What prompts men to use religion as a means to abuse women and children?

I've been reading one of the more horrifying stories about the raid on the polygamist compound in Texas.

www.sltrib.com...


This brings to mind many of the other "religious" means male dominated religions use to abuse and mistreat women and children. It seems inevitable that when men are given absolute power - as they seem to be in religions like this - they resort to abuse and mistreatment of women and children.

What drives this? What deep and fundamental flaw in men encourages them to use religion as a means of abuse?

As I get older, I've learned that religious ferver should be about goodness and love - not hate, abuse of others, power and control.

Yet, in most religious documents dominated by past practices rife with abuses of power and control, I find it harder and harder to find the love and goodness I seek.

And I wonder - if God was really like this, would I want to know him?

Frankly, if God really were like this, I'd want to run off into the wilderness to make a life of my own without the evil influence.

I keep hope by thinking that somehow, someway, all these abuses twist religion to conform to male desires and have nothing to do with God.

What is it, exactly, that drives men to do this?

Religion prompts humans to use it in anyway they see fit. They have an excuse and that excuse is God. Religion is a man made fiction of his own imagination. And God has nothing to do with them in my honest opinion.

sorry that I am the first to respond.
Every institution has its saints and demons.
We have some pedophile priest...is that what they were ordained to do?

I can only speak for Christian men that I can relate to, our wives we would die for and our kids we would kill for. (extreme and of course not a Christian pc thing to say but true never the less)

I have belonged to Catholic, Lutheran and some type of holy roller church and I have never seen or heard of men thinking they could treat their family in an abusive way. (the holy roller church my friend was the pastor)

It is just an abuse of power you are talking about. Just like some racist cops that are out there.

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. There are good and decent men of faith out there.

Remember the old saying, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

This was a totally closed society where a few men held absolute power. They did what all men would do when handed the raw power of total domination.

I know you say that you would never do such a thing, but that's because you have never been handed such temptation.

As said before, God had nothing to do with this. It was men using God to satisfy their own gratifications.

If would be funny if it weren't so tragic. Their belief in religion showed just how weak they are morally.

Lose your religion and you will truly find God. Free the chains on your mind and the chains on your soul will disappear.

simple. He's got religion...NOT relationship. Jesus re-established our RELATIONSHIP back to God the Father. Thus, if the man that beats his family, then applies the scripture out of context and then applies it to his actions...

He's mentally unstable and has a anger problem.


just remember this...
Jas 4:17 Therefore, anyone who knows what is right but fails to do it is guilty of sin.

I take it you have the Arizona Cult/Sect of religious zealots that
interpet their religion as OK to have many 'wives'...
and to 'marry' another followers 10 year old daughter...


i recall that scripture tells us that a great delusion blinds all but the 'elect'

ooops, I guess I wasn't first.

Well, I can't say that poster is wrong. Religion is man made. Faith is something divine.

We need religion for community because we just can't pull it off on our own but we must also avoid the pitfalls of it.

My husband and I were discussing this issue today, I feel that anybody that does what this people are doing are sick in their minds.

Justifying the rape and servitude of young girls is nothing but sick.

I still can not comprehend how the adult womens in the sect allowed to be treated like that.

All in the name of their version of religious interpretations.

We have our own brand of fundamentalist bordering into radicalism after all.

I think it has alot to do with testosterone and alpha male chest beating.
A man having six wives reminds me very much of the animal kingdom where a lion has his pride. Religion can be used as yet another 'formal' reason for one to dominate/abuse another: You can wage war on another tribe/country for your chosen god. You can be born into royalty and that very existence and power is 'ordained' by god. You can be in a cult and rape children and justify it by saying it's ordained by god through marriage. Religion is just another thing people use sometimes to justify abusing others.. without that justification they would be just considered immoral savages.

Oh and it was still legal fifty years ago to rape your wife [love honour and obey].

[edit on 11-4-2008 by riley]

I'm willing to place a bet on social competitiveness, and the psychological damage it can do.

Truly, as a society we've wandered down a dark path, and it's getting darker and darker as we go along.

There are people in this world who see Religion as an excuse to position themselves above others.

Of course, the degenerate scum don't know what to do with power once they have it.

[edit on 11-4-2008 by Throbber]

"What prompts men to use religion as a means to abuse women and children?"

the people running the show?
or better yet, the people who were running the show. for most of these men even, this was the only life they had ever known...they were born into it...a world where daddy occasionally brought in another child for you to call mommy. a society where it was justifyable to treat some of the members more like property and slaves. they got a good early indoctrination every day of this system growing up in a home where daddy was the dictator, and everyone else in the family just fell in line and did their best to do what he expected of them, or else, well, things might get unpleasant. and of course, somewhere in thier little closed off world there was a bigger dictator pulling daddy's strings, and things might just get a bit unpleasant if he didn't do what they expected of him! a nice little society with a small few controlling the lives of the whole group. Let's say that one of the little ladies decided to get uppity and refused to wear that nice long dress and instead doned on a pair of jeans intent on being comfortable while working in her garden. well all the other wives saw this, some of them brought the subject up to their husbands, and maybe even got bold enough to do it themselves. well...they might start a revolution of sorts. nothing whatsoever might be mentioned to the wife, but something surely would be said to the husband...get your wife in line!! threats might actually be made.....the group owns the home you live in and has made it so that you rely on them for just about everything. life could get really nasty then. even if the hubby does love his wife beyond belief and would die for her, he would more than likely go home and put a little pressure on her to quite causing waves. thus, they will all play their role, weather they believe any of it, or want it....
no "god" is really needed, it is only an additional fear added into the mixture, and well, could possibly keep the outside world at bay a little longer with it's separation of church and state and all.

reply to post by dawnstar


Well done, you've explained exactly what it means to be a person who is involved in this sort of circumstance.

Does the fact that you have failed to address the reasons for why such people would be developed in their own minds in the first place bother you?

You claim it is a result of other similar situations, but to be honest i don't think that explains anything at all.

Now then Dawnstar, what kind of a person could possibly ever even want to be that kind of person - a social tyrant, perhaps?

Dawnstar I can not stop seen the similarities of your post explanation to what is going on in another part of our nations development.

Politics and government, it seems that the indoctrination and servitude for citizens to accept authority is well cemented on how our system of government works.

It applies beautifully in your post if you just change some works and ad government.

Abusive men will use any means necessary to abuse women or children, depending what their preference is. An abuser who can get himself in a position of power gives himself many more opportunities to abuse and get away with it. These Mormons make me sick using religion as a means for child abuse. The same with Catholic priests, politicians, rich people, etc.....any man that abuses children should be castrated and then put in a cell with a guy named Bubba who likes to sodomize castrated child abusers!

Let's not forget there are abusive women out there also, but not nearly as many as men.....these women should be dealt with also! Put them away FOREVER!

[edit on 11-4-2008 by Excitable_Boy]

It doesn't matter what "religion" we are speaking about. It seems to happen in different ways across the board. I believe it is "man" who corrupts the religion to his/her own sick beliefs.

reply to post by Mahree


Religion in and of itself is corrupt. But there certainly are individuals who give religions a worse name than they already have! And I agree, there are scumbags in every religion and every group or walk of life.

Look... First of all, everything we are hearing about this group right now is nothing more than allegations. Waco anyone?

Anyway, I think that most women and children are willing to believe things that SOME men are not. While there may be some debate about this, I think that women and children tend to be a bit more spiritual than most men.

Now, with that being said, strong belief in anything will cause one to do things he/she normally would not do. If someone tells you repeatedly that if you don't have sex with them God is going to send you to the fairy tale land called "hell" and you, as a woman, truly believe that, chances are, you're going to allow yourself to be manipulated by these false teachings.

im sure all this man bashing just tickles the feminist fancy of some of the more brain dead viewers here, but really, the problem is the religion or institution itself. when women get involved in this kind of thing, the same garbage tends to happen.

but who is more to blame, the leaders, or all the sheep like followers? they're both wrong, but one empowers the other. try to keep that one in mind when passing judgement on others.

I don't think you understand us men very well if you have to ask this question. We'll use anything we can think of as a means to abuse women and children because that is what we like to do. Religion is always an effective tool because most people are already hard-wired to believe in it and they're very easily indoctrinated.

God pretty clearly puts men in charge of women and children, so there's no argument to be had. You don't like it? You think you know better? Take it up with God.

That's what religion is all about. I mean, if you're not going to do what God says, no matter how ridiculous, then what's the point of being religious? Then you're just like all the other lukewarm pickers and choosers in religion.