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Christianity's Contribution to Women By Wayne Dunn
http://www.homestead.com/rationalview/files/Christianity_s_Contribution_to_Women.htm
American women were baptized into the workforce decades ago.
Today they're running their own businesses, launching their own
product lines, are managers, directors, VPs and CEOs. That's why
the Southern Baptists' spat over women in the workplace is
laughable. What's next – debate over whether the earth is round?
In recent Tennessean columns, two Christians vent
opposing views of the Baptist flap. Each cites scripture
supporting his position; each says the other's interpretation is
wrong. Imagine that. Two folks reading the same Bible and
drawing different conclusions. Somebody call "Ripley's Believe
It or Not!"
Bible-babble aside, what exactly is Christianity's legacy to
women in the workplace and at home? Well, thanks to religion
teaching people to eschew the material world, the "home" where
women worked throughout most of Christianity's bleak history was
a mud hut.
Today, due to our secular profit-system – which Christians
benefit from while simultaneously criticizing – homes are
gadget-filled comfort zones, workplaces computerized offices.
This progress came about not because of religion's influence,
but despite it – Christianity kicked and screamed the whole way.
For instance, as industrialization began curing ills
supernaturalism had wrought – illiteracy, famines, abject
poverty – and families poured into factory towns for a better
life, the clergy pitched a fit. Cities, they howled, are
"wicked," factories "satanic," machines "infernal," money-making
"materialistic."
Later when science begat disease inoculation, Christian
leaders were right there condemning it. For example, in 1772 the
Rev. Edward Massey published his sermon berating the practice as
"endeavoring to baffle Divine judgment." Vaccinations, the pious
said, are "diabolical operations," for diseases "are sent by
Providence for the punishment of sin" and thus shouldn't be
impeded.
But Christianity's sanction of suffering doesn't end there.
When physicians discovered chloroform dims childbirth pain,
pulpits reverberated with disapproval. Preachers reminded flocks
of God's punishment for Eve's fruit-nibbling transgression: "In
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." Circumventing "holy
writ" with anesthesia, therefore, is immoral.
When birth-control pills hit, religionists squealed to high
heaven. Even now the Catholic Church and some Protestant groups
oppose contraception. As one theologian put it, any "attempt to
gain control over procreation…offends God."
Okay women, imagine you've shunned contraception, birthed
without painkillers, somehow stayed alive without being
vaccinated, and, after all that, you've just been diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease. Will Christianity – that sweet little
pro-life force for goodness – finally cut you some slack and let
you take advantage of promising new stem cell research? Sorry
sister, the Faithful say a clump of cells in a Petri dish is
more important than you are. (They'll gladly pray for you
though.)
And if you're hoping to clone your child's embryo and have it
frozen should the cells be needed to treat your kid's own body
someday, forget it. The God-squad hates cloning, too.
Frankly, the Baptists' argument over women in the workplace
misses a greater point. Such workplaces, and the wealth they
create or attract, wouldn't even exist if Christian
"otherworldliness" had consistently been practiced. Nor would
most of us be alive today – our ancestors would likely have been
wiped out by the devout's willful ignorance.
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