Revolutionary Worker #1270, March 13, 2005, posted at rwor.org
There are Christian fascists in very high places within the U.S. Some of them sit on the Supreme Court. They head powerful committees in Congress and hold cabinet posts. They command important parts of the military. And the most powerful of them sits in the Oval Office as president.
These are forces who argue that the Bible is the word of god, and that it should govern the affairs of human beings. If they have their way--and they are very far along the road to getting it--they would transform the U.S. into a religious dictatorship and society will be plunged into a high-tech Dark Ages.
In fact the Bible is filled with many laws and instructions and practices that even many religious people consider oppressive and would never want to be enforced. And people who hate oppression would rise up against many things in the Bible.
Check out some of the rules and laws written in the Bible. If these things were put into practice, the world would be a cruel and horrible place. These quotations are ammunition to be used against those who pick up the Bible to keep women down. These Christian fascists should be forced to say whether this is the kind of world they want and the kind of morality they want to impose on the people.
DO YOU REALLY WANT TO FOLLOW THIS?
Slaves Must Obey Their Masters-
Even the Most Cruel Masters
Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only the good and gentle, but also the forward.
1 Peter 2:18
Wives Are Slaves To Their Husbands
Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Ephesians 5:22
Foreigners Should Be Bought and Sold as Slaves
Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land; and they shall be your possessions.
Leviticus 25:45
A Man Can Sell His Daughter but She Can't Even Go Out Like a Man Slave and If Her Master Doesn't Like Her, He Can Sell Her Back-But Not to Foreigners
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the manservants do.
If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power.
Exodus 21:7-8
Brides Whose Fathers Cannot Prove They Are Virgins Are Stoned to Death
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
If a Woman Engaged to Be Married Is Raped in the City She and the Rapist Are Stoned to Death
If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife.
Deuteronomy 22:23-24
If a Man Is Caught Raping a Girl Who is Not Engaged, the Rapist Must Pay the Girl's Father, and the Girl Must Marry the Rapist!
If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not the betrothed, and lay hold on her and lie with her, and they be found;
Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29
If You give Birth to a Boy You Are Unclean For a Week, If It's a Girl Two Weeks!
If a woman have conceived see, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven day...
And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, not come into the sanctuary..
But if she bears a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks...and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.
Leviticus 12:2-5
Women Are No Good but They Can Be Saved If They Have Babies and Behave Themselves
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.
1 Timothy 2:13-15
Death Penalty for Witches
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Exodus 22:18
Death Penalty for Homosexuals
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them...shall surely be put to death.
Leviticus 20:13
Death Penalty for Children Who Cuss, Hit, Disobey, or Rebel Against Their Parents
If a man have a stubborn or rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother...All the men of his city shall stone him with stones.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
For God commanded, saying, Honour they father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
Matthew 15:4
Instructions for Taking Women as Prisoners of War
But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.
Deuteronomy 20:14