More Variations on a Theme

I've been writing about the state of human knowledge based on a post from Forest Wisdom. Utilizing this same vehicle, I will now use Lorena's On Leaving Fundamentalist Christianity: "It's Official: God & Allah Hate Women" as my next springboard.

An article from the UK’s Guardian, God is merciful, but only if you're a man, reminded me of the subservient role women played in the fundamentalist Christian churches I came to know as a believer.

The article cites current instances from the three Abrahamic religions which clearly show how females are still deemed inferior in such circles.

"The truth is that the God many people believe in - whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish - hates women. Take America's Southern Baptist Convention, which declares in its faith and mission statement: "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband." That's fair enough, isn't it? After all, he's probably stronger than she is."

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the Abrahamic religions is that all three were created by members of the MALE gender. I think this goes a long way toward explaining why it was written that MEN are created in the image of God (who -- surprise, surprise -- also happens to be a fella) and why woman was created FROM a man, not independently. By utilizing the literary devise of woman's being be borne from part of the male body (his rib), it placed the fairer sex in an eternally submissive position.

I've often thought about how these three religions might have been different IF women, not men, were the drivers behind their creation. For starters, I seriously doubt there would be one singular Heavenly Father. Women tend to be the ones in a family that try to bring everyone together (utilizing the stereotypical mothering function), so my guess is that a woman-infused religious system would have created a heavenly couple, Mr & Mrs. God or the Heavenly Father and Mother.

Since women, not men, bring new life into the world via the womb, it's hard for me to imagine a woman-infused religion creating the tragic figure of Jesus dying on the cross to save the world from sin. Most of the mothers I know would throw themselves in front of a bus in order to save their child EVEN if that child happens to be a rapist or a murderer. It's just the maternal instinct to want to shield your child from harm.

If the same type of story had been created, I would think they would have had Mother Mary sacrificing herself for her beloved son, Jesus (and the rest of us).

But the real difference that I believe would have been wrought by a woman-generated religion is that peace, not war, would have been the central premise. While the male-infused Bible does mention peace from time to time, violence, vengeance and retribution get a lot more ink. While the Heavenly Father can certainly exude mercy, he's a lot more likely to mete out punishment. He seems to exhibit an overabundance of killer testosterone!

Anyway, this is all merely my own conjecture. What's yours?