Christian women; why do you follow a sexist religion that's demeaning to your gender?

Question

"Women have been consistently robbed of our full dignity as friends of God and prophets, whether due to theories like Augustine's, who claimed a man taken alone was fully in the image of God, but a woman was fully in the image of God only when taken together with man who is her head; or philosophies like Aquinas' which argued that women are misbegotten males with weak minds and defective wills. Women have long been denied equality with men in access to sacred ties, places, actions and even identity.

The conclusion is that to be female is a handicap, but to be a sexually active woman renders one almost incapable of embodying the sacred. The few exceptions are queens. As a result, the history of women's holiness has been largely erased form the collective memory of Christianity."

-Sister Elizabeth Johnson

"Every aspect of the Christian faith is not just tainted but perverted by the evil of patriarchy. It is not that the tradition has some problems; the tradition is the problem."

-Sister Sandra Schneiders

Answer 1

Galatians 3:27-28 says
As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
Our differences don't make us greater or less -- we are all equal in Christ.

In the early church, women had a very active role. Paul, who is often portrayed as a misogynist, often greeted women in his letters, referring to them as leaders in the typically small churches of the time and commending them for their work.
Unfortunately, it wasn't long before a twisted view of sexuality crept into the teachings of some leaders, and these documents had a lasting and terrible effect on the status of women. Some of the major writers of the church, such as St. Augustine, had had educations heavily influenced by the Greek and Roman classics. This began a philosophical analysis of faith that was useful in some respects. However, students of this tradition also absorbed the Graeco-Roman attitude toward women. According to Plato, men were created directly from God, and therefore perfect. Women were created from men, and therefore, a degenerate form. As a believer in reincarnation, Plato believed that the most a woman can hope for is to be born again as a man (Timaeus). Aristotle viewed women as also being an imperfect form. In reproduction, he believed, the man produces the life substance and the woman is only a place to grow the child. If she were a complete person, she would be able to produce semen, not blood (Generation of Animals). Women, he said, were by nature inferior, otherwise they would not be subordinate to men. That's like saying, "It's no use sending you to school because you're stupid. You can't even read!"

So with this kind of education, plus a hyper-asceticism based on personal fears of temptation, these writers formulated some truly vicious opinions of women that became foundational in church teaching for hundreds of years. Despite what has gone on in history, I still look to the teachings of Jesus, who never paid attention to the cultural restrictions of his day, but dealt with women as intelligent, sensible, and valuable individuals. I have not read anything by Sister Elizabeth Johnson, but she sounds bitter. Remember she is dealing with The Church she is in, not with Christ.

Answer 2

I don't understand how you can come to the conclusion that Christianity is "sexist" based off of early Christian writings, rather than by using the Bible itself.

If anything, the Bible was pretty feministic for its time.
Read 1 Corinthians 7:3-5, Galatians 3:28, Romans 16, and 1 Corinthians 11:11,12 if you don't believe me. Also for your consideration, why was it WOMEN who found Jesus' empty tomb? Why was Jesus so kind to women?

It's true that some of the early church fathers were very sexist. But at first, the Christian church was NOT sexist at all!

Answer 3

What makes you think that Christianity is demeaning to women? God has used women like Esther, Ruth,Deborah and they did great things in the Bible. Let us not forget Mary the mother of Jesus.
I'm proud to be a Christian women and I fnd nothing demeaning about it.

Answer 4

Its a good idea to read the bible before saying that, because women are encouraged in the bible to be independant, to make money, to own land, as well as do all the other things that women are traditionally known to do. I don't find it demeaning at all, if you read the bible you'll see that women were loved very much, read the Song of Songs, and the last chapter in Proverbs.

Answer 5

According to the Bible, the woman was created as a help meet for man. The woman was created to give the man wholeness. The Bible says the only reason a man should leave his father and mother is to marry the woman he has chosen to be his wife.

The woman helps to make a man complete. The completeness depends on the womans outlook on the man, and the way that the man treats his wife.

Should the man mistreat his wife, it makes her job that God intended for her that much more difficult.

A woman that is raised according to the Bible, and marries the man that God has chosen for her, when the man looks good, does well in life, little thought goes towards the wife who helped to make this happen the way it should.

Just because others says that this is not right, does not mean that they are right. Only God's way is right.

Answer 6

Christianity doesn't demean women, it is Christians misapplication of Christ's principles that has resulted in these things.

Answer 7

Should they rather join you Marquise De Sade? Oh I forgot that's not demeaning.

Answer 8

Most religions are

Answer 9

Your misrepresentation of wisdom itself is demeaning ........

One needs to READ the TRUTH and
Rightly divide what it says...BUT
One must first
BELIEVE...