this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2023
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Atheism
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Religion is not inherently sexist. It's just that most popular religions were born in sexist patriarchal cultures and are, therefore, sexist.
I'm sure there exist non-sexist religions that have female followers who aren't shooting themselves in the face. However, it's a sad reality that such religions are so few and so unpopular that I can't even name one off the top of my head - not counting non-serious religions like pastafarianism.
Wicca is a modern example. Most non-misogynistic religions were actively targeted for a long time
Look im gennuenly ignorant on this so i whant you to keep that in mind when i ask the following:
Isnt wicca like the whole other extreme? Like afaik they are not really pro equalit between men and women, its more like an all girls club and not really a religion at that? Arent they more like a subculture?
Definitely not. Wicca and Paganism is a collection of ancient religions based around nature, like the sun and moon. It's generally based in leftist and revolutionary ideals, so it's naturally attractive as a belief system for marginalized people in the western world. That's generally why a lot of women are Wiccan or Pagan
Pagan as in the old creeds where sacrificing human beings and virgins was a thing?
Modern Paganism doesn't observe any sacrificial practices. It's an amalgamation of several ancient religions.
Essentially it's a reconstructional movement, leaving out the less palatable things and that is fine. But the dark bits are there and should be recognized, which is something most pagans won't do. Pagan religions were bloody and cruel, which was why christianity stamped it out as it dis, mostly because it carried a notion of repent and forgiveness.
No it isn't. Some white dude invented it in the 1950's based off of old European practices. It's just their people passing on their pre-Christian culture, that's all.
It's no more a real religion than the Abrahamic ones.
No. Don't make it so easy for them. Structural sexism occurs in authoritarian systems. It's one of the tools to keep the privileged in power.
It's not that the society was just generally sexist (of course they had even more defined gender roles and so), it's that the sexism was actively thought and embraced by those in power! Thus, fiction like the bible also was actively made sexist, to have further "prove" to keep that power dynamic. It was not written that way because "well, back in the days". It was written like that to oppress people!
You can't name one but are sure they exist. Why are you sure?
Because there are over 4000 religions. Also matriarchal cultures exist. While their religions might still be sexist, it wouldn't be the women who are shooting themselves in the head.
The vast majority of those 4000 are not separate religions but subgroups of christianity, islam, judaisn, hinduism and budhhism. There are a few matriarchal societies but that is not the same as religion.
Religion and culture have a lot of influence on each other, it's not crazy to assume that some of those matriarchal societies have matriarchal religions.
Here are some non-patriarchal religions.
I believe a significant portion of that 4000 are small folk religions such as the ones on this page under the folk religions category.
I mean, the US definitely has a patriarchal culture, and Men still make up almost two thirds of suicides.
Sexism is bad for everyone, regardless of who the target is.
I'm not saying that matriarchal religions are good. I'm just saying that matriarchal religions exist and women who follow those aren't shooting themselves in the head. It's the men who are.
The only good religions are ones where no one has to shoot themselves.
Because atheists are all about being certain that things exist. /s
Christianity was actually extremely progressive for the time. Women and men were seen as equals spiritually, and had equal political power for a long time. Only when Christianity morphed into Catholicism and was adopted by the Roman Empire that patriarchal political power became the norm. But still, women are seen as equals spiritually, and can be saved just like men.
We can credit most of modern humanist and egalitarian ideals to Christianity, and the folk ways it was practiced and understood (against the top-down hierarchical theology spoused by the Catholic Church).
After all, the enlightenment was a direct descendant of Christianity and so on and so forth.
Edit: I think people don’t really understand how shittily women were treated and seen in the deeper past… like the Classical Greek barely saw women as human beings.
Me saying Christianity was very progressive for the time is not me pulling it out of my ass. Scholars think that, researchers, historians etc.
Wicca.
Come on, bruh, that was so easy.
You should stsrt accepting facts rather than adopting them to your beliefs. All religions are cancer. Period.
Depends on how you define a religion. In the broader sense I agree but in the legal sense its complicated. Take the religion of Copyism as an example. An actual recognised religion in Sweden. Whose religion centers around the belief that information should be freely avaliable and whose sacred act is copying anything.
Okay, here's a fact: belief in money is a religion. It's magical thinking that says if you believe something hard enough it'll become true. You cannot be a capitalist and an atheist, because anyone who believes in money is religious.