I dont know about historically, but i do know some things. To some people, having faith in any religion is a mute point when it comes to how "they" treat women. People from all faiths have been known to treat women badly. Its a human thing, not restricted to a particular religion, and even to athiests.
I cannot change the world but i can change my world.
btw, (abusers) often dont recognize their behaviour as abuse, and they can be "outraged" by reports of other peoples abusive behaviour, when their own mirrors it. God has nothing to do with it.
As regards females and power....if you have the mind for it, why not go for it, i dont think your genitalia should determine your career aspirations...
Just my two cents worth.
Fantastic!
People are indeed people. It is not the religion that creates a wife beater it is the animal extinct of a dominant male in his immediate group, his family. Alphas use everything they can think of to do the survival thing for themselves, (this makes empirical sense and horribly has been hijacked by 'scientology' ), including cruel,controlling behaviour. My argument is that this behaviour is multi-tiered like a wedding cake and uses religion on every level to keep that status quo. War is the equivalent of wife beating. My question is do we want to continue living like senseless apes?
To me we have reached the point where science can remove the need for us to compete, that we have the capacity to make the brutal old system of Alpha dominance obsolete. If we spent all we spent on wars, all the wealth locked up in the vaults of the super rich, and all the waste our systems create that could be used, and ploughed it into science and free infrastructure then there would be no need to compete in that way. Religion is a force that constantly gives sanction to and idolises the Alpha male. The Abrahamics take the notion to its
deliberately concieved conclusion of that ultimate Alpha male in the sky. I understand that for many this is not how it is viewed, that they will bend over backwards to justify it, and indeed have a personal experience of 'god' that they cant let go of that has nothing to do with Alpha politics. But that does not alter the fact that most religions are run by men and they are out for themselves, not you...... unless you happen to be, or have been told to be, a brood mare to one of them.
We need a language to be able to express our awe and wonder, our hopes and our fears. Religions get in as fast as they can to the young to give them it. They exploit our need by giving us something that makes a bit of sense to that we would call our hearts and minds, but tag onto it a lot of thinking that has become just to dangerous for us to continue with. We are no longer isolated tribes or kingdoms. We are a global unit. Megadeath is a real risk with war or natural disasters or by pollution. Religions get you thinking "it's in gods hands", trust in your god, your king/president, your priest and your husband. Its for the best. Its books have an answer for everything, always the word of the big alpha in the sky, but together, in unison, they tell you to think the Alpha structure of society is the only possible way. I think until we tackle the most important inequality that exists in society, wealth inequality, we cant make much headway. It is no accident that religion invented charity, and our govenments call it aid. Charity perpetuates inequality and gives the giver power.
I think it was PoO earlier was airilly dismissive of the advances in equality that initiated in Europe with the abolition of slavery, moved to the emancipation of women and has now made massive inroads toward reducing racism and homophobia. This is a huge achievement that came about because of education and secularism. But it is an achievement billions of people alive right now believe abominable and should be reversed. And they do so beacuse their religion brainwashes them into believing it. In the secular west the old churches have lost a lot of their power both economically and over our behaviour. Literal observence of doctrine is a fringe minority pastime and the church elders make enough to sustain their power trip from investments made possible by massive accrued wealth. They moved into business in other words. And who controls our governments if not these big investment businesses. And guess what, they are busy robbing us again right now.
I am willing to state that not everything human thinking associates through religion is negative. But so much is. And because religion is intertwined through every facet of our existence in such complex and emotive ways it is impossible to extract the good from the bad. But we are fools to sit and marvel at the glinting shininess of slavers chains. I say the intertwining is so bad that we cannot untangle it. So we must throw it away and start again. With human equality a new given and our evolutionary potential fully realised. We need to learn not to control our environment for the wealth of a few but to manage and exploit its essentially limitless resources as we have evolved to do. I believe we do have purpose. I call it the next generation. And the generation after that. Is that not enough to believe in? genetics show we were one village only a blink in time ago. its about time we remembered it.
