“Man enjoys the great advantage of having a god endorse the code he writes; and since man exercises a sovereign authority over women it is especially fortunate that this authority has been vested in him by the Supreme Being.For the Jews, Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right; the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female.
–Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex 1949

Oh hi, and Happy Sunday! In light of the many outraged comments  I received following last week’s Sunday Thought postings, in which I suggested that I was an atheist because (in great part) religion has not a thing to offer me as a woman – I thought I would push forward and explain that a teensy bit for the women who insist that they are religious and feminist.

I am not gonna get into a big song and dance about this because the fact is, you can do your own (god) damn research and find out why it is that many feminists (certainly the ones I align with) have strong opinions about the incompatability of religion with women’s rights/emancipation. A good many of us would go as far to say that religion is incompatible with feminism and that to call ones self a “religious feminist”is a bit of an oxymoron at best.

How very dare I say this?!

Well, it’s not exactly rocket science how I get to there. Read your scriptures and carefully consider what they have to say about women. Not to pick on Christianity, which is no better or worse than any other religion, but I just happen to have a big ol list of  anti-women’s rights Christian scripture at hand…

“Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (I Timothy 2:11-14)

“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 everything.” (Ephesians 5:22-24)

“Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” (I Corinthians 14:34-35)

“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Genesis 3:16)

“Give me any plague, but the plague of the heart: and any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman.” (Eccles. 25:13)

“Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die.” (Eccles. 25:22)

“If she go not as thou wouldest have her, cut her off from thy flesh, and give her a bill of divorce, and let her go.” (Eccles. 25: 26)

“The whoredom of a woman may be known in her haughty looks and eyelids. If thy daughter be shameless, keep her in straitly, lest she abuse herself through overmuch liberty.” (Eccles. 26:9-10)

“A silent and loving woman is a gift of the Lord: and there is nothing so much worth as a mind well instructed. A shamefaced and faithful woman is a double grace, and her continent mind cannot be valued.” (Eccles. 26:14-15)

“A shameless woman shall be counted as a dog; but she that is shamefaced will fear the Lord.” (Eccles.26:25)

“For from garments cometh a moth, and from women wickedness. Better is the churlishness of a man than a courteous woman, a woman, I say, which bringeth shame and reproach.” (Eccles. 42:13-14)

I could go on and on and on indefinitely and if you don’t know where I am getting this shit from, flip open your bible ladies. I don’t care what you cherry pick for your “I choose my choice religion”…

… the only way I can see for a feminist  to be “religious”is to pick and choose, carefully, carefully mind you – which parts of their religion they are going to pay attention to.  There is something really wrong with people aligning with a religion, but only the parts of the religion that suit them, as tho the rest of their religion’s history, holy books, ideology, scripture and oh lets not forget deeds  etc don’t really matter.  Whilst I can appreciate that you personally choose to disregard the nastier bits of your religious belief system – fact is those bits don’t evaporate just cuz you choose your choice not to notice them, Ostrich Lady.

In fact, even tho you personally might not be practicing the nastier bits of your religion, someone out there may very well be. Let me dredge up an example with all the bullshit that is going on, in the U.S about the right wing, religious fundamentalist crusade against women’s reproductive freedoms. [We all know that bullshit is not limited to the U.S, all countries have some version of it going on, it's just so freakishly evident right now in the states].

Let’s look at how choose your choice religion looks in practice by having a gander at the Methodist Church.

Looks pretty progressive eh? Well done Methodists, except the majority of Methodists are extremely unhappy with this group’s leftist, abortion loving antics [Shameful United Methodism] So certain individuals may well lean toward progressive political and personal ideology, but it does not mean that they are in fact supported by their religion to do so. Cherry picking pisses ‘real’ religious folk off, and understandably so, no one likes a fence sitter.

You don’t get to be “in religion, but not really” or “out of religion, but not quite”- not in my feminism, and probably not in your religion either. The status of women is not equal to men in religious texts, theology or practice.

Some feminists are gonna make it okay for women to say they are religious feminists. Women (feminists) such as Julie Burchill, who calls herself  a Christian Zionist, a Christian feminist and a Christian socialist, put forth the arguement that it is quite possible to be both religious and feminist [ For the Love of Christ]. Whilst other women (feminists) like Cath Elliot vehemently disagree [I'm Not Praying]. You’ll have to decide where you sit in terms of the debate, the logic and your feminism.

I make zero apology that my feminism aligns more closely with Cath Elliot’s feminism, and not a bit toward Julie Burchill’s – and I am 100% okay with that. Liberal feminism is largely a cop-out in my books, and I am not terribly interested “choose my choice”religion – and as I said last week, religion does nothing for women and that is one of the BIG reasons why I am an Atheist.

God does not serve me. Religion does not serve me. I do not serve god (any god) or any religion.

“Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians” - Pat Robertson (evangelist, Republican broadcaster — and all round idiot)

I choose my choice.