Sunday, July 7, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
History of the Theft of Palestine and the Jewish Invention of Modern Terrorism
They, the Jews, were the first to use terrorism in recorded
history and are responsible for inventing terrorism in modern history in
Palestine, the Middle East.
According to terrorismresearch.com :
“The earliest known organization that exhibited aspects of a modern terrorist organization was the Zealots of Judea. Known to the Romans as SICARII,, or dagger-men , they carried on an underground campaign of assassination of Roman occupation forces, as well as any Jews they felt had collaborated with the Romans”.
In the 20th Century it was the Jewish terrorist groups the Irgun, led by future Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner Menachem Begin, and the Stern Gang led by Yitzhak Shamir, another future Israeli Prime Minister that introduced terrorism in Palestine, the Middle East, and Europe.
“The IZL [Irgun] and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window smashing, and widespread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute”.
(also lists several Jewish terrorist acts)
–Guardian, “Early Zionist Terrorist Gangs”
Photos of the Wanted Terrorists Menachem Begin on the left and Yitzhak Shamir on the right by British police.
[........]
Among the terrorist acts first introduced in the Middle East by Jewish Terrorist Groups and Israel are:
“Dismiss all the ‘phobia’ and babble against terror with simple,
obvious arguments.” “Neither Jewish morality nor Jewish tradition can be
used to disallow terror as a means of war,” he wrote, and “We are very far
from any moral hesitations when concerned with the national struggle.”
“First and foremost, terror is for us a part of the political war
appropriate for the circumstances of today, and its task is a major one: it
demonstrates in the clearest language, heard throughout the world including
by our unfortunate brethren outside the gates of this country, our war
against the occupier.”
These Zionist terrorists including David Ben Gurion, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Chaim Weizman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, and including Benjamin Netanyahu, learned and adopted the terror tactics of the French Revolution of the 1790’s imposed by the blood thirsty leader Maximilien Robespierre who initiated a “Reign of Terror” (that’s the origin of the word “terrorism”) upon the French people for the slightest of infractions perceived as a threat to the revolution, even for calling a man and woman, Monsieur and Madame respectively. He would round up men, owmen, and children and have them beheaded.
Robespierre spoke of a revolution based on VIRTUE and he proclaimed that in order to establish such in the French Republic he famously said: “Virtue without Terror is Powerless”.
Such is the case in the rogue state of Israel that proclaims democracy, equality, respect for human rights, the “most moral army in the world”, and of high virtue. But like Robespierre, in Israel, these valued virtues are imposed by the gun, by TERROR upon the imprisoned, occupied, tortured, besieged, and routinely imprisoned and murdered Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories.
To the early Zionists, Israeli leaders, and the powerful Jewish Zionists that dominate western governments DEATH AND TERROR are the OPIUM of their rule.
Hypocrisy and justification of terrorism prompted Albert Einstein and several prominent Jewish Americans to write a Letter to New York Times on December 4, 1948 opposing Menachem Begin’s visit to the U.S. and accusing him and his party of “Fascism”
Einstein called the Begin’s Irgun “a terrorist right wing, chauvinistic organization” that stood for,” ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority”. He added that his movement, the Irgun, amounted to “a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and the British) and misrepresentation are means and a “leader state” is the goal”.
TheBritish Video below shows how the Zionist terrorist groups, the Irgun and Stern, invented modern terroristic methods into the Middle East. The most important terrorist act the Irgun committed was the car bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem that served as the British headquarters killing 91 people and injuring 46. Many terrorist groups from then on adopted the method of car bombs to attack people and facilities they deemed as enemies.
Jewish terrorists introduced to the world a new tactic and means of terrorism.
King David Hotel Bombing - Jews invented modern terrorism
Billions of people around the world demand the immediate end to Israel’s brutal terroristic and murderous occupation of the Palestinian Territories, currently comprising only 12% of their original homeland. The Palestinians in 1988 recognized Israel and agreed to surrender the 78% of Palestine Israel forcibly stole from them in 1948 – 1949, , prior to the 1967 war and total occupation of Palestine. Israel as expected refused this recognition as it refused the 2002 Arab Peace Plan agreed to by all Arab States that they will establish peace and normal relations with Israel in exchange for Israel’s total withdrawal from occupied Palestinian Land, East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights, and Lebanese land.
Israel has been demanding such a peace proposal for decades and when it was offered it rejected it out of hand and demanded the U.S. do the same which of course it complied.
Former U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan said: “The whole world is demanding that Israel withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories. I don’t think the whole world… can be wrong.”
Rather than more words on the creation of Israel and the resulting ethnic cleansing, multiple massacres, destruction of 500 Palestinian villages and much more, it is more effective to provide images, videos, and films to convey the message.
I urge and ask you to please watch the following three Videos for their vital message and enormous educational value.
The First Video is entitled: “Occupation 101″, an excellent overview of the history and issue of the Theft of Palestine. If you only can watch just one video on the issue please watch this one although the third video on peace and propaganda is vitally important to understand how the U.S. Media covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or as is usually the case it does not at all, after all the Jewish owned and run media can’t afford to shoot itself in its Zionist kosher funded foot.
Occupation 101 - The truth about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
[FULL STORY AT VETERANSTODAY.COM]
According to terrorismresearch.com :
“The earliest known organization that exhibited aspects of a modern terrorist organization was the Zealots of Judea. Known to the Romans as SICARII,, or dagger-men , they carried on an underground campaign of assassination of Roman occupation forces, as well as any Jews they felt had collaborated with the Romans”.
In the 20th Century it was the Jewish terrorist groups the Irgun, led by future Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner Menachem Begin, and the Stern Gang led by Yitzhak Shamir, another future Israeli Prime Minister that introduced terrorism in Palestine, the Middle East, and Europe.
“The IZL [Irgun] and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window smashing, and widespread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute”.
(also lists several Jewish terrorist acts)
–Guardian, “Early Zionist Terrorist Gangs”
Photos of the Wanted Terrorists Menachem Begin on the left and Yitzhak Shamir on the right by British police.
Among the terrorist acts first introduced in the Middle East by Jewish Terrorist Groups and Israel are:
- First use of car and truck bombs to kill civilians in open areas.
- First to use a car bomb to blow up a building: King David Hotel in Jerusalem
- First to assassinate a U.N. Official: Count Folke Bernadotte serving as a Peace Mediator between Jews and Arabs. Killed in 1948 by the Stern (Yitzhak Shamir) terrorist group in Jerusalem.
- First to assassinate a foreign government official, Lord Moyne, British Minister to the Middle East in 1944 in Cairo. Killed by the Stern Gang.
- First to use letter bombs sent to British officials in London after failed terrorist bombs and assassination plans. In 1947, 20 letter bombs were sent to leading figures in Britain including Lord Ernest Bevin, UK Foreign Minister, and Anthony Eden, his Tory predecessor
- First to Hijack a civilian airliner in December 1954 forcing it to land in Tel Aviv. Israel kept the passengers and crew hostage for several days.
- First deliberate shooting down of a civilian airliner, Libyan, by Israeli jet fighters in February 1973 under direct orders of P.M. Golda Meir killing all 107 passengers and the entire French crew.
- In 1968, Israeli commanders blew up 13 civilian airliners in Beirut airport Lebanon.
“Dismiss all the ‘phobia’ and babble against terror with simple,
obvious arguments.” “Neither Jewish morality nor Jewish tradition can be
used to disallow terror as a means of war,” he wrote, and “We are very far
from any moral hesitations when concerned with the national struggle.”
“First and foremost, terror is for us a part of the political war
appropriate for the circumstances of today, and its task is a major one: it
demonstrates in the clearest language, heard throughout the world including
by our unfortunate brethren outside the gates of this country, our war
against the occupier.”
These Zionist terrorists including David Ben Gurion, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Chaim Weizman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, and including Benjamin Netanyahu, learned and adopted the terror tactics of the French Revolution of the 1790’s imposed by the blood thirsty leader Maximilien Robespierre who initiated a “Reign of Terror” (that’s the origin of the word “terrorism”) upon the French people for the slightest of infractions perceived as a threat to the revolution, even for calling a man and woman, Monsieur and Madame respectively. He would round up men, owmen, and children and have them beheaded.
Robespierre spoke of a revolution based on VIRTUE and he proclaimed that in order to establish such in the French Republic he famously said: “Virtue without Terror is Powerless”.
Such is the case in the rogue state of Israel that proclaims democracy, equality, respect for human rights, the “most moral army in the world”, and of high virtue. But like Robespierre, in Israel, these valued virtues are imposed by the gun, by TERROR upon the imprisoned, occupied, tortured, besieged, and routinely imprisoned and murdered Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories.
To the early Zionists, Israeli leaders, and the powerful Jewish Zionists that dominate western governments DEATH AND TERROR are the OPIUM of their rule.
Hypocrisy and justification of terrorism prompted Albert Einstein and several prominent Jewish Americans to write a Letter to New York Times on December 4, 1948 opposing Menachem Begin’s visit to the U.S. and accusing him and his party of “Fascism”
Einstein called the Begin’s Irgun “a terrorist right wing, chauvinistic organization” that stood for,” ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority”. He added that his movement, the Irgun, amounted to “a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and the British) and misrepresentation are means and a “leader state” is the goal”.
TheBritish Video below shows how the Zionist terrorist groups, the Irgun and Stern, invented modern terroristic methods into the Middle East. The most important terrorist act the Irgun committed was the car bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem that served as the British headquarters killing 91 people and injuring 46. Many terrorist groups from then on adopted the method of car bombs to attack people and facilities they deemed as enemies.
Jewish terrorists introduced to the world a new tactic and means of terrorism.
King David Hotel Bombing - Jews invented modern terrorism
Billions of people around the world demand the immediate end to Israel’s brutal terroristic and murderous occupation of the Palestinian Territories, currently comprising only 12% of their original homeland. The Palestinians in 1988 recognized Israel and agreed to surrender the 78% of Palestine Israel forcibly stole from them in 1948 – 1949, , prior to the 1967 war and total occupation of Palestine. Israel as expected refused this recognition as it refused the 2002 Arab Peace Plan agreed to by all Arab States that they will establish peace and normal relations with Israel in exchange for Israel’s total withdrawal from occupied Palestinian Land, East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights, and Lebanese land.
Israel has been demanding such a peace proposal for decades and when it was offered it rejected it out of hand and demanded the U.S. do the same which of course it complied.
Former U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan said: “The whole world is demanding that Israel withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories. I don’t think the whole world… can be wrong.”
Rather than more words on the creation of Israel and the resulting ethnic cleansing, multiple massacres, destruction of 500 Palestinian villages and much more, it is more effective to provide images, videos, and films to convey the message.
I urge and ask you to please watch the following three Videos for their vital message and enormous educational value.
The First Video is entitled: “Occupation 101″, an excellent overview of the history and issue of the Theft of Palestine. If you only can watch just one video on the issue please watch this one although the third video on peace and propaganda is vitally important to understand how the U.S. Media covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or as is usually the case it does not at all, after all the Jewish owned and run media can’t afford to shoot itself in its Zionist kosher funded foot.
Occupation 101 - The truth about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
[FULL STORY AT VETERANSTODAY.COM]
Thursday, July 4, 2013
The American Revolution and now
In 1776 a small group of rich landowners and businessmen, who wanted to
protect their wealth, persuaded the anti-British 25% of the American population to commit treason and
rebel against the other 75%, and against their legitimate government. They
sought help on the ground and on the sea from the French, Dutch and
Spanish, all enemies of the legitiate government … more treason. Today,
it’s happening again, with the Kochs, et al, leading the Teabaggers and
Republicans by the nose to commit political and societal treason against
the American people, just to protect the wealth of the rich and large
corporations.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World
[From NewYorkTimes.com and Elisabeth Rosenthal]
Seven months pregnant, at a time when most expectant couples are stockpiling diapers and choosing car seats, Renée Martin was struggling with bigger purchases.
Seven months pregnant, at a time when most expectant couples are stockpiling diapers and choosing car seats, Renée Martin was struggling with bigger purchases.
At a prenatal class in March, she was told about epidural anesthesia
and was given the option of using a birthing tub during labor. To each
offer, she had one gnawing question: “How much is that going to cost?”
Though Ms. Martin, 31, and her husband, Mark Willett, are both professionals with health insurance,
her current policy does not cover maternity care. So the couple had to
approach the nine months that led to the birth of their daughter in May
like an extended shopping trip though the American health care bazaar,
sorting through an array of maternity services that most often have no
clear price and — with no insurer to haggle on their behalf — trying to
negotiate discounts from hospitals and doctors.
When she became pregnant, Ms. Martin called her local hospital inquiring
about the price of maternity care; the finance office at first said it
did not know, and then gave her a range of $4,000 to $45,000. “It was
unreal,” Ms. Martin said. “I was like, How could you not know this?
You’re a hospital.”
Midway through her pregnancy, she fought for a deep discount on a $935 bill for an ultrasound,
arguing that she had already paid a radiologist $256 to read the scan,
which took only 20 minutes of a technician’s time using a machine that
had been bought years ago. She ended up paying $655. “I feel like I’m in
a used-car lot,” said Ms. Martin, a former art gallery manager who is
starting graduate school in the fall.
Paying Till It Hurts
Like Ms. Martin, plenty of other pregnant women are getting sticker
shock in the United States, where charges for delivery have about
tripled since 1996, according to an analysis done for The New York Times
by Truven Health Analytics. Childbirth in the United States is uniquely expensive, and maternity and newborn care constitute the single biggest category of hospital payouts for most commercial insurers and state Medicaid programs. The cumulative costs of approximately four million annual births is well over $50 billion.
And though maternity care costs far less in other developed countries
than it does in the United States, studies show that their citizens do
not have less access to care or to high-tech care during pregnancy than
Americans.
“It’s not primarily that we get a different bundle of services when we
have a baby,” said Gerard Anderson, an economist at the Johns Hopkins
School of Public Health who studies international health costs. “It’s
that we pay individually for each service and pay more for the services
we receive.”
Those payment incentives for providers also mean that American women
with normal pregnancies tend to get more of everything, necessary or
not, from blood tests to ultrasound scans, said Katy Kozhimannil, a
professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health who
studies the cost of women’s health care.
Financially, they suffer the consequences. In 2011, 62 percent of women
in the United States covered by private plans that were not obtained
through an employer lacked maternity coverage,
like Ms. Martin. But even many women with coverage are feeling the
pinch as insurers demand higher co-payments and deductibles and exclude
many pregnancy-related services.
From 2004 to 2010, the prices that insurers paid for childbirth — one of
the most universal medical encounters — rose 49 percent for vaginal
births and 41 percent for Caesarean sections in the United States, with
average out-of-pocket costs rising fourfold, according to a recent report
by Truven that was commissioned by three health care groups. The
average total price charged for pregnancy and newborn care was about
$30,000 for a vaginal delivery and $50,000 for a C-section, with commercial insurers paying out an average of $18,329 and $27,866, the report found.
Women with insurance pay out of pocket an average of $3,400, according to a survey by Childbirth Connection,
one of the groups behind the maternity costs report. Two decades ago,
women typically paid nothing other than a small fee if they opted for a
private hospital room or television.
Twitter to allow advertisers to target your browsing history, email addresses; here's how to opt out
(With thanks to BoingBoing.net)
Twitter announced today that it will now allow advertisers to tailor ads for you based on your activities off of Twitter (for instance, browsing third-party websites), and will also use personal information like email addresses to target the ads you see.
"Users won’t see more ads on Twitter, but they may see better ones," wrote Twitter's Senior Director of Product and Revenue, Kevin Weil, touting the change as a way to make the service "more useful" to users.
Privacy-minded folks won't be too happy.
Advertising Age has more. A positive note for privacy advocates: Twitter offers you opt-out with this stuff; Facebook doesn't.
As Twitter's official announcement explains, you can avoid the increased tracking/targeting by simply checking off a couple of boxes in your Account Settings, and by enabling Do Not Track (DNT, not DMT) in compatible browsers.
Here's how to opt out, if you are so inclined:
1) Log in to your Twitter account.
2) Under "Settings," uncheck the boxes shown above.
3) Enable "Do Not Track" in your browser (FF, Chrome, IE are all compatible).
4) Follow @boingboing. Hah, I made that part up! But please do.
Twitter announced today that it will now allow advertisers to tailor ads for you based on your activities off of Twitter (for instance, browsing third-party websites), and will also use personal information like email addresses to target the ads you see.
"Users won’t see more ads on Twitter, but they may see better ones," wrote Twitter's Senior Director of Product and Revenue, Kevin Weil, touting the change as a way to make the service "more useful" to users.
Privacy-minded folks won't be too happy.
Advertising Age has more. A positive note for privacy advocates: Twitter offers you opt-out with this stuff; Facebook doesn't.
As Twitter's official announcement explains, you can avoid the increased tracking/targeting by simply checking off a couple of boxes in your Account Settings, and by enabling Do Not Track (DNT, not DMT) in compatible browsers.
Here's how to opt out, if you are so inclined:
1) Log in to your Twitter account.
2) Under "Settings," uncheck the boxes shown above.
3) Enable "Do Not Track" in your browser (FF, Chrome, IE are all compatible).
4) Follow @boingboing. Hah, I made that part up! But please do.
20 Vile Quotes Against Women By Religious Leaders From St. Augustine to Pat Robertson
(With thanks to Alternet.org)
The media’s most unabashed misogynists are actually tame compared to their ideological ancestors, which include the biggest names in Christian history.
With diatribes about entertainers who invite rape and moms who are destroying America by supporting their families...with ignorant arguments about fetuses that masturbate, and females who might as well if they use contraception, and fetal personhood that trumps the personhood of females...it’s tempting to think that Christian conservatives have reached some new pinnacle of hating women and sexuality. But the sad reality is that even the media’s most unabashed misogynists like Michele Bachmann, Michael Burgess, Lou Dobbs and Juan Williams are actually tame compared to their ideological ancestors, including some of the biggest names in Christian history.
In past centuries, men who were hailed as church fathers, patriarchs, doctors, and even saints boldly expressed their view that females are inferior and loathsome, and they explained at length why God shared their perspective. Lest we fall into the conservative trap of thinking that the past was somehow better than the nasty messes we face today, it’s worth pondering some of the lovely tidbits the Church has thought fit to preserve and promote in the centuries since Christianity was founded. Here are some of the most savory. They come from three waves of religious leaders: “Fathers” of the Catholic Church, Protestant reformers, and American patriarchs who inherited the mantle of both.
Church Doctors and Fathers
· Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman.–Saint Clement of Alexandria, Christian theologian (c150-215)
· In pain shall you bring forth children, woman, and you shall turn to your husband and he shall rule over you. And do you not know that you are Eve? God’s sentence hangs still over all your sex and His punishment weighs down upon you. You are the devil’s gateway; you are she who first violated the forbidden tree and broke the law of God. It was you who coaxed your way around him whom the devil had not the force to attack. With what ease you shattered that image of God: Man! Because of the death you merited, even the Son of God had to die... Woman, you are the gate to hell. –Tertullian, “the father of Latin Christianity” (c160-225)
· Woman is a temple built over a sewer.–Tertullian, “the father of Latin Christianity” (c160-225)
· Woman was merely man's helpmate, a function which pertains to her alone. She is not the image of God but as far as man is concerned, he is by himself the image of God. –Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius (354-430)
· What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman... I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children. –Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius (354 – 430)
· Woman is a misbegotten man and has a faulty and defective nature in comparison to his. Therefore she is unsure in herself. What she cannot get, she seeks to obtain through lying and diabolical deceptions. And so, to put it briefly, one must be on one's guard with every woman, as if she were a poisonous snake and the horned devil. ... Thus in evil and perverse doings woman is cleverer, that is, slyer, than man. Her feelings drive woman toward every evil, just as reason impels man toward all good. –Saint Albertus Magnus, Dominican theologian, 13th century
· As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence. –Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, 13th century
Protestant Reformers
· The word and works of God is quite clear, that women were made either to be wives or prostitutes. –Martin Luther, Reformer (1483-1546)
· No gown worse becomes a woman than the desire to be wise. –Martin Luther, Reformer (1483-1546)
· Men have broad and large chests, and small narrow hips, and more understanding than women, who have but small and narrow breasts, and broad hips, to the end they should remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children. –Martin Luther, Reformer (1483-1546)
· Thus the woman, who had perversely exceeded her proper bounds, is forced back to her own position. She had, indeed, previously been subject to her husband, but that was a liberal and gentle subjection; now, however, she is cast into servitude.–John Calvin, Reformer (1509-1564)
· Do not any longer contend for mastery, for power, money, or praise. Be content to be a private, insignificant person, known and loved by God and me. . . . of what importance is your character to mankind, if you was buried just now Or if you had never lived, what loss would it be to the cause of God. –John Wesley, founder of Methodist movement (1703-1791), letter to his wife, July 15, 1774
American Patriarchs (Puritan, Mormon, Baptist, Evangelical)
· Even as the church must fear Christ Jesus, so must the wives also fear their husbands. And this inward fear must be shewed by an outward meekness and lowliness in her speeches and carriage to her husband. . . . For if there be not fear and reverence in the inferior, there can be no sound nor constant honor yielded to the superior. –John Dod, A Plaine and Familiar Expositionofthe Ten Commandements, Puritan guidebook first published in 1603
· The second duty of the wife is constant obedience and subjection. –John Dod, A Plaine and Familiar Expositionofthe Ten Commandements, Puritan guidebook first published in 1603
· The root of masculine is stronger, and of feminine weaker. The sun is a governing planet to certain planets, while the moon borrows her light from the sun, and is less or weaker. –Joseph Smith, founder of LDS movement (1805-1844)
· Women are made to be led, and counseled, and directed. . . . And if I am not a good man, I have no just right in this Church to a wife or wives, or the power to propagate my species. What then should be done with me? Make a eunuch of me, and stop my propagation. –Heber C. Kimball, venerated early LDS apostle (1801-1868)
· A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband, even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. –Official statement of Southern Baptist Convention, Summer 1998, (15.7 million members)
· The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians. -- Pat Robertson, Southern Baptist leader (1930–)
· The Holiness of God is not evidenced in women when they are brash, brassy, boisterous, brazen, head-strong, strong-willed, loud-mouthed, overly-talkative, having to have the last word, challenging, controlling, manipulative, critical, conceited, arrogant, aggressive, assertive, strident, interruptive, undisciplined, insubordinate, disruptive, dominating, domineering, or clamoring for power. Rather, women accept God’s holy order and character by being humbly and unobtrusively respectful and receptive in functional subordination to God, church leadership, and husbands. --James Fowler, Women in the Church, 1999.
· Women will be saved by going back to that role that God has chosen for them. Ladies, if the hair on the back of your neck stands up it is because you are fighting your role in the scripture. –Mark Driscoll, founder of Mars Hill nondenominational mega-church franchise. (1970–)
Why has the main current of Christianity produced a steady diet of misogyny for over 2,000 years? The answer may lay partly in human biology and culture. But it also lies in the Iron Age texts of the Bible itself. The Judeo-Christian tradition of building up men by tearing down women goes all the way back to the most ancient parts of the biblical collection, to the opening pages of Genesis, and continues unabated through the New Testament. (I’ve written elsewhere about 15 of those Bible verses because they partly explain the conservative assault on women.) As Mr. Driscoll likes to remind his followers, “Every single book in your Bible is written by a man.”
Say no more.
The media’s most unabashed misogynists are actually tame compared to their ideological ancestors, which include the biggest names in Christian history.
With diatribes about entertainers who invite rape and moms who are destroying America by supporting their families...with ignorant arguments about fetuses that masturbate, and females who might as well if they use contraception, and fetal personhood that trumps the personhood of females...it’s tempting to think that Christian conservatives have reached some new pinnacle of hating women and sexuality. But the sad reality is that even the media’s most unabashed misogynists like Michele Bachmann, Michael Burgess, Lou Dobbs and Juan Williams are actually tame compared to their ideological ancestors, including some of the biggest names in Christian history.
In past centuries, men who were hailed as church fathers, patriarchs, doctors, and even saints boldly expressed their view that females are inferior and loathsome, and they explained at length why God shared their perspective. Lest we fall into the conservative trap of thinking that the past was somehow better than the nasty messes we face today, it’s worth pondering some of the lovely tidbits the Church has thought fit to preserve and promote in the centuries since Christianity was founded. Here are some of the most savory. They come from three waves of religious leaders: “Fathers” of the Catholic Church, Protestant reformers, and American patriarchs who inherited the mantle of both.
Church Doctors and Fathers
· Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman.–Saint Clement of Alexandria, Christian theologian (c150-215)
· In pain shall you bring forth children, woman, and you shall turn to your husband and he shall rule over you. And do you not know that you are Eve? God’s sentence hangs still over all your sex and His punishment weighs down upon you. You are the devil’s gateway; you are she who first violated the forbidden tree and broke the law of God. It was you who coaxed your way around him whom the devil had not the force to attack. With what ease you shattered that image of God: Man! Because of the death you merited, even the Son of God had to die... Woman, you are the gate to hell. –Tertullian, “the father of Latin Christianity” (c160-225)
· Woman is a temple built over a sewer.–Tertullian, “the father of Latin Christianity” (c160-225)
· Woman was merely man's helpmate, a function which pertains to her alone. She is not the image of God but as far as man is concerned, he is by himself the image of God. –Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius (354-430)
· What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman... I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children. –Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius (354 – 430)
· Woman is a misbegotten man and has a faulty and defective nature in comparison to his. Therefore she is unsure in herself. What she cannot get, she seeks to obtain through lying and diabolical deceptions. And so, to put it briefly, one must be on one's guard with every woman, as if she were a poisonous snake and the horned devil. ... Thus in evil and perverse doings woman is cleverer, that is, slyer, than man. Her feelings drive woman toward every evil, just as reason impels man toward all good. –Saint Albertus Magnus, Dominican theologian, 13th century
· As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence. –Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, 13th century
Protestant Reformers
· The word and works of God is quite clear, that women were made either to be wives or prostitutes. –Martin Luther, Reformer (1483-1546)
· No gown worse becomes a woman than the desire to be wise. –Martin Luther, Reformer (1483-1546)
· Men have broad and large chests, and small narrow hips, and more understanding than women, who have but small and narrow breasts, and broad hips, to the end they should remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children. –Martin Luther, Reformer (1483-1546)
· Thus the woman, who had perversely exceeded her proper bounds, is forced back to her own position. She had, indeed, previously been subject to her husband, but that was a liberal and gentle subjection; now, however, she is cast into servitude.–John Calvin, Reformer (1509-1564)
· Do not any longer contend for mastery, for power, money, or praise. Be content to be a private, insignificant person, known and loved by God and me. . . . of what importance is your character to mankind, if you was buried just now Or if you had never lived, what loss would it be to the cause of God. –John Wesley, founder of Methodist movement (1703-1791), letter to his wife, July 15, 1774
American Patriarchs (Puritan, Mormon, Baptist, Evangelical)
· Even as the church must fear Christ Jesus, so must the wives also fear their husbands. And this inward fear must be shewed by an outward meekness and lowliness in her speeches and carriage to her husband. . . . For if there be not fear and reverence in the inferior, there can be no sound nor constant honor yielded to the superior. –John Dod, A Plaine and Familiar Expositionofthe Ten Commandements, Puritan guidebook first published in 1603
· The second duty of the wife is constant obedience and subjection. –John Dod, A Plaine and Familiar Expositionofthe Ten Commandements, Puritan guidebook first published in 1603
· The root of masculine is stronger, and of feminine weaker. The sun is a governing planet to certain planets, while the moon borrows her light from the sun, and is less or weaker. –Joseph Smith, founder of LDS movement (1805-1844)
· Women are made to be led, and counseled, and directed. . . . And if I am not a good man, I have no just right in this Church to a wife or wives, or the power to propagate my species. What then should be done with me? Make a eunuch of me, and stop my propagation. –Heber C. Kimball, venerated early LDS apostle (1801-1868)
· A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband, even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. –Official statement of Southern Baptist Convention, Summer 1998, (15.7 million members)
· The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians. -- Pat Robertson, Southern Baptist leader (1930–)
· The Holiness of God is not evidenced in women when they are brash, brassy, boisterous, brazen, head-strong, strong-willed, loud-mouthed, overly-talkative, having to have the last word, challenging, controlling, manipulative, critical, conceited, arrogant, aggressive, assertive, strident, interruptive, undisciplined, insubordinate, disruptive, dominating, domineering, or clamoring for power. Rather, women accept God’s holy order and character by being humbly and unobtrusively respectful and receptive in functional subordination to God, church leadership, and husbands. --James Fowler, Women in the Church, 1999.
· Women will be saved by going back to that role that God has chosen for them. Ladies, if the hair on the back of your neck stands up it is because you are fighting your role in the scripture. –Mark Driscoll, founder of Mars Hill nondenominational mega-church franchise. (1970–)
Why has the main current of Christianity produced a steady diet of misogyny for over 2,000 years? The answer may lay partly in human biology and culture. But it also lies in the Iron Age texts of the Bible itself. The Judeo-Christian tradition of building up men by tearing down women goes all the way back to the most ancient parts of the biblical collection, to the opening pages of Genesis, and continues unabated through the New Testament. (I’ve written elsewhere about 15 of those Bible verses because they partly explain the conservative assault on women.) As Mr. Driscoll likes to remind his followers, “Every single book in your Bible is written by a man.”
Say no more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)