Christianity has often been called a misogynistic religion. And with good cause. I feel that the bible's stance on the rights and role of women is best illustrated by the following passage.

1 Timothy 2:11-15 "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be restored through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."

Translation: Shut the fuck up, keep out of my way, and spread your legs. This one came from Paul, one of the Apostles, and one of Jesus’ most devoted followers. True, this is an extreme example, and one which doesn't come from Jesus himself, but it's certainly not contradicted by anything else in the bible, and supported by a great deal. Let's start at the beginning...

Genesis 4:16 "To the woman he said "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

Pretty much right off the bat, women are to be ruled by men, and while we're at it, let's not forget to mention that 'greatly increased' pain. It's clear here that god isn't too happy with womankind. And why? Well, it has something to do with Eve listening to a serpent.

Genesis 3:1-6 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."

And who was that serpent? Let's come back to that later. For the time being, let's get back to that childbirth thing.

Leviticus 12:1-6 "The Lord said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding".

What's most interesting here is not that childbirth is considered an "unclean" act, nor even that the woman isn't even allowed to have anything to do with god during this whole vile process. What's most interesting is that it's more unclean to produce a female child than a male child; the very act of bringing a female into the world makes it an offence against god.

As for sexuality in and of it's self, it's interesting to note that when the issue of what sexual practices are acceptable, only one rule applies equally to men and women...

Leviticus 18:23 " 'Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion."

Okay, this one is actually fairly logical, for either gender. But it's re-hashed just two chapters later...

Leviticus 20:16 " 'If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."

... with a death threat. But even that's not so shocking, really. God wants you to kill people for all kinds of things. The entire rest of this section is laws specifically for men. Lest you believe that this is because women have more freedom than men do in this area, though, let me point out that there's a separate section for this subject.

Deuteronomy 22:13, 20-21 "If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her 14 and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, "I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity. If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you."

Let me begin by wondering out loud about how "proof of the girl's virginity" would be established. This seems like a great way for the ancient Israelites to practice the "fuck 'er and chuck 'er" manoeuvre. Let me go on to point out that this policy is NOT limited to women who've given up their virginity willingly.

Leviticus 22:23-24 "If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death-the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help"

And thus the fate of a woman who's about to be married before she's raped. What about one who hasn't found a man to obey and serve yet, though?

Deuteronomy 22:28-29 "If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl".

Lucky girl! What a catch! Bet she'll just be floating on cloud nine come wedding day.

Let's move forwards a bit further. As we learned in Study #3, only men with intact penises get into heavan. Their wives get left behind, as Jesus pointedly points out when he's asked about wives in heavan.

Matthew 22:30 "At the ressurection, people will niether marry nor be given in marriage"

And we all know what happens to people in the end if they're not among god's chosen few...

Revelation 20:15 "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Okay, now that we've covered a lot of the specifics of god's strong dislike for women, let's look at some seeming incongruities of the bible and put them into a historical context for the sake of clarity.

Genesis 1:26-27 "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

Genesis 11:7 "Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

So. Who was god talking to in these passages? Who is included in his "one of us" list? Some bible scholars have suggested that it's the whole Father-Son-Holy Ghost trinity thing. But that's nonsense; he doesn't talk about himself in the plural again after genesis. Although not long after genesis, another figure DOES pop up in the bible...

Exodus 34:13-14 "Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the Lord , whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."

Asherah poles are the sites of worship for the goddess Asherah. In modern-day versions of the bible, this is the first of many, many, many times she's mentioned in passing. The first time god demonstrates his seething hatred of her and all who would worship her. An interesting historical fact regarding Asherah: Her Asherah poles were wooden staffs... intertwined with Serpents.

Fun fact: Not too long ago, an ancient hebrew temple was unearthed. It seemed to be from around the 6th or 7th century BCE. There were many finds of interest, of course, but the most interesting one of all is that the temples worshipped Jehovah (the proper name of the hebrew/jewish/christian god), and his wife. Asherah.

Okay, indulge me here. Check this out.

Once upon a time, there was a book, and in it, there was a passage which could have been translated into English as

Then Jehovah said to Asherah , "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So Jehovah and Asherah created man in their own images, in the image of themselves they created them; male and female they created them.

Catch my drift? Keep reading.

Now Asherah, as the serpent, was more crafty than any of the wild animals Jehovah had made, for he had not made her. She said to the woman, "Did Jehovah really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but Jehovah did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die. "You will not surely die," Asherah said to the woman. "For Jehovah knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like us, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."

And Jehovah said to Asherah, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

Does it begin to become a little bit clearer, now, where the misogyny innate to christtianity comes from? At one time, they had a god and a goddess, and at some point, there was a schism, and the goddess was written out of their holy books, and all of her temples were destroyed. It smacks of a political move, geared towards asserting male supremacy to me.

And I know I'm not alone in this thought. Don't take my word for it. Search out the name "Asherah on the web, and you will find a great deal of support for this idea. Search through the bible for references to "The Queen of Heavan", and you'll see more references to this character.

Now, I'm not saying Asherah ever actually existed any more than I'm saying that god does or did. All I'm saying is it becomes a bit more clear in this light why only men with intact penises who have never touched a woman are allowed into heavan according to the bible, and why Deuteronomy and Joshua tell stories of entire cultures being exterminated; men, women, and children. It's all about eliminating the idea that women have any importance in the grand scheme of things, or that they have any representation in heavan. It's all about affirming women as nothing but slaves. And that's just sick.