Revolution #106, October 28, 2007
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And What About the Bible!
Phyllis Chesler’s pamphlet (titled The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam—see article in last week’s issue of Revolution, titled “The Hypocrisy of ‘Newly Minted Feminists’…and David Horowitz’ Dangerous Agenda,” available online at revcom.us) accurately quotes the oppressive teaching of the Koran—but what about the teachings of the Bible? What’s so great about the Judeo-Christian religion?
What about the tens of thousands of women judged as heretics and witches who were burned at the stake all over Europe by the Catholic Church?
What about the fact that the modern-day Catholic church bans birth control and divorce?
The submission of women is the official teachings of Christianity—not just in the Old Testament but in the New Testament:
1 Corinthians 11:3 “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 14:33‑35 “33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 34 Let the women keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves, just as the Law also says. 35 And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.”
1 Corinthians 11:7‑9: “For a man…is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.”
Timothy 2:11‑12: “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent…”
Timothy 2:13‑15 “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”
Biblical literalists who now control the Southern Baptist Convention that adopted a covenant on the family in 2000 which a husband “has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”
Then what of the Old Testament where stoning is prescribed?
“If any man take a wife, and go unto her, and hate her, And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say I took this woman and when I came to her, I found her not a maid…if this thing be true and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die.” Deuteronomy 22:13‑21
The oppression of women is at the foundations of and practically synonymous with every religion. David Horowitz can claim to be a supporter of the Reformation and Enlightenment, and talk about how that makes the difference; but in actual fact, the forces he aligns himself with are precisely those who see the Enlightenment as a bad thing. To take one example: these are the people who have fought to oppose the scientific theory of evolution and to demand that the schools teach “intelligent design,” which is at bottom a dressed-up justification for biblical literalism and tears down the separation between church and state.
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