Showing posts with label polygamy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label polygamy. Show all posts

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Christianity Never Allowed Polygamy

So I have a passion for religions. I like to investigate their secular history and their actual teachings and the history behind the words in their religious books.
I also am a feminist and so I am interested in how women are treated and their response to their religion.
I have noticed a common theme amongst Muslim feminists that I simply must critique and correct. I continually read amongst Muslin feminists that Christianity somehow is pro-polygamy, that is somehow fine by scripture. This is simply not true. Christianity has never allowed polygamy and from the very first church leaders said polygamy was against the bible. I just think somewhere there should be a website that corrects this misconception. Listen, if you want to argue that your religion is for women's equality, fine go ahead, but don't do it by lying about mine.
For instance,
Mark 10:11 - 12: "He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her. If a woman herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery.""
This is pretty clear to me - marrying another woman is adultery. Now this is addressing adultery and when it does and does not occur, but by implication if a guy cannot marry a new woman without committing adultery against his first wife, then surely cannot marry a second wife while still married to the first one. (I am not commenting on appropriate grounds of divorce, because I am not 100% sure whether this condemns all divorce or if there are still grounds since we are "hard of heart")
Jesus in Mark also discusses the whole two become one thing. You know, when man and woman married Not 3 become 1 or 4 become 1, but 2 become 1. Pretty implicit in this is the fact that marriage is only between two people.

The earliest Christian leaders also condemned polygamy:
"Chapter II.-Marriage Lawful, But Not Polygamy. We do not indeed forbid the union of man and woman, blest by God as the seminary of the human race, and devised for the replenishment of the earth and the furnishing of the world, and therefore permitted, yet Singly. For Adam was the one husband of Eve, and Eve his one wife, one woman, one rib. (ANF: Tertullian, To His Wife c. 207)

At no time in all of Christian history was the Christian faith ever in favor of polygamy (there may have been crazy sects out there that did as there are crazy sects that do it today, but never in any accepted Christian form and never permitted under the teachings of Christ).

The honest fact is that Christ treated women equally. Any inequality in the Christian church does not stem from the words of Christ, but instead later followers of his, such as Paul. This is why I say that inneracy in terms of the new testament makes no sense. It seems quite obvious to me that the biases of Paul should not suppress the teachings of Christ which is what happens under the inneracy concept.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Disgusted by Texas

So the appellate judges in Texas decided that teaching girls that their only path to heaven is to submit to rape by an old creepy man with 10 other wives and teaching boys that it is their job to rape little girls and having a religious leader in jail for assisting in the rape of a 14 year old girl and living in an environment where it obvious that people are brainwashed was not enough of an imminent danger to remove all the kids.

So, according to the judge's reasoning, when little jane's sister is raped and beaten by her dad, jane can't be taken away, because there is no imminent danger to her. That is just stupid. Or when daddy dearest is a big old drug lord who deals drugs out of his house, protective services have no right to remove his kids. After all, the sect is breaking the law every day, yet somehow they should get to keep and abuse their kids?

Judges, you disgust me and I hope you can't sleep at night. When you pass on to your just desserts and go to those pearly gates, St. Peter will just shake his head in disgust and ask how could you do that to those kids? Do you have no common sense? And then likely contemplate kicking you on down to hell.

I'm going to pretty much say polygamy is wrong and is inherently abusive to the women and children living under it and that every second in this cult called FLDS puts the children under imminent danger, both physical and mental. If you say otherwise, I sincerely doubt your intelligence and am pretty sure I don't want you in my country.

I hope the Supreme Court of Texas is smarter than it's appeals court, because right now God is surely not blessing Texas.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

FLDS

So American Media is annoying me right now. Why because they are not blatently condemning the poylgamists at that crazy Yearning for Zion ranch in Texas.

Now, no one say religious freedom, because if you do, you are an idiot. Religious freedom only goes so far and anyone with sense should say that forcing 15 yr old girls to marry old men pretty much crosses the line. If you disagree, you may be too dumb to live. Just saying.

I have been following this story because to me it is a failure of America that we have allowed this exist in our midsts. We are allowing this child abuse to continue and we are excusing it. Just go see CNN's coverage of this. The last few days they have almost seemed to be garnering sympathy for these people, these people who are abusing children.
go to this site and read the captions for the pictures: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/12/polygamy.suspect/index.html

This is what America should be saying loud and clear (or at least something close to this great Texam quote):
“It's pretty jacked up, marrying those young kids,” Jason Evans said. “Down here in Texas, we feel the value of our daughters. I won't go so far as to say they [FLDS men] should be killed. But I do think they should be put in jail.”
http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_8908640

In the name of political correctness, we are allowing the ruin of these girls (and boys - search for FLDS lost boys) and the complete destruction of their innocence and any chance of choice these girls could have.

Any American that does not raise their voice in protest should be disgusted with themselves.

Now, I condemn polygamy in general since it inevitably leads to inequality in the marriage (here's a great example) and I am pretty sure that Christ would not be ok with it (I admit to a Christian theological bent, I am not ashamed - I did a lot of research of the scholarly persuasion into Christianity before I made my decision, much more than most atheist or "maybe there is some God out there" individuals have done in reaching their religious views), but even if you aren't opposed to polygamy (because, say, you give up personal morals in the name of being open-minded).

Anyway, my complaint today? Americans who aren't disgusted by the FLDS and their practices and every person of authority in areas near other compounds who aren't stepping up and crushing this practice.