Created in Man's Image

Notes from Anne:

April 16, 2017

Our topic today was “God Created in Man’s Image?”

Sean gave us some guidance to start the discussion: “What is it with Western (and some Eastern) religions and women? Obviously, the founders were male, so it stands to cynical reason that they would set things up to treat women, often, as second-class believers. Does this say something about us as a species?”

Most religious apologists point to the restrictions their faith places on women, such as modest dress (which can run the gamut from not wearing booty shorts all the way to full burqas), sexual purity or restrictions on the roles women can fill within society, as a way to protect women and actually reflect honor and respect for women. Judging from the expressions of the group, most of us disagree with this assessment. So the question is, is this a case of religion influencing culture, or culture influencing religion?

Charles pointed out that in ancient religions with both male and female gods, the male god is always the creator, though female gods are often nearly as powerful. The misogyny began with the Sumerians and was transferred into the Jewish and Muslim cultures from the creation myths which make up most of the first eleven chapters of Genesis. This seems odd, given the fact that women are the child bearers. The group agreed that this could be, in large part, due to men being physically stronger and perhaps because of men’s role in building and invention (although there are many examples of women scientists and creators, even in ancient cultures).

In Polynesia and parts of Africa, misogyny did not exist before the influence of outside cultures. Lyn brought up the difference between domineering and partnership cultures, which could also be linked to differences between patrilineal and matrilineal societies.

We have made some progress in recent years, but in Muslim countries and some others, things for women are still very bad, with honor killings and female genital mutilations still happening with sickening regularity. Both of these things are filtering into the United States as well with the influx of immigrants from other parts of the world. Several people shared personal stories of sexist treatment they have experienced, although we all agree that the men in our group are great examples of men who fully support women's rights.

We discussed why women support misogyny, for example, women who opposed the Equal Rights Amendment and conservative Christian women who support traditional roles for women or who argue that women have equal rights or even superior rights, within the framework of Biblical teaching. Although there are many reasons for this, Lyn summed it up by saying that most have “drunk the Kool-Aid.” This extends to LGBTQ rights, with either Bob or Joe (sorry, I didn't catch who) pointing out that children are more likely to be assaulted by a Republican congressman than a trans person.

In other religions, culture also seems to play a big part in the treatment of women. In some Native American cultures, elder women elect tribal leaders. Shinto, the majority religion of Japan, is a nature-based religion, and from what we could discover, treated women as equals until the introduction of a particularly misogynistic Buddhist sect from China into Japanese society, although within Buddhism, treatment of women is a mixed bag, with some groups supporting equality and some not so much. Hinduism strictly regiments society into castes and not surprisingly, women have fewer rights. Cyrus pointed out that Baha’i  is quite egalitarian towards women.

We ended with a question from Charles: If the god of the Hebrew Bible had been a woman, would societies based on that tradition be different? The consensus seemed to be that in order for the god of the Hebrews to be a female, early Jewish society would have had to be significantly different, not the other way around.

Announcements: The Science March is next weekend, on April 22^nd. We are not sure what plans have been made for Greensboro and Raleigh to participate. Also, ReasonCon is next weekend, beginning on Friday, the 21^st with dinner and a concert, continuing through Saturday, the 22^nd with discussions starting at 9 am and ending with a party Saturday night. Joe is planning to go and will report on this to the group. He wasn’t sure if tickets are still available, but the website is www.reasonnc.com

Thank you for allowing me to facilitate today.