Besides the biggest crime of the silence concerning the virgin myth, xianity is also responsible for many other wrongs caused by silence, propaganda, and a failure to correct flawed logic. For example, one case of failure to correct flawed logic is that of the myth of "Eve’s Original Sin". Xian leaders insist that the pain women endure from menstruation and pregnancy is a punishment from Q. This lie is easily disproved by science and logic, yet xian leaders continue to tell the story and insinuate that all women are guilty of the mistake of one fictional woman. There is much scientific evidence which disproves the misconception that Eve was the first woman on Earth. For example, Louis Leakey’s 1948 discovery of Lucy, a 20 million year old female hominid, greatly predates the time of Eve as suggested in the Bible. In addition, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution which is accepted by most scientists eliminates the possibility of Eve as the sole female from which the world’s entire population originates, as other near-human species preceded the humans of biblical times (and the females of these species would have to menstruate and become pregnant in order for the species to reproduce and eventually evolve into human form).
Another example of xian faulty logic and promotion of an unfounded truism is the ceremony of baptism of infants. In this ritual, the priest excuses infants from their "sins". Since infants at this time are often too young to even speak or feed themselves, it is extremely illogical to accuse them of sins for they are capable of nothing more than lying helplessly, dependent on others. The possible results of this ceremony which may still seem innocent and harmless can have strong ramifications for children. If the parents believe sincerely in the words of the priest, they may continue to wrongly accuse children throughout their childhood for having misbehaved when, in fact, the children would be innocent of any real wrongdoing. These accusations, both those of the priests and/or those of the parents, if repeated often enough, could severely damage the confidence and the self-esteem of many children. They instill feelings of imperfection and culpability in both male and female children which could, later in life, be responsible for hesitation on the part of the children to attempt to accomplish certain tasks or goals due to these feelings of unworthiness. The progress and natural development of children could be greatly hindered.
One of the most reprehensible crimes of propaganda perpetrated by xian leaders was the 5th century declaration that women did not have souls. Here, one could easily enter into the philosophical debate as to what a soul actually is, but even by avoiding this issue, the xian argument which lacks any proof at all can still be refuted by asking how their conclusion is reached and by what method they actually proved that men themselves have a "soul". In any case, the decidedly sexist conclusion of the xian leaders shows clearly their total disrespect for women as these men equate them with the soulless animals of the time rather than with humanity.
As well as spreading lies as to the nature of women, male xian leaders may be responsible for the crime of deliberately hiding manuscripts which would have greatly elevated the status of women in society at the time of the writing of the Bible. Shortly after W.W.II, Coptic texts were discovered in Upper Egypt which were written at the same time as those of the twelve apostles described in the Bible. These texts were apparently written by seven other apostles who were all female. Could it really be just a coincidence that all the texts written by women were hidden from the world in a cave for almost 2000 years while the texts of the male disciples all survived? It would not be illogical to assume that it is possible that these texts were purposely omitted from the Bible by male xian leaders who wanted to protect their (im)balance of power over women. Not surprisingly, these texts have been most easily recognized by those churches which have the most open attitude towards the rights of women to become priests, etc. The other churches who refuse to recognize the authenticity of these texts are those which obviously still support the oppression of women and wish to keep a veil of silence over the fact that women were important leaders at the time of Jesus, not deserving the awful treatment that their church sanctioned against women. This whole affair just helps to further prove the suggestion that xian leaders did, and still would if possible, effectuate a conspiracy to degrade the status of women in society. They could not allow the existence of documents in which women were equal to men as disciples so they had no choice but to conceal these documents.
In addition, these same xian leaders of the same time period who might have concealed or edited documents promoting women, did absolutely nothing in order to edit those biblical texts which degrade women and which were later used as justification for abusing them. Many Biblical passages promote the subjugation and abuse of women. While the worst of these passages are mostly in the Old Testament to which most modern xians no longer adhere, these passages were followed during the majority of the history of xianity. As well, there are still several other degrading passages in the New Testament in which xians still believe today. For example, the Bible states that man was made in the image of Q whereas woman was merely made from a man. According to the Bible, women should be silent in church and learn about their religion from men outside of church, should be governed by men, and should submit to their husbands. In addition, Mary is unclean after the birth of Jesus, Jesus scorns his mother and refuses to bless her, Eve is considered sinful while Adam is said to be blameless for destroying paradise, and Biblical heroines are admired for their obedience. Early church writer Tertullin described women as the "gate of Hell" and Martin Luther, creator of the Baptist faith, said that "if a woman grows weary and at last dies from childbearing, it matters not. Let her die from bearing, she is there to do it."
In addition to the crimes of silence, propaganda and faulty logic, xianity is responsible for many other physical, financial and sexual crimes against both women and humanity as a whole. As was already briefly mentioned, the biggest physical crime by xianity was the Inquisition and the witch hunts. Xian leaders organized a secret police to hunt down and to torture anyone who appeared to even slightly disagree with xian dogma. Often these were innocent people, but even for those who really did disagree with the xians, what right did the xians have to torture and execute those who peacefully practiced their own different religion in the privacy of their own homes hurting nobody? The xian leaders created a reign of fear and terror which hindered the development of humanity, not only by the millions of deaths, but also by the uncertainty which citizens living during this time would have felt. Who would be brave enough to experiment scientifically or try to invent a new tool to improve everyday life if everyone was afraid to be different for fear of execution?
Xian leaders also created that which would be called today a get-rich-quick scheme. This was the plan of indulgences. When St. Peter’s cathedral was being built in Rome, the present Pope wanted to raise money to pay for the cost of construction. He exploited the people’s fear of death by selling insurance to eliminate past sins guaranteeing that anyone who bought an indulgence would go to heaven upon death. After producing huge revenues and profits with this scheme, he created five other indulgences in which he sold, for example, insurance for relatives, future sins, and dead relatives already in hell. This plan became an easy means to exploit people’s fear of death in order to personally benefit financially.
Another physical exploitation of humanity by xian leaders was, and in some countries still is, the practice of holy wars in which many xians and non-xians lost their lives fighting simply because their religious leaders told them to do so. In the Middle Ages alone, there were four Crusades to "defend" the "Holy Land" (i.e. exploit and rob others, as well as rape the women that they met along the way ) and two Children’s Crusades. In all of these crusades many thousands of innocent people were blindly sent to their deaths believing that they were protecting their faith. The xian leaders were not ashamed to send many people to their certain deaths just so that the church could feel reassured in their conceit that they were superior to the Muslims.
In the ninth century, xian leaders actually encouraged the rape and abuse of women. Noblemen had a "natural right" to rape peasant women and to deflower the brides of their vassals. Sex without values (rape, prostitution, sadism) was not a serious crime; however, according to xian leaders, sex with love was a sin. The more serious xian sin was not sex but rather pleasure. Xians encouraged this attitude and thus condoned the practice of raping and abusing women. If the xian church preached that this was acceptable behavior, what protection did women have at this time and how could they resist or protest? The xian dogma placed them in an inescapable, perilous situation.
In modern times, the xian leaders whom society is supposed to trust have continued to betray those who are helpless to defend themselves. For the first time in history, sexual abuse by priests is being made public and the perpetrators are finally being held accountable for their heinous crimes. For example, sexual abuse of young boys by priests in Newfoundland at the Mount Cashel orphanage has recently come to the attention of the public and compensation is finally being awarded to the men who suffered as young, defenseless boys. While the blame must be rightly placed on the individual priests who committed these acts, society must not forget that it is the xian religion in general which is also greatly responsible. The xian faith forbids that priests marry or have sex (so they won’t be corrupted by "awful" women) which is an unnatural condition to place on any human. As a result of unnatural conditions, these priests logically commit unnatural acts such as forced sex with young boys. Besides hindering the development of many potentially positive contributors to society, the acts of these priests also have large impact on the lives of many women. Of all the boys abused by the priests, 80-90% grow up to abuse others that they meet in the course of their lives, and most of their victims are women. If the priests had not abused the boys, these same boys would not be likely to abuse women and a certain percentage of women victims of violence would have been spared the aggressive treatment that they suffered.
Today, it is the religious fundamentalist groups that fight most vehemently against the improvement of women’s rights. Religionists defeated the American Equal Rights Amendment of the 1980’s. In 1995 at the Beijing United Nations Conference on Women, REAL Women, an anti-choice, "pro-family", xian political lobbying group, fought against the promotion of rights for lesbians and urged women to refuse reproductive health and fertility regulation fearing that these might lead to abortion as a right. In Langley, BC, the "family values", anti-homosexual group "The Promise Keepers" have established their national headquarters in order to lobby for building strong marriages through Biblical values. They promote the image of women as "wanton, devious, unclean, treacherous, ignorant, and singularly responsible for the sins of the world."
It should be obvious that xianity has committed a serious crime in that it has severely limited the development of humanity over the past two thousand years, especially the development and equality of women. These crimes have taken on several forms, from the promotion of religious catechism with no scientific basis to the real rape and destruction of the lives of innumerable young boys. The support of dogma that xian leaders knew to be false, such as the virgin myth, has been directly responsible for the subjugation of women and their unequal status in society. In fact, much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament is a "handbook for the subjugation of women", and xian leaders have done nothing to correct the falsehoods written in this "holy" text.
Why has this patriarchal, oppressive institution survived for so long and successfully continued its immoral activities without opposition? The answer to this puzzling conundrum is simple: for the same reason that xian leaders successfully profited from its subjects by selling indulgences. Xianity is based on the exploitation of people’s rational fear of the unknown, their fear of "the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns". Xianity abuses the natural, human fear of death in order to maintain its reign of power over the general population. Women have never revolted and risen up united against this oppressor because they are also afraid of death and "hell". "The fear of Q will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female."
It is obvious today that most women are reluctant to openly speak out against xianity and its treatment of women. It must not be forgotten, however, that of the 50% of humanity that is female, only 10% are atheist (i.e. critical of xianity), thus only 5% of the entire world’s population would perhaps consider this an important issue. Fortunately, many men are also recognizing the crimes of xianity against women and are publicizing articles on this subject. However, women should not leave this task, this battle which is rightfully theirs, to the men to accomplish. It is time for women to stand up and openly defy the most powerful institution in the history of their subjugation. The backward, anti-women views of right-wing, religious fundamentalists will continue to gain growing support if action is not swiftly taken to contradict and condemn their sexist, dogmatic voice of oppression. Since the public’s ignorance is the greatest weapon in xianity’s attempted conquest of women, women must make the general public aware of the sordid past this dangerous, dogmatic institution has tried so hard to conceal. Xianity does not strive, as it might claim, for the betterment of man, but rather for the subjugation of women.
In researching this subject, it became apparent to me that the majority of secular groups or individuals widely
prefer the use of xian for Christian (and its derivatives, etc.). This modification is effectuated in order to
eliminate the name Christ from these words so that there is less emphasis placed on his importance as a religious
and/or historical figure to be worshipped. The origin of the use of the letter "x" to replace the name of Christ
actually comes from 12th century xians who placed more value on the "x" than on the name Christ; however,
because most xians are generally unaware of this historical fact, most secular scholars opposed to the hold which
xianity has placed on society have adopted it for the specific purpose of eliminating the name Christ. In keeping
with the views of those scholars who have adopted this particular orthography, I also will henceforth spell these
words using the "x". Return to text
"We always say that the patriarchy has proposed to us three images of women: the Mother, the Virgin, and the
Slut. But it is important to never forget also this other image of women which we don’t want to hear about and
which is very important, that of the Amazon, that of the witch, and in the end it is feminism, it’s the woman who
is questioning the system. "
The use of the name Q to replace the name God is justified by the same explanation used in the describing the
use of "xian" (see note 1). "Q" like the letter "x" is a neutral name which does not only invoke in the reader’s
mind the tradition image of a gray haired man with a long beard wearing a long white robe, as does the name
God. The use of another name thus helps in eliminating this sexist image of an almighty being that is male rather
than female or androgynous. In Gyn/ecology, Mary Daly also chooses to change the name of God to another
name, in her case a "gynomorphic" being. In my case, I have chosen to borrow the term "Q" from Gene
Roddenberry, the creator of the television series Star Trek, because he uses this term to denote an omnipotent,
alien being, but one that does not necessary exercise control over the lives of humanity on Earth, thus allowing in
the use of this name for the possibility of the existence of human free will, a concept which is often not expressed
by traditional religious dogma. As well, I believe that the modification of the traditional language created by men
is, in this case, in keeping with the current feminist trend of changing language to reflect what women might or
should want to express by using new, modified words that help serve this purpose. Return to text
Nicole Brossard, interviewed in the film: Les terribles vivantes. Directed by Dorothy Todd Hénaut, Office
national du film Canada, 1986 Return to
text
Why Women Need Freedom From Religion
The Rest of the Book. pp4-6(Link dead for the moment)
The Canadian Atheist - REAL Women Just Say No to Brains.
The Dark Bible: Women’s Inferior Status(Link dead for the moment)
The Virgin Birth and Childhood Mysteries of Jesus
The Argument from the Bible - II The Virgin Birth
The Atheism Web:Common Arguments - What does xian mean?
Check these books for other related info:
Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press: New York, 1989 (endnotes)
Daly, Mary. Gyn/ecology, The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Beacon Press: Boston, 1978,
pp 83-85
© 1997-1999
pantagruelle.geo@yahoo.com