Women and Religion

Edited by Hellios - 15-Jan-2007 at 13:52

Originally posted by Mixcoatl I wouldn't say women enjoy a subordinate position, but I think Paul has a point when he says that it's often the older generation of women who break the will of the younger generation. Female genetical mutilation in East Africa for example, is most vigourously supported (and performed) by the older women there.

Genital mutilation is the custom in many parts of Africa. Genital mutilation is performed in order to kill the sexual urges of a woman, so they may remain loyal and faithful to their husbands and have no sexual appetite for another man. Again, a painful procedure endured by a woman to appease the men.   

I personally blame the XY chromosomes, they wanted to break away from the XX and create their own faction. Aren't men born as women till the Y chromosome actually kicks in.

Originally posted by morticia Originally posted by Paul Man is a unique creature, he has a brain capable of creative thought and of developing beyond his cultural condition. Even a few women have this ability too. So no excuses for not using it. Being born into a religion environment is no excuse for a women not to abandon it. Abandon it? ....at the risk of being stoned to death or burned at the stake? Outspoken women regarding religion (or any other subject for that matter) were unheard of in the olden days . Indeed, there are still some countries where women cannot look directly at a man�s face without being punished. Oppression is not easy to overcome and takes many many years of tolerance and changes to make even a slight indentation. Women just need to be relentless, patience, and keep �harping� on it, even at the risk of annoying men, which is understandable. Men just have to learn to deal with it! Originally posted by Paul Reality is I think women who are oppressed by religion quite enjoy it. Society conditioned in them a masochistic streak and they revell in thier bondage. In most cases in repressive religious societies, men and women are highly segregated.  It's  the older genration of of women who break the spirits of the younger women not the men Ouch! I just got whiplashed by those comments! The truth of the matter is that the spirit of the older generation of women was broken by MEN. In reality, I think that men are resentful of all the �power� they�ve lost over women and they just can�t stand it. Those feminists, huh? How dare they? What a bunch of greedy b_ _ tches!

Edited by Paul - 16-Jan-2007 at 22:58

" Outspoken women regarding religion (or any other subject for that matter) were unheard of in the olden days ."

when you say things like that, it seems like you haven't had much experience of religion or knowledge of christian history.

let's see: martyrs of the early church - held up and venerated since the get-go: agnes, cecilia, philomena, catherine of alexandria (also an intellectual), agatha, ad infinitum.

second, deaconesses: do you know what the role of the deacons/deaconesses were in the early church? women religious orders and congregations have more than usurped their role. which brings us to another point.

the women religious orders turned out many powerful, influential women in history. in fact, religion was the vehicle that gave these women voices. you have Catherine of Sienna dictating to the popes what they have to do. Teresa of Avila who was fire incarnate. and plenty others,, providing all types of contributions to society, whether helping the poor, teaching, or helping immigrants (Mother Cabrini). there is plenty of history there for you to acquaint yourself with if you choose to do so rather than cling to your pre-conceived notions. And of course, your false assumptions ignore the power and fearful cadres of ruler-wielding irish nuns who have taught generation after generation of school children, so influential during their formative years.

sorry if i'm coming on strong, but your sweeping statements are embittered with prejudicial intolerance of somthing your not familiar with, and these statements get repeated over and over. it would be unfortunate that the true history get obscured by repititious rantings of those biased against it. it just makes more unnecessary work for future historians to unravel.

There are more religions than that one.