International Women's Day and the "Holy" Books

Today, March 8, 2011 is International Women's Day. Although it has its roots largely in Communism, and history and current events tell us that despite the rhetoric of Communism, Communism in practice is a nightmare for working people, women included. Examples such as: the Holocaust of the Ukrainian people at the hands of the USSR in which over 14 million people were killed (an excellent book on this overlooked genocide is Harvest of Sorrow by Robert Conquest); the workers of Poland who fought and died through the Solidarity Movement against their Communist rulers; the slaughter of demonstrators by the Chinese Communist government in Tiananmen Square; etc., etc., etc. In spite of this, an International Women's Day, free of Communist duplicity, is a much needed celebration of women. Women have for too long been relegated to the back of the bus of society. For example, there are too many cases of women who do the same work as a man not receiving the same pay. In many ways women are looked at as second class citizens.

One of the root causes of women not receiving the recognition they deserve can be found in the "holy" books of the Abrahamic "revealed" religions: the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran. All three of these books which have such a strong influence on society are loaded with unnatural and unreasonable attacks on women.

In the Torah at Leviticus 27:1-7 it is claimed that God gave an estimated monetary value for the Hebrew/Jewish people. In each of the Bible god's estimates, women and girls are of less value than men and boys. It reads, "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow , the persons shall be for the LORD by thy estimation. And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver , after the shekel of the sanctuary. And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels."

This disgusting practice of discrimination against women carries over to the political realm, too. The father of the war-mongering neoconservative movement, Leo Strauss, wrote in his speech and essay Jerusalem and Athens, regarding the fall of man Bible bilge, "Thus the stage was set for the fall of our first parents. The first move came from the serpent, the most cunning of all the beasts of the field. It seduced the woman into disobedience and then the woman seduced the man. The seduction moves from the lowest to the highest."

In the New Testament this Torah practice of belittling women continues. Saul/Paul plainly laid it out in 1 Corinthians 11:3 when he wrote, "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." This sounds like a Biblical defense for wife-beaters and abusers.

This anti-women nonsense is reinforced throughout the Bible. One case of this can be seen in Ephesians 6:22-24 which reads, " Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church : and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."

In the Koran women are victims of unwarranted male superiority, too. In Surah 2:228 we read very clearly, " And they (women) have rights similar to those (of men) over them in kindness, and men are a degree above them ." Above this quote in Surah 2:223 we read God/Allah comparing women to fields to be tilled by men. It reads, " Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will , . . ." It's not difficult to understand how people ensnared in Islam would accept the horrendous practice of "honor killings."

All of the Abrahamic "holy" books are overflowing with examples of attacks and degradation against women. In a sense we should not be surprised since none of these books even speak out against slavery. With such low moral standards we should not be surprised by any assault on morality from the Torah, Bible or Koran.

What is surprising is how women who are actual real victims of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam don't rise up against them. Perhaps it is because they're relying too much upon tradition and not enough on their God-given reason. Real progress is never made by tradition; it is only made by reason based actions. Hopefully, as Deism continues to grow, people who believe in God but not in religion will realize they are not alone in their opposition to the "revealed" religions and the unnatural fear based superstitious teachings they promote. Almost daily I hear from people who thought they were alone in their belief in the Supreme Intelligence while rejecting the "revealed" religions. They are very happy to lean they have have a name for their belief: Deism.