In the Roman Catholic tradition the Virgin Mary is held up as a role model for women. She symbolizes female "virtues" such as obedience,
submission, chastity and silence. In fervent Catholic countries, Catholic women are encouraged to emulate her. In fact the more women submit and
self-efface themselves the more they are praised for being “good” Christian women. The Roman Catholic Church glorifies one woman while it
rubbishes all the rest.
I’m amazed at the length people will go to defend faith’s that condone this type of behavior against women. To claim one sex over the other in
such a blatant fashion is the product of an Male,immature, insecure, weak mind.
Is this the mind of God? The pattern seems to say yes. I ask is this a God of Love or a God of control?
It is time women saw the bible for what it is: a man-made, primitive "revelation"! No woman with a shred of self-esteem would want to demean
herself by bowing to such tyrannical and self-effacing absolutes. Every time a woman submits to such demotion she throws away her sell-worth. Women's
self-worth is anathema to fundamentalists who accuse women of being selfish and ungiving.
WOMEN IN THE BIBLE
Submissiveness is not male of female based, it is a human trait. Eve questioned God, thank God, because somebody had too. Just look at his works,
thousands of years of war and killing in his name. Thank God it’s a religion based in Love, or is it really about control and domination?
Still, I was shocked this week by the report on a conference of 5,000 Catholic men in Boston, and the results of a little Googling of Opus Dei
(yes, I’m reading The Da Vinci Code). The Boston conference report and my readings on Opus Dei--and its Father John McCloskey--reminded me again
that religious fundamentalism, be it Protestant, Muslim, Jewish or Catholic, is a destructive force that is polarizing cultures and wrecking lives.
As a Boston Herald report described the event: “Men are the ‘natural’ heads of their families and should persuade their wives to give up birth
control, quit their jobs and home-school their children, a keynote speaker at the annual Boston Catholic Men’s Conference said yesterday. ‘The
first thing we have to do is get you off the birth control,’ Sean Forrest instructed his audience of 5,000 men to tell their wives.
The bigotry of Catholic conservatives
It continues to this day, and Millions still follow this self destructive child like belief. This is not based in Goodness, Love or Joy. It is based
on insecurities, and hate. It is not based on free will, in this regards women have no choice but to “smile, shake their head yes and to do what
ever their man tells them to do, and to agree with what ever they say”.
Please, the argument that this was the way of the world in the days the bible was written is at best a weak argument, if it was wrong back then and is
wrong today, it is just wrong.
