Tuesday, April 27, 2010

While doing research for my paper on why Western religions oppress women

Defining sin’s religious dimension as rebellion against God and its moral dimension as pride, Niebuhr not only fails to convey the nature of women’s sin, however; he actually turns it into a virtue. If self-centeredness is a sin, then the sacrifices of a woman like Lessing’s Kate Brown, who constantly attends to the “miniscule wants, demands, and the needs,” of her family to the neglect of herself, become marks of a life of traditional Christian piety. …He is aware of the ways in which self-sacrifice can represent a subtle bid for power or become a tool through which to manipulate a family. But for him, these ambiguities do not indicate a destructive element in the nature of self-sacrifice. They simply exemplify the paradoxical nature of grace in human history whereby the extension of possibilities for good involves equal extension of possibilities for evil.
-Excerpt from Sex, Sin and Grace: Women's Experience and the Theologies of Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich by Judith Plaskow, page 151-152.

I find that very interesting, infuriating, and also very true. I do not have any followers, but once I do - any thoughts regarding the above?

ALSO- I absolutely refuse to be born from Adam's rib. What the fuck kind of bullshit is that? Women are the mothers, I was not birthed from the "godlier" of the two sexes, no thank you. While many believe the woman is only on this planet in order to be fertile, there are many women who are not even attracted to men! Yeah, God, what do you say to that? Are those women to be submitted into purgatory at once?
God, I hate religion.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Just a little excerpt from "Like the Flowing River"

I was having a peaceful morning before I got out of bed, and I was reading Paulo Coelho's "Like the Flowing River," which consists of short stories and reflections. This excerpt is from, oh god, I hate the title but.. "Remaining Open to Love."
(page 222)
..."A rose dreamed day and night about bees, but no bee ever landed on her petals.
The flower, however, continued to dream. During the long nights, she imagined a heaven full of bees, which flew down to bestow kisses on her. By doing this, she was able to last until the next day, when she opened again to the light of the sun.
One night, the moon, who knew of the rose's loneliness, asked: 'Aren't you tired of waiting?'
'Possibly, but I have to keep trying.'
'Why?'
'Because if I don't remain open, I will simply fade away.'
At times, when loneliness seems to crush all beauty, the only way to resist is to remain open."

Okay...so maybe it sounded better this morning when my mind was groggy. But, although a little bit obvious, I thought there were some underlying good bits in it. First, it made me think that, even if somebody hurts you, and you want to remain closed to any other vulnerable situation - you are doing yourself and the other hypothetical sig oth a diservice. Second, I love how the story was about a rose and bees, dehumanizing the story, yet it still was powerful in its message. Plants and animals ARE important in our society, although we have lost almost all real contact with them.