But what I am trying to say is that you are viewing an ancient society through very modern eyes, and faulting it for not upholding to the moral standards of a modern Western society.
No, actually, that is not my point. I'm saying, or you could say that I'm
guessing, that the Bible reflects a deeper, human way of reasoning. It could be that our modern Western society is the "natural" human society, but then again, it could be that our society is just the foam on top of a wave. It could disappear before we know it, and a society whose morality is more like the Biblical one could be the one to replace it.
Why were the people of the Old Testament sexist? Is it because they were radically different than we are? I doubt it. I think that they were basically just like us. And like Jen pointed out, even in the Old Testament people were not all sexist. There are strong women in the Old Testament, like Deborah, and there is at least one wonderfully warm and unconventional woman in the Old Testament, Ruth. And there were probably others like her. But the society as a whole was mostly sexist, and sometimes
very sexist.
Most societies are like that, as a matter of fact. Not everyone or everything in them is sexist. But the societies as a whole are.
The reason why I speak so much of the Bible is twofold. I believe that the major religions of the world reflect who and what we are as human beings. I don't mean that all human beings are the same. I'm not trying to say to any of
you that you are sexists. But, yes, I believe that societies are different from individual people, and I think that it may be true that practically all human societies tend to become sexist. If all major religions are sexist, and I believe that they are, then that strongly suggests to me that the human societies that produced them are sexist. When that sexism becomes so strong that it begins to kill women, either through condoning outright murder of women or girls, or through condoning serious neglect of young girls or women, then that becomes a hugely serious issue for me.
I think that our modern societies re-use at least parts of the "group morality" of those ancient societies which wrote down the Bible. When some people say that every word in the Bible is holy, then they actually say that the most sexist passages of those ancient texts are holy, too. The sexism of thousands of years ago becomes holy
today. And some of those people who extol every part of the Bible seem to ask for, no,
demand respect for their own sexism. Those polygamist sects have a point when they say that the Bible never forbids polygamy. It doesn't, as a matter of fact. (Neither, however, does it recommend it or outright celebrate it.)
I'm not trying to talk about ancient cultures per se. I'm trying to talk about the morality and ethics we have today. Often attempts at equality and fair treatment of women are described, rather scornfully, as "political correctness". Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think it is quite common in the United States to be
proud of the fact that you are
not "politically correct".
So I'm trying to talk about what I might call an underlying readiness to accept sexist societies here and now and all over the world, and I think the major religions condone and "sanctify" that universal sexism with its deep historical roots.
And I believe that the ultimate expression of sexism is the elimination of women. Interestingly, societies are never going to allow the complete elimination of women, because societies need women. But families in sexist societies don't necessarily feel the need to have daughters. Hence female infanticide.
Ann
