Tuesday, December 23, 2008

One Half of the World

A consistent proof that religion is man-made and anthropomorphic can also be found in the fact that it is usually "man" made, in the sense of masculine, as well. The holy book in the longest continuous use -- the Talmud -- commands the observant one to thank his maker every day that he was not born a woman...The Old Testament, as Christian condescendingly call it, has woman cloned from man for his use and comfort. The New Testament has Saint Paul expressing both fear and contempt for the female. Throughout all religious texts, there is a primitive fear that half the human race is simultaneously defiled and unclean, and yet is also a temptation to sin that is impossible to resist.
from "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchens
I agree wholeheartedly with the above sentiment! For me, ANY belief system that denigrates and seeks to subjugate the female gender is suspect. More importantly, if there IS a God, I would bet it's far more likely that it's a She not a he.

2 comments:

  1. Put me down for agreement with this Hitchens quotation as well.

    But...

    What makes you think that IF there is a God that such a "being" would necessarily even have "gender" as we know and understand it?

    ;)

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  2. Oooh, you caught me being a tad bit lazy! I didn't phrase that particular sentence very well. I meant to say that if there is a God and that being is defined by gender, then it would strike me that it would be more likely female than male.

    That said, why limit a being of that magnitude by something as parochial as gender?

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