A Biblical view of women's rights

As an atheist I often encounter many Christians who wish to challenge my distaste for religion. I don't mind discussing religion with the faithful, but I experience a profound sense of irony when I run across Christian women who defend their faith so vigorously.

Littered throughout the Bible you can find a great many stories and passages that should horrify and astound the conscience of any decent person,. Among these, I would like to draw your attention to the book of Genesis where we see a pattern emerge that weaves itself through the whole of scripture all the way to the New Testament.

In Genesis chapter 3 we come across the famous story most of us know very well of Eve and the serpent. In this account Eve falls prey to the wiles of the serpent, who is an iconic representation of the devil. At his behest, she eats the fruit of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge.

Sullying her own immortal soul was not enough, for Eve then tempted Adam who also ate of the fruit, and for this crime they were cast out of God's presence and cursed.

Because of this story, women were given a lesser status than men in ancient Jewish culture. In more modern times the phrase “lesser sex” has been used to describe women because Eve was so easily tricked by the serpent. The underlying tones here seem to imply that age old prejudice that women are not quite as smart as men, because of Eve's susceptibility to being fooled by the devil.

If one continues to read scripture moving on to the other 4 books in the Pentateuch, we can see this view of women translated into abject slavery and debasement.

Even God had a disdain for women as he only allows males to come into his presence in the Temple. (Deuteronomy 16:16 )

It does not stop there, however, and we see many laws laid out that favor a male dominated society. According to the laws of the Jewish people given by God, men are allowed to have as many wives as they choose, but a woman must remain faithful to one man.  This is, of course, another irony in of itself as many right wing Christians make the claim that allowing gay marriage will lead down a slippery slope to bigamy and polygamy.  Try not to laugh too hard the next time you hear Christian politicians like Rick Santorum make this argument.

It goes on...

If a man decides he no longer desires his wife he can go to her father and request the “tokens of her virginity”, which are bloody sheets, and if he cannot produce them she is to be taken out and stoned.(Deuteronomy 22:13-21 )

In another passage women may be put to death for not crying out loud enough while being raped.(Deuteronomy 22:24 )

Probably the most despicable of all these is the allowance for the raping of an unbetrothed virgin so long as the man pays her father and marries her. That's right...the rape victim must marry her rapist.(Deuteronomy 22:28,29 )

It becomes painfully clear that women, according to God's plan in the Torah, are nothing more than childbearing property with rights that barely give them status above slaves.

It is true that we see several women of note in the Old Testament which includes Ruth and Esther. These are heroins of the Bible and often referred to as glowing examples of godly women.

Even though these stories seem a bit lighter than the previous passages, we still see evidence of the status women had under Biblical law. Ruth herself was purchased by her husband Boaz like a piece of property.(Ruth 4:10)

The story of Esther is about a woman who's beauty gave her status with a king. In Esther chapter 2 we see that she was able to “please” the king and thus win his favor. Basically, Esther objectified herself through her sexuality and became someone of note.

Sleeping your way to the top is certainly not a lesson I would ever teach my two daughters.

This trend continues in the New Testament with the writings of Paul during the days of the early church. In two places we see the opinion of Paul on how women should behave in the Church. In 1st Corinthians 14:34 women are told to be silent in church and obey the law of Moses.

In 1 Timothy 2:12 women are forbidden to teach men or have authority in the church over men. Once again the concept of the “lesser sex” rears its head.

Now you can come up with all kinds of excuses and special pleading to rationalize these verses and you may be able to find some references in scripture that contradict this pattern, but the pattern is overwhelmingly clear: If you are a woman, the Bible is not very favorable of your status as an equal participant in society.

In fact, these passages were the basis for the suppression of women's rights in Western society for hundreds of years. Even to this day women suffer discrimination in nearly every culture due to the dominance of similar patriarchal beliefs.

This is why I find a sense of irony in Christian women defending the Bible and a God who views them as less than a man. It is even stranger that they violate their own scripture and attempt to teach me as a man.

I am almost certain that someone will be offended when they read this and accuse me of some sort of bigotry, but when I think of what I would want for my two daughters, I find the Bible an abhorrent text. I will keep them far away from any belief that supports the subjugation of their dignity to the teachings of a religion which tells them they are the "lesser sex".

I would truly hope that if my girls were to one day pick up the Bible and read the words contained within, they would do as any strong and independently minded woman should do, and discard it in the nearest trash receptacle.