so it would fit in with Rome's military tradition. They suppressed all of the other teachings and declared something close to the current Cannon of the Bible as their Dogma.

4 months ago: Al, I agree I should practice what I preach, but what does that have to do with what I just said? Jesus is the God of the Old Testament...

"Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died."
(Zechariah 12:10)

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us." (Matthew 1:23) quoting Isaiah 7:14, and referring to Isaiah 9:6-7.....

6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Jesus is the God of the Old Testament...
http://www.rantrave.com/Rave/Trinity-In-...
Altruist
Altruist
Eugene, OR
4 months ago: The teachings of Jesus and the spirit and intent of the New Testament (even after all of the editing) are totally different than the Old Testament. One is Peace and Love and the other is Cruelty and Warfare.

In fact many scholars think that Jesus actually traveled to India during the 17 "missing Years" and learned Buddhism. His preaching had many Buddhist similarities and roots. http://tibettalk.wordpress.com/2007/09/0...

I think the world would have been much better off if the Torah/Old Testament/Koran were ignored. Most Christians after 350 years of the inquisition, the killing of millions of wise women as witches, and hundreds of religious wars have had enough of the violence and have learned to ignore the cruelty of the Old Testament. This is a lesson the Muslims have yet to learn.

The God of Abraham should be ignored and Jesus's Buddhist teachings of peace and harmony would be better for all.
4 months ago: Altruist,

Jesus never traveled more than 200 miles from his home and this is established by historical records... as to Jesus being a Buddhist you won't see any of that with Jesus' statements saying He Himself was the only Way, Truth and life (John 14:6). Jesus is the one that brought us all the teachings on Hell and Heaven... rewriting history will not change the facts... sorry. However deluded the assumptions, the best record for the life of Christ is found in both the Old and New Testaments....

"Question: "Why does God seem so different in the Old Testament than He is in the New Testament?"

Answer: At the very heart of this question lies a fundamental misunderstanding of what both the Old and New Testaments reveal about the nature of God. Another way of expressing this same basic thought is when people say, "The God of the Old Testament is a God of wrath while the God of the New Testament is a God of love." The fact that the Bible is God's progressive revelation of Himself to us through historical events and through His relationship with people throughout history might contribute to misconceptions about what God is like in the Old Testament as compared to the New Testament. However, when one reads both the Old and the New Testaments, it becomes evident that God is not different from one testament to another and that God's wrath and His love are revealed in both testaments."
http://www.gotquestions.org/God-differen...

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