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Why the Biblical Concept of Origin Sin is Wrong!
- Thread starter Toronto
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Christianity treatment of women...
Following Aquinas, canon law decreed that women could not witness a will. Neither could they testify in disputes over wills, nor in criminal proceedings. They could not practice medicine, law or any other profession, nor could they hold any public office. Here is a piece of reasoning from two famous Roman Catholic scholars: after saying that women are intellectually like children, they explain why women are given to the practice of witchcraft:
I) But the natural reason is that she is more carnal than a man, as is clear from her many carnal abominations. And it should be noted that there was a defect in the formation of the first woman, since she was formed from a bent rib, that is, rib of the breast, which is bent as it were in a contrary direction to a man. And since through this defect she is an imperfect animal, she always deceives.
II) Women, as inferiors to and possessions of men, were not free to choose their own marriage partners:
Only those who have authority over a woman, and from whose custody she is sought as wife, can make a lawful marriage.
Following Aquinas, canon law decreed that women could not witness a will. Neither could they testify in disputes over wills, nor in criminal proceedings. They could not practice medicine, law or any other profession, nor could they hold any public office. Here is a piece of reasoning from two famous Roman Catholic scholars: after saying that women are intellectually like children, they explain why women are given to the practice of witchcraft:
I) But the natural reason is that she is more carnal than a man, as is clear from her many carnal abominations. And it should be noted that there was a defect in the formation of the first woman, since she was formed from a bent rib, that is, rib of the breast, which is bent as it were in a contrary direction to a man. And since through this defect she is an imperfect animal, she always deceives.
II) Women, as inferiors to and possessions of men, were not free to choose their own marriage partners:
Only those who have authority over a woman, and from whose custody she is sought as wife, can make a lawful marriage.
Christianity treatment of women...
Under canon law a woman's husband was both her sovereign and her guardian. In practical terms this meant that she could not legally own property or make contracts. She could not sue at common law without her husband's consent, which meant that in particular she could not sue him for any wrong done to her. If she deliberately killed him, she was guilty not merely of murder but, because of the feudal relationship, treason.
Under canon law a woman's husband was both her sovereign and her guardian. In practical terms this meant that she could not legally own property or make contracts. She could not sue at common law without her husband's consent, which meant that in particular she could not sue him for any wrong done to her. If she deliberately killed him, she was guilty not merely of murder but, because of the feudal relationship, treason.
Christianity treatment of women...
Within living memory it was common in fundamentalist Christian countries for a married woman to be denied credit, and to require her husband's consent for surgical operations. This is still the case in some particularly devout areas, for example in Switzerland.
After all 1 Corinthians 7:4 states that "The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband ...".
"The woman has no power, but in everything is subject to the control of her husband".
Within living memory it was common in fundamentalist Christian countries for a married woman to be denied credit, and to require her husband's consent for surgical operations. This is still the case in some particularly devout areas, for example in Switzerland.
After all 1 Corinthians 7:4 states that "The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband ...".
"The woman has no power, but in everything is subject to the control of her husband".
It was that under the Christian Salic Law, women were debarred from inheriting throughout much of Europe. As one chronicler put it in the Fourteenth Century with reference to Isabelle sister of the French King Charles IV: "the realm of France was so noble that it must not fall into a woman's hands."
Even an English queen's job, spelled out in an old marriage service was “to be bonay and buxome in bed and at board”.
In the words of the Anglican marriage service a married couple were one flesh, and the canon lawyers held them to be a single person: erunt animae duae in carne una.
In the words of the Anglican marriage service a married couple were one flesh, and the canon lawyers held them to be a single person: erunt animae duae in carne una.
Christianity treatment of women...
It was this legal doctrine that gave rise to Dickens" observation, put into the mouth of one of his characters, that the law is an ass. The doctrine enabled an Englishman to lock up his wife and not be liable for the tort of false imprisonment. He could beat her and not be guilty of assault. The same principle permitted him to rape her without the law recognising it as rape. A wife could not proceed against her husband, nor be called to give evidence in court against him.
It was this legal doctrine that gave rise to Dickens" observation, put into the mouth of one of his characters, that the law is an ass. The doctrine enabled an Englishman to lock up his wife and not be liable for the tort of false imprisonment. He could beat her and not be guilty of assault. The same principle permitted him to rape her without the law recognising it as rape. A wife could not proceed against her husband, nor be called to give evidence in court against him.
Christianity treatment of women...
Unmarried women were also inferior beings, or as the Bible puts it weaker vessels (1 Peter 3:7). Fathers were free to treat them as their personal property and swap them for other goods or for political advantage, which is what arranged child marriages often amounted to. Unmarried adult women were not permitted many of the privileges allowed by law to men, nor thought capable of fulfilling the duties expected of men.
Unmarried women were also inferior beings, or as the Bible puts it weaker vessels (1 Peter 3:7). Fathers were free to treat them as their personal property and swap them for other goods or for political advantage, which is what arranged child marriages often amounted to. Unmarried adult women were not permitted many of the privileges allowed by law to men, nor thought capable of fulfilling the duties expected of men.
Christianity treatment of women..
Women's lives were of such little consequence that they carried no wieght in moral decisions. For example what should a man do if he has promised to marry a woman, but then decides he wants to become a monk. The answer has no moral merit, but satified the Church:
One who has sworn to contract marriage with a woman, if he wishes to enter religious life, ought first to contract marriage to fulfill the vow, and then he may enter a monastery before having carnal intercourse.
The woman had no say in this, and being officially married was not permitted to divorce and remarry. If she was a good Christian, her life was completely ruined.
Women's lives were of such little consequence that they carried no wieght in moral decisions. For example what should a man do if he has promised to marry a woman, but then decides he wants to become a monk. The answer has no moral merit, but satified the Church:
One who has sworn to contract marriage with a woman, if he wishes to enter religious life, ought first to contract marriage to fulfill the vow, and then he may enter a monastery before having carnal intercourse.
The woman had no say in this, and being officially married was not permitted to divorce and remarry. If she was a good Christian, her life was completely ruined.
Christianity treatment of women..
Church law made provision for husbands who killed their wives, such husbands apparently being regarded as less culpable if they were young:
1. As to those who killed their wives without trial, since you do not add that these were adulteresses or anything like that, should they be accounted other than murderers subject to penance? They are absolutely forbidden to remarry, unless they are young men...
2. Whoever kills his wife without right, cause, or certain proof, and takes another, must put aside his arms and do public penance.
3. The foregoing authorities forbid killing adulterous wives, but permit sending them away after seven years of penance. Those who kill them lose all hope of remarriage, unless mercy is granted them to contract marriage on account of their falling into youthful incontinence.
Church law made provision for husbands who killed their wives, such husbands apparently being regarded as less culpable if they were young:
1. As to those who killed their wives without trial, since you do not add that these were adulteresses or anything like that, should they be accounted other than murderers subject to penance? They are absolutely forbidden to remarry, unless they are young men...
2. Whoever kills his wife without right, cause, or certain proof, and takes another, must put aside his arms and do public penance.
3. The foregoing authorities forbid killing adulterous wives, but permit sending them away after seven years of penance. Those who kill them lose all hope of remarriage, unless mercy is granted them to contract marriage on account of their falling into youthful incontinence.
Christianity treatment of women..
Well into the twentieth century christian women were debarred from sitting on juries and were permitted only a few selected jobs, such as school teaching and nursing. Even these they were generally obliged to give up when they got married. Women were so little regarded that until this century they were often excluded from Church membership rolls. No one knows with certainty how large some denominations were until recently, because they did not count women in their membership statistics.
Well into the twentieth century christian women were debarred from sitting on juries and were permitted only a few selected jobs, such as school teaching and nursing. Even these they were generally obliged to give up when they got married. Women were so little regarded that until this century they were often excluded from Church membership rolls. No one knows with certainty how large some denominations were until recently, because they did not count women in their membership statistics.
Christianity treatment of women..
Throughout their histories, the Churches have consistently opposed women's right to the franchise. Only after the Church's influence had seriously weakened did women obtain the vote. In England this happened in 1918, when the franchise was extended to women over the age of thirty. Even now women do not enjoy equality in all spheres of life. In England, for example, the taxation laws and laws of inheritance still discriminate against them. There are areas of Europe where traditional Christian values prevail and women were denied the vote until recent times*. There is one area in the European Community, Mount Athos in Greece, where for religious reasons women are not even permitted to set foot.
Throughout their histories, the Churches have consistently opposed women's right to the franchise. Only after the Church's influence had seriously weakened did women obtain the vote. In England this happened in 1918, when the franchise was extended to women over the age of thirty. Even now women do not enjoy equality in all spheres of life. In England, for example, the taxation laws and laws of inheritance still discriminate against them. There are areas of Europe where traditional Christian values prevail and women were denied the vote until recent times*. There is one area in the European Community, Mount Athos in Greece, where for religious reasons women are not even permitted to set foot.
The traditional position of the Church, that women were mere chattels of their husbands, was challenged by the usual selection of freethinkers such as Thomas Paine and Jeremy Bentham. The atheist Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792. Her husband, the philosopher William Godwin (1756-1836), was a campaigner for women's rights, and so was their atheist son-in-law, the poet Shelley. Other prominent proponents included the unbelieving Mary Anne Evans (1819-1880), whose pen name was George Eliot, and Harriet Law (1832-1897). The Utilitarian J. S. Mill launched the women's suffrage movement in England with a petition to the House of Commons on 7 th June 1866. He published The Subjection of Women in 1869. Other active campaigners included the atheists George Holyoake, Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant. In France the argument for women's rights was led by enemies of the Church like Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and the Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794), and much later in the USA by atheists like Ernestine Rose, Matilda Gage, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan Anthony.
In today, a disturbing number of xtian men, bolstered by Christian attitudes, still assume that they have the right to subjugate, abuse and beat their wives. A sociological study in 1962 revealed that religious orthodoxy was positively correlated with social conservatism on issues such as women's rights.
It is notable that the Church continued to discriminate against women for years after such discrimination was abandoned outside the Church. It was not until 1970 that a woman was authorised to teach Roman Catholic theology, and throughout the world Churches are still given exemption from sex discrimination legislation.
Senior Anglican clergymen could still be outraged in 1996 at the idea of a woman playing the part of God in the York Mystery Plays — denouncing it as paganism. Christian mainstream thought is now in the process of change. The more liberal sects have started ordaining women again, while the more traditional ones still hold out against it. For them feminism is little short of demonism.
It is notable that the Church continued to discriminate against women for years after such discrimination was abandoned outside the Church. It was not until 1970 that a woman was authorised to teach Roman Catholic theology, and throughout the world Churches are still given exemption from sex discrimination legislation.
Senior Anglican clergymen could still be outraged in 1996 at the idea of a woman playing the part of God in the York Mystery Plays — denouncing it as paganism. Christian mainstream thought is now in the process of change. The more liberal sects have started ordaining women again, while the more traditional ones still hold out against it. For them feminism is little short of demonism.
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