Comments on: Eve’s Bible

By: Interesting posts, weekend of 8/23 « Feminists with Female Sexual Dysfunction

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:24:58 +0000

[...] Eve’s Bible – because I am one of those people who “wanted to read the Bible, but…’” [...]

By: Napalm Nacey

Napalm Nacey — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:04:42 +0000

It’s cool, sotonohito. I’m sorry if I sounded snippy. I was probably a bit sensitive as I’ve had a bit of a shit end of the week. (Things are improving now, thanks be to my God). And everything that Hannah and Rored said in their comments, I echo. I believe in love and forgiveness, and I don’t really require other people to believe in a God that goes with that. Just as long as they believe in the love and forgiveness part, which is central to Jesus’ message. Which, strangely, most fundies and right-wing nuts tend to forget.

By: Rored5

Rored5 — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:53:08 +0000

As someone who was raised fairly non-religious I often attended different churches in my area to try to understand the whole “Christian” thing. By the time I attended college I was “sprititual; but not religious.” I would tell anyone who would listen that “Christianity” (the version I had been exposed to) was something I couldn’t reconcile as a feminist.
I ended up at an ELCA Lutheran college (random event) and one of my first classes was taught by a wonderful, feminist Quaker who opened my eyes to so much of what is believed to be true or interpreted as true from the Old Testament – isn’t.
Then, I got into it; and I took some wonderful New Testament courses (taught by yet another wonderful, feminist Lutheran Pastor) who helped me see what I consider to be the true message of Jesus. He was a political radical whose prevailing message was that every human being was equal. He chose to worship with those women who weren’t allowed to worship; so he did it in their homes. He associated with the “unpure” of his time (in modern day parlance that’s anyone who’se not a rich, healthy white male in the U.S.) and he stood up against the prevailing governmental power to his own detriment. As a feminist I can definately get behind those ideals.
Paul took it farther by entering Gentiles into the group in which he believed Jesus included. Are there some truly anti-feminist sentiments in the NT? Yes, but many, if not most or all, are believed by a predominant percentage of scholars to not be attributable to Paul (or whichever author the individual book is attributed to).
So, I actually became more religious. I realized that yes, I could support this God as my own, because the patriarchal BS I was previously taught as “God’s Law” was just that; patriarchal BS. I now attend a church whose pastor is a woman and whose main message and motivator is to include all members of the community (the mission speaks specifically to the LBGT community) in worship. It’s hard for me to find as much inclusion anywhere as I do at worship Sunday mornings.

By: hannah

hannah — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:29:59 +0000

I also think people kind of miss the point when they try to define Christianity by the old testament. The Old Testament isn’t what Christianity is about. it’s like the setup for what comes in the new testament, which is supposed to also be the New Covenant. The Gospels are much more important, in my opinion, to the heart of Christianity than anything in the Old Testament is.

By: hannah

hannah — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:26:54 +0000

“but it was something that really opened my eyes about how incredibly flimsy Christianity is at its core”

wow, Shah8, honestly, how are you able to say that? First of all, if you were attacking any other religion in a thread like this, there would be outrage. but naturally, christianity is an easy and safe target, I suppose.

And really, you think the concept of love and forgiveness is flimsy? how interesting…

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:30:03 +0000

I don’t think that’s what I said. It certainly isn’t what I meant to say.

I said that *to me* it seemed almost oxymoronical, and then observed that obviously that wasn’t the case for many people. My intent was to try to understand why some feminists are involved in, and attracted to, religions that to me as an outsider seem almost wholly antithetical to the very concept of feminism.

I was hoping for some insight, not trying to attack.

By: Online Book Store and News - In the News: Tokyopop Complete, Surrender of Le Bibliothèque,

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:47:46 +0000

[...] Bible might be written by men for men, but women can benefit if they take what they need and “let go of the [...]

By: Napalm Nacey

Napalm Nacey — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:18:30 +0000

Wow. I love being told I’m a crappy feminist because I believe in a certain spirituality. Thanks! :I

By: The Non-Student

The Non-Student — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:20:35 +0000

Excellent review. I would recommend Mary Farrel Bednarwoski’s book “Religious Imagination of American Women” as she discusses in great detail the situation of “creative ambivalence” in which women disagree with dynamics of their faith community yet find ways to resist and participate in new creative ways.

Re: Torri, there was/is a movement of post-Vatican II Catholic women called WomenChurch in which they did just that. I can understand your confusion about feminists “bending over backwards, ” espeically as you see it through the lens of an atheist, but for many of us who consider ourselves people of faith, it is a necessity to reconcile faith and feminism as they are equally valuable to us.

Not to whine, but is hard to be a feminist and claim a faith tradition because neither group seems to understand the dual identity. But there are lots of us!

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:47:49 +0000

I suppose its an example of white privilege, but I do ask honestly: why would one *want* to connect to a culture that is largely about keeping them down?

Given that Judaism, like Christianity, is largely about giving women the short end of the stick, why the effort to connect with it?

To me “feminist [insert any religion here]” sounds almost oxymoronical, though obviously that isn’t the case for many people. I’ll concede that as one of the awful New Atheists I’m fairly hostile towards religion in general, but I’m especially baffled by those who seek out a religion, or a religious based culture, that seems designed with the intent of demeaning and harming them.

Obviously I’m missing something.