The Bible contains a series of verses that imply the subordination, inferiorization, and denigration of women,

Let’s begin with those that demand submission and obedience from the female gender to the male:

SUBORDINATION

Old Testament:

Genesis 3:16: man will dominate, he will be the master and lord of his wife, to use modern terms.

New Testament:

Romans 7:2, in which Saint Paul commands that women remain subject to their husbands as long as he lives.

Colossians 3:18: ditto.

Ephesians 5:22: Saint Paul says the same thing again, as he seems to have a genuine obsession with the submission of women to their husbands.

1 Peter 3:1, in which this time it is Saint Peter who says the same as Saint Paul and also how women should behave.

These ideas are not only characteristic of traditional Christianity but also of different religions and cultures created from a certain phase of the Neolithic period until the triumph of feminist ideas inherited from the Enlightenment. It was a widespread phenomenon, almost everywhere. And precisely the Middle East, where the Jewish tribes lived, was one of the first places where this process began.

Read LIVING WITHOUT HARM: Let us understand each religious precept within its historical context

Read HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT HARMING? Let’s reform the harmful part of religions

For most of our history, there were egalitarian bands of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers and also egalitarian agricultural villages in the early Neolithic period. But with population growth and the struggle for land between different villages, increasingly hierarchical, patriarchal, and abusive agricultural or pastoral societies emerged on all continents until the penetration of liberal ideas in the 19th century. It was a widespread phenomenon, almost everywhere. And precisely the Middle East, where the Jewish tribes lived, was one of the first places where this process began.

Therefore, the rational approach is to understand these Harmful Verses within that historical context, written by misogynistic authors imbued with the mentality of domination and ‘might is right’ typical of their time, and for whom it was convenient to have their wives subjected, rather than as the will of an equitable God.

INFERIORIZATION

New Testament:

1 Corinthians 11:2-10: since women are inferior to men, they must cover their heads or shave them in religious services. This is why many women still practice covering their heads when they visit the Pope.

Ecclesiastes 7:28: “Though I searched and searched, I found nothing; among a thousand, one upright man I found, but not one upright woman among them all.”

No comments are needed.

DENIGRATION

Old Testament:

Exodus 20:17: places women at the level of a mere object:

“17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Leviticus 21:13-14: a high priest must take a virgin as his wife and not a divorcee, prostitute, widow, or any other woman who has lost her virginity, as these are considered second-class. In contrast, there is never any mention of not marrying men who have lost their virginity: a double standard.

Isaiah 3:16-17.

Leviticus 15:19-20.

New Testament:

Corinthians 14:34-35: Saint Paul commands women to remain silent during mass and religious celebrations, and if they have any questions, to ask their husbands later at home.

Timothy 2:11-15: Saint Paul again commands them to keep their mouths shut, behaving as mere ornaments (to use modern terms), not permitting them to teach, as they are inferior to men, since God created Adam first, and furthermore, Eve committed a transgression, meaning that from that moment on all women must be degraded. However, their lives are saved if they remain in their role as good reproducers, and always silent, submissive, and with their heads bowed, as mere accessories to men and as mothers.

Not only should the Vatican and the authorities of other Christian denominations explicitly disauthorize and disapprove of the aforementioned Harmful Verses, but also Church Fathers, Doctors, and Saints such as the following:

Saint Augustine: “Woman is a stubborn ass, a terrible worm in the heart of man, daughter of lies, sentinel of hell, she has expelled Adam from Paradise.”

Saint John Chrysostom: “Woman is a mistake of nature, born from bad sperm.”

Saint Thomas Aquinas: “Men have broad shoulders and narrow hips. They are endowed with intelligence. Women have narrow shoulders and broad hips, to bear children and stay at home.”

And also the verses that authorize the rape and murder of women.

Read FOR A WORLD WITHOUT HARM: Let’s question the Old Testament passages that permit the rape and murder of women

Read THE ART OF LIVING WITHOUT HARM: Let us defend women’s rights

Read THE REVOLUTION OF LIVING WITHOUT HARMING: LGBTQ+

Thank you for sharing to end the scourge of machismo,