How can any female support religion?

Question

Every religion I have read about is sexist. Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism...
how can any self respecting female support what they say about us?
In the old testament it says that when a woman has her period she is unclean and must be segregated from the main family ( they say we are unlean - LIKE PIGS!!!!)
Even the Buddha says that when a monk asks a nun for her daily food that she has begged for she has to give it to him, but not the other way round.
I'm not gonna bother with Islam we all know what they think of women....
Pretty much all religions agree that we are either the property of our father or husband or failing that our sons!!

NICK L. I don't want your forgiveness, shove it where the sun don't shine.
Rig Veda 8:33:17 "Lord Indra himself has said, 'the mind of woman cannot be disciplined; she has very little intelligence."
I know there are many goddesses in hinduism its probably least sexist, I love Kali pictures, she looks amazing, but it still places women below men. And the stories they tell are full of women making themselves subservient. Hinduism is SEXIST

To all the muslims who answered: the women may be safe but ARE THEY FREE?sounds like slavery to me...

Christianity:
If the bible does say nice things about women too, then isn't it just contradicting itself? We can't all be worthless whores and jezebels in one book and then loved "like a church" in another. Doesn't make any sense at all. Is it ok to pick and choose which parts you want to believe in?

acacia: u r wrong, many indigenous religions have goddesses

And something else for all the hindus:
"At the present time around 2000 abandoned widows live in Varansi....A 1999 study shows that young widows are likely to be sexually exploited."
Thats from the bbc website under hinduism - issues. Please go read it if you believe in hinduism.
I think its fair to say I'm winning the argument so far ... but come back at me if you've got anything...anything at all, hehehe

grisgris:
cheers looks interesting so far...

Answer 1

Religions are sexist because they adopt the practices/bigotry/racism of their times - none of them were wildly out of sync or they wouldnt have survived. Religion is xreated by people and as such are inconsistent, incoherent and usually bound by the strictures of their time and environment. Why anyone follows this claptrap is beyond me - just to make you feel part of a bigger group - the Bible is also racist, condones slavery, and bigotted - its not just anti feminist (which it is).

PS why do Christinas keep using cringeworthy statements like - 'having let Jesus Christ into their life' - normal people do not speak like that....

Answer 2

Well I am Buddhist and my teacher told me that men and women are the same and happiness is more important. If you are not happy then what does your gender matter. He also affirmed that women should have the right to spiritual practice just like men. It was why I decided to follow him for the rest of my life.
Anyway, to explain Buddhism, Buddha said it is your choice to belief.
During His time India was a country where women were discriminated to the extremes. They had no spiritual rights and their only salvation was through their husbands and sons.
Buddha's recognition of women into the Sangha was a bold move greatly criticised by the society of his time. He openly stated that women could attain Enlightenment. He put the nuns behind the monks possibly as a traditional measure but it greatly elevated the status of women in India. At least they became humans.
Although most Buddhist scriptures are men-oriented and some are discriminative to women they were not written by the Buddha but by disciples (esp the elaborations) who possibly still contain tradional bias.
If somebody were to tell me I am only a woman how could I achieve anything I would feel pity for that person's narrow heart. It is their spiritual obstacle to hold such a view.

Answer 3

I understand what you mean, a lot of montheistic religions are sexist, and some of the polytheistic ones as well. I am a Witch, mainly eclectic wiccan, and in wicca/witchcraft things are very different. In fact, there is a branch of wicca that is very female centred, only believing in the Goddess as opposed to both the Goddess and God as equals.

As for women in Islam having to cover up to stop rapes from men, that is what I like to call a 'cop out'. It's B*****ks. Do these men have no self control? Do they think that if they see a woman in a skirt or with their hair uncovered, that something will snap in their brains and they will be unable to contain their c**ks?! Rubbish!

Why do people seem to think that women are weaker than men? Why do we have to submit to men? For our own protection? I don't think so! We are just as capable at most everything that men are, so I don't see why we should need mens protection, guidance and support. We should be equal to men, and nothing less.

Answer 4

I am a Christian, and although I don't deny that these words exist in the Bible and other religious books, I relize that these books are historical documents that mirror the age in which they were written. People support organized religion for a host of reasons. I support organized christianity becasue 1) it teaches that people should love and respect one another and 2) it gives people an opportunity to work together toward productive causes......My church is with the times and does not use the words of the Bible to oppress women. Not all churches do that, and not all women are blessed with the ability to choose their own faith. I can tell that you are an educated and thoughtful person......why don't you use your time and talents toward a cause that helps fight the oppression of women, and encourage others like yourself to do the same?

Answer 5

As a female christian, i have to say you picked a bad example of what it means to follow Jesus. I'm pretty sure nobody thinks of a woman as 'unclean' once a month nowadays. I used to be a feminist, man hater, but once I had been called by God I had to look at what that meant.
Jesus loved women. The first person He revealed His messiah-ship to was a woman. He had women amongst His followers. He went against the culture of His time in these things.
God created us equal but different. The submission we show our spouses is very clearly a mutual thing. The only reason men are to make the final decision in important matters (after discussing it with their wives) is because someone has to have responsibility, if you don't agree on it. The man is then judged as responsible for the decision he makes, leaving the woman clear of that responsibility. It's a protection thing, so we don't face God on those decisions. I'm glad of that protection! My hubby isn't following God at the moment which means that I have the right to call myself the spiritual head of the family in his place, so even this isn't entirely a male domain.
Women in my church run house groups (I did it on my own for 2 years), are allowed to preach, and can do anything a man can do within our own resources. Try looking deeper at things instead of making a generalisation based on Old Testament laws.

Answer 6

Have you looked into the LDS church, Our women are part of the Largest Female society in the world. The Relief Society was created so the women of the church could have callings in the church, in the Early years of the church the gave up their Fine China to help with the construction of the Temple, they also had bake sales and other events to raise money for penny nails.

Today the Relief Society helps with creating care packages to send over seas to those who need it to doing a lot of great good. If asked I'm sure that any of the Sisters would tell you that it is a great Society to belong to.

Answer 7

.... after the creation of Eve, one woman ... God said the universe was VERY GOOD.

Eve was the first defender of the faith
The Egyptian midwives the first righteous act of civil disobedience to save the baby boys from Pharoah
The daughters of Zelopphehad the first successful legal challenge in the Bible, and God told Moses these gals were right!!!
The loyalty of Ruth foreshadows the loyalty of Jesus, the fried who sticks closer than a brother
The heroics of Esther as she put herself unde rthe curse of the law going before the King illegally which carried a death penatly foreshadowed Jesus putting himself under the curse of the law on the cross
and lets not forget... that proverbs 31 woman .. who is a super mom, business woman and lover of God
AND the affadavets of Mary to the writer LUke, aka the gospel of Luke "and mary treasure these things in her heart" Luke largely records the eyewitness testimony of Mary about the birth of Jesus and is also considered the Lady's home journal of the gospels having more stories about women than the other gospels
in any case, unclean may mean "cerimonially" unclean and does not imply a moral problem or that someoen is somehow lesser

Answer 8

Religions seem to have been devised to supress the ignorant. Woman carry children and many of the religions seem to tie women to men for survival.

In this day and age we are better educated and can decide what we want to do with our lives.

Religion is there for the people who seem not to be able to survive without a guide book whether its the Bible, the Koran or the Torah We have evolved and so thankfully have women.....You can still believe in God but you do not need a religion to tell you how to live your life.......unless you really need one.

Answer 9

Great Question....

I just read the answer from G@ng$ter regarding Islam. I have to say I have never heard so much cr*p for a long time. This guy actually believes that women are forced to cover up to protect them from being raped (by Muslim men one would presume).

Also, Muslim men can marry 4 women and this is also to prevent rape and adultery. So basically he's saying that if they only had one wife they (Muslim men) would all be going around raping and committing adultry and it would not be their fault. It's because they haven't got enough wives.

I am appalled...

Answer 10

You are looking at the worst of examples, which involves extremism, and Islam still evolves around 7th Century practices.

At the other end of the extreme, however, is feminism, which is just as ugly, in my opinion and would burn men if it had the opportunity. That is like a religion, of sorts, but it doesn't represent what real women stand for.

You don't really need a formal religion, however, if you live by faith and common sense.