The Goddess Elaine Charkowski. A hard working comrade who educates people about our herstory. Dear
Sister of the
Goddess, Thank
you for your
interest in the Dianic Temple of the Goddess! Her temples are
everywhere! They
can be seen when we look in the mirror! Our beautiful bodies, in all
shapes,
sizes, colors are beloved and sacred to Her. Her temples are our home
altars
where women worship Her – without paying for the privilege, as is
required at
men's cosmic piggy banks (wealthy churches run by men for men). Dianic
Goddess
worship is a woman-born-of-woman only religion. Unlike Pagans, (women
and men)
who worship the Goddess and Her male consort the Horned God who
represents
positive, non-violent male energy, we Dianics prefer to worship only
Her and
only in the company of other women. This is because women have been
(and still
are) being spiritually wounded during more than 4,000 years of
patriarchy. We
need and welcome Her healing energy expressed in life affirming,
female centered spirituality. The
eight major
religions are Judaism, Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism,
Confucianism,
the Islamic faith (Muslim) and Shintoism. All developed after the
usually
violent destruction of indigenous Goddess or female centered cultures.
All 8
religions are patriarchal (male supremacist), all claim their male gods
created
the universe and everything in it; that men were given the “divine
right” to
control not only the earth, its resources, but women and children as
well. This
means ALL 8 religions share many woman hating/subjugating principles:
The
supremacy of male gods • The absolute denial of female Goddesses or the
complete subjugation of them to male gods The supremacy of men over
women including the absolute enslavement of women in many cultures,
(such as under
the Taliban and conservative Christianity)• All male supremacist
religions
control or heavily influence the political, legal and social norms of
their
cultures. For example, $87 billion is spent on war while Americans are
homeless, schools crumble, battered women lack shelters, and more than
20% of
American children live in poverty • All patriarchal religions deny
positive,
empowering role models for women • Women can never be as important or
as
deserving as men because “god,” not men ordained it. Male
supremacist
religion is used to keep women subjugated and for controlling society.
This is
psychological abuse and spiritual blackmail committed against women.
“God” is
the perfect tool of perpetual male domination since you can't argue
with an
eternal “god” whose “commandments” are also eternal and unchanging. If women are to break the bonds of patriarchal belief systems, all of which are woman hating and enslaving, women must question the so-called “divine rights of men” as ordained by ALL the male gods now worshiped. Women need to question whether or not there have been female deities, what power they held and when, where they originated, why they were eradicated, and what these answers mean to us. Once every woman has answered these questions for herself, patriarchal religion may not be a viable choice. The
Religious Basis of Worldwide Patriarchal Beliefs Patriarchy
is a
psychopathic, male supremacist social system that has polluted
societies
worldwide. It grants men an overwhelmingly large share of power.
Today's
male dominated power institutions are: government, finance, global
economy,
military, technology, education, medicine, media, law and religion.
Most of the
news is men talking about what other men do. Male dominated medicine
results in
women being used as guinea pigs (Dalkon Shield, early birth control
pills that
caused cancer, dangerous breast implants, and a dangerous hormone that
suppresses menstrual periods marketed without adequate research as to
its
safety. Under patriarchy, women's bodies don't matter unless being used
for
child bearing or cheap labor. Carol
P. Christ
who wrote, “Why Women Need the Goddess” said religion shapes culture
and
culture defines the values of a society and its people. Religious
symbolism has
both psychological and political effects. For example, religions
centered on
the worship of a male god create moods and motivations that keep women
in a
state of psychological dependence on men and male authority. Male
religious
symbolism enforces the idea that women are inferior and can never be
whole or
fully human (Aristotle said women have no souls!) Men are supposedly
closer to
god than women and have the “god given right” to dominate them. Riane
Eisler,
author of The Chalice and the Blade said when a society worships a dead
man
murdered on a cross, the belief system focuses on death, destruction,
fear, and
anger. This ultimately leads to warfare. Societies,
such as
ancient Goddess cultures who worshiped woman's ability to create life
and her
instinct to nurture all living things, focused their technology and
social
activities on life enhancing and self empowering spirituality. This
enabled
these cultures to live in peaceful coexistence for hundreds, and
sometimes
thousands of years. Compare this with today's world where war and the
preparation for war is unending!Imagine
the joyful
feeling, awakening daily to a world without war and male domination!
Religion
is the
most powerful of the power institutions. Education and government take
their
queue from religion. Radical Islam enslaves women in Afghanistan and
other
parts of the Mid-East. The Taliban forbids girls an education and burns
down
their schools. In the West, conservative Christianity is used to pass
legislation to mandate pregnancy. The under funding of women’s-shelters
forces
many battered women to remain under virtual house arrest. This is
intentional.
To break free of male domination, women must transform the sick beliefs
of male supremacist religion into peaceful, female empowering and
Earth
loving Goddess imagery. Resources The
Chalice and the Blade by Riane
Eisler. The destruction of Goddess
societies
by patriarchal nomads. Cites archaeological evidence of Goddess
societies. • The Crone, Woman of
Age, Wisdom and Power by
Barbara G. Walker. How to start Goddess temples with step-by-step
instructions
on creating a woman friendly society.
“Women
who join
together with each other to deny the male god who cursed their sex and
to
reject his demands for obedience, praise, service and money
automatically free
themselves from one of the most potent psychological traps men ever set
for
them! Without god to tell that they must serve and obey abusive
husbands, their
fetters turn to sand, and they can step away from what seemed a prison.
Without
god to order them to bear children they don't want, they take personal
control
of their bodies. Without god to call them guilty for experiencing
sexual
pleasure, they gain new confidence and trust in their own physicality.
And if
the world's women joined together to reinstate a full three-dimensional
feminine divinity with Her own authentic theology, life on our planet
might be
quite different. The Crone. •
Gyn/ecology and Beyond god the Father,
by Mary Daly. The radical politics of witchcraft. • www.zbudapest.com. Z Budapest's
Dianic
University where women learn about the Goddess. “We honor the Female
Principle
of the Universe of ten thousand names. The most often prayed to aspects
are
Maiden Goddess: Diana, Artemis, Luna, and Athena. Queen Mother Goddess:
Hera,
Juno, Minerva, Nu Qua, Kwan Yin. Crone aspects: Hecate, Magera, Kali,
and
Innanna. The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries, Grandmother of Time,
Summoning the
Fates, and Celestial Wisdom for every Year of Your Life. A
Woman's Book of Choices by
Carol Downer and Rebecca Chalker. How to control your
fertility. Discusses RU-486 and menstrual extraction-a process by which
menses
are gently removed using a Del-Em device invented by Lorraine Rothman.
Menses
may be removed before camping trips, athletic events or honeymoons. It
will
safely remove the fertilized egg up to nine weeks into pregnancy. How
to form
groups to safely perform menstrual extraction which can be used in
cases of
rape, incest or failed birth control. www.sisterzeus.com “The
child Being and the mother’ have agreed to come together. If
conception is refused, the child's soul leaves, to return in another
pregnancy,
if and when it is time to incarnate. Or, the Being of the child may
choose another
mother. No soul or Being is wasted or lost.” Barbara G. Walker. Thus,
mandating
pregnancy is a male supremacist religious belief that denies a woman's
freedom
of religion. The
Women's history of the World by
Rosalind Miles. Horrors committed by men against women for
thousands of years. A disturbing read, but necessary to get in touch
with our
righteous rage we were brainwashed to suppress. This tactic diverts our
anger
from patriarchy to ourselves, a sick form of spiritual aikido! Anger
turned
inward can cause depression and self abuse. The patriarchs know the
volcanic
rage of billions of women will shake patriarchy to its foundations!
Deep down
they FEAR us! There's much to learn about the Goddess and women's
former
respected place in society! Let's learn about our past and create a
woman friendly world, once again! Goddess religion precedes Patriarchy
by
20,000 years. Thousands of ancient representations of women have been
unearthed
from archaeological sites worldwide. Shaped from stone or clay, painted
on cave
walls or etched in plaster, many are more than 25,000 years old.
Scholars once
thought they were merely graphic expressions of male eroticism or
artifacts
used by fertility cults. However, Riane Eisler, author of The
Chalice and the Blade, questions these shallow interpretations;
“Do these prehistoric sculptures tell us something important about
ourselves,
about how both women and men once venerated the life giving powers of
the
universe?” When humans expressed awe of the natural world, their first
depiction of earth based divinity in human form was female. Our
ancestors
revered the ability of females to give birth and nourish their young.
The
monthly cycle of menstruation called to mind the phases of the moon,
adding
power and mystery to the Feminine. The natural world was
the Goddess, the Great Mother who created and sustained her
children. Both priestesses and priests invoked the Goddess for many
reasons; to
insure the births of healthy children, a successful hunt or a bountiful
harvest. The
male principle was also honored; “The young god, the son consort
of the
goddess plays a recurring part in the central miracle of
pre-patriarchal
religion, the mystery of regeneration and rebirth,” said Eisler. In
Goddess worshiping “partnership societies” women and
men shared power. Eisler
avoids the term “matriarchy,” which is erroneously believed to mean a
female dominated society. Although lineage and inheritance was
matrilineal and
women played leading roles in all aspects of life, “There is little
indication
that the position of men in this social system was in any sense
comparable to
the subordination and suppression of women characteristic of the
male dominated
system that replaced it,” said Eisler. However, after tens of thousands
of
years of earth based spirituality which revered feminine aspects, nonviolent male
power and nature, humanity took a 4,000-year detour toward
“dominator”
societies. These were, and still are, based on brute force or “might
makes
right.” Eisler documents the destruction of the Goddess worshiping
partnership
societies and the rise of patriarchy (male supremacy), between 4,300
and 2,800
years ago. Artifacts unearthed from the ancient cities of Catal Huyuk
and
Hacilar in Turkey yield evidence of their destruction by Kurgans,
warlike
nomads of Aryan and Indo-European stock. These barbarians produced
nothing of
their own and only existed by plundering. The early Hebrews, with their
fierce
and angry Jehovah, shared this barbaric culture and violently destroyed
partnership societies in Canaan (Palestine). Tombs unearthed after the
invasions contained skeletons of women with broken forearms (evidence
of
deflected blows) and broken ankles (to prevent them from running away).
Murals
in Crete which once depicted peaceful activities for
over 1,500 years,
portrayed war and destruction
after the invasion. Both Kurgans and Hebrews worshipped violent,
vengeful male
gods who lived in the sky. These “sky gods” legitimized the “virtues”
of male
brutality (war, rape, murder and plunder). Worshiping violent male gods
redefined what it meant to be male. “Being a man” is taken to mean
being a violent, dysfunctional man. This view
is so widespread that dysfunctional male behavior is regarded as
“normal,”
while men of peace who are sane are
scorned and ridiculed. Spirituality
was also removed from the Earth and relocated “up there,“ such as
Valhalla or
Heaven. This devalued the Natural World and had a disastrous effect on
how
modern society regards both women and the environment. Why should
humans care
about Mother Earth, the plant and animal relatives if the sky god is
going to
destroy Earth during Armageddon? Male supremacist religion views Earth
as
expendable, merely a “rest stop” on our way to Heaven. The
dogmas of today's organized religions
claim male gods created the universe and gave
men the
right to control not only Nature, but women and children as well. How
does the global worship of male gods affect women?
Anthropologist Clifford Geerts says religious symbols shape cultural
ethics by
defining the deepest values of a society. In Why Women
Need the Goddess, Carol P. Christ said, “Religions,
centered on the worship of a male god create moods and motivations that
keep
women in a state of psychological dependence on men and male
authority.” The
greatest harm male supremacist religion does is teaching women that god
gave
men the right to dominate them. ALL of the world's major faiths
are male
supremacist, having male gods who rule by threats of violence (Hell,
god's
punishment, etc.). Male supremacist scripture casts men as closer to
god
than
women and legitimizes women's enslavement at the hands of men: “Wives,
submit
yourselves unto your husbands, for the husband is the head of the wife
even as
Christ is the head of the church.”— Ephesians 5:23-24. “One should only
make
use of a necessary object, woman, when needed to preserve the species or to
provide food or
drink, since for all other purposes, man would be better served by
other men.”
Thomas Aquinas, 1300 (Catholic's made him a saint).“If a woman grows
weary and
at last dies from childbearing, it matters not. Let her only die from
bearing,
she is there to do it.”– Martin Luther, 1538.
More
male supremacist hogwash: “A woman must never be free of subjugation.”–
Hindu
code of Manu V. “A woman's heaven is under her husband's feet. –Bengali
proverb. “The body of a woman is filthy and not a vessel for the law.”–
Buddha.” In pain shall you bear children, yet your urge will be for
your
husband, and he shall rule over you. -Genesis 3:16. “Let the woman
learn in
silence with all subjection. Suffer not woman to teach nor to usurp
authority
over the man.” –Timothy 2:11-15.“Your women are fields for you to
cultivate, so
go to your field as you will.”– Koran 2:223. “Women have weak memories,
are
undisciplined, impulsive and dangerous when given authority over
anything.”–
Catholic Church's edict against “witches.” “I thank thee O lord, that
thou has
not created me a heathen, a slave, or a woman.” – Orthodox Jewish
prayer.
If
today's women had the political and social power of
women in early
Goddess societies, would the U.S. government spend $450 billion every
year
killing people while the homeless shiver in the cold, battered women
have no
shelters, schools deteriorate and children live in poverty? Since
father gods
“gave” men control over children, women have been required to sacrifice
them
upon the alter of war. This recalls the sacrifice men's jealous
psychotic sky
god required of Abraham!!
Nermina
Kurs
Pahic, a writer in Sarajevo said, “Many women accept the role of being
mothers
of warriors.” She said the epic poems help mold values in her part of
the world
typically portray ideal women as mothers who show pride if their sons
die
“heroically.”
However,
the
hardships of modern war are changing women's role in society and are
destroying
the monstrously obscene tradition of being proud if their children die
in
battle. Dr. Ismet Ceric, director of Sarajevo’s main psychiatric clinic
said,
“This myth has collapsed for the first time. Now women will care more
for their
children and their home than national myths. They will
also understand that political decisions are so serious that
they will never again leave them solely to men.” Women must also
challenge
male supremacist theology. Since religion has such a compelling hold on
the
psyches of so many people, women can't afford to leave religion in the
hands of
the “father gods” that legitimize the oppression of women, children—and
Mother
Nature by male supremacists. Goddess
symbolism legitimizes the concerns of
women much as father god symbolism supports male interests under
patriarchy.
However, unlike male supremacist patriarchy, the Goddess religion does
not
require the enslavement of one gender by the other!
Fortunately, increasing numbers of women are getting courage and
inspiration by invoking the Goddess, wearing Goddess images in public sends a
positive
message to women struggling under patriarchy's temporary reign.
Inundated by images of male gods, women get the
false message they're farther from divinity than men and thus, have
less value;
hearing male created negative messages about ourselves for more than
4,000 years,
women need the healing power of Goddess. Spiritual wounds inflicted on
women by
the worship of gods must be healed. Goddess worship and feminine values
must be
restored before male supremacist insanity destroys the Earth. Goddesses
Remembered Lilith—As
recorded in the Talmud, Lilith was
Adam’s first wife. Though divorce laws didn't exist, he “married” a
second
woman, Eve, who subsequently became the “mother of the first sin.” Adam
married
Lilith because he was tired of coupling with beasts (a common
Middle-Eastern
herdsmen's’ custom). When Adam attempted to force Lilith to lie beneath
him,
Lilith refused. God tried to convince her to be subordinate but failed.
Lilith
left Adam and returned to her home by the Red Sea. Because she refused
to obey
Adam's god, scripture recast Her as a demon. Shekinah
— The
Jewish cabalistic version of Shakti,
the female soul of the male god who could not be perfect until he could
be
reunited with Her. She is envisioned as the female in essence, as the
brightness, or aura of god. Cabalists
said it was god's loss of his Shekinah that brought about all evil. Sophia — The
Gnostic Great Mother, the spirit of
female wisdom, symbolized by the dove — which
was later transformed into a sign for the patriarchal holy ghost.
Sophia
represented god's female soul, his source of power and wisdom. Many
Greek
churches were dedicated to “Hagia Sophia,” or “Holy Wisdom” including
the great
basilica in Byzantium. “Hag,” derogatory word for an elder woman, came
from
“Hagia.” A
creation myth
states Sophia gave birth to a male spirit, Christ, and a female spirit,
Acamoth. Acamoth gave birth to Ildabaoth,
Son of Darkness, (known as Yahweh or Jehovah) along with five
planetary
spirits later regarded as emanations of Yahweh/Jehovah. These were:
Iao, Sabaoth,
Adonai, Eloi, and Uraeus. These spirits produced archangels, angels,
and
finally humans. Yahweh/Jehovah
(called Ildabaoth by the Gnostics) forbade people to eat the fruit from
the
tree of knowledge and the tree of life, but his mother, Achamoth, sent
her own
spirit to earth in the form of the serpent Ophi to teach people to
disobey the
jealous Yahweh/Jehovah. The serpent was also called Christ, who taught
Adam to
eat the fruit of knowledge despite Yahweh/Jehovah’s prohibitions. “Christ” means, “anointed one.” Jesus was
one of many “Christ's. Sophia being female, was not acceptable to the
later
development of the all male church. Of the three mighty female powers
in the
Gnostic creation myth, all preceded Yahweh/Jehovah. Two of them opposed
him as
a tyrant, overruled his taboo and saved humanity from ignorance. Eve —In
Assyrian scriptures, entitled
Mother Womb, Creatress of Destiny who made both the first human male
and female
out of clay. They called her Nin-Evah, “Holy Lady Eve” for whom the
Assyrian capital
city was named. Her Tantric names- Adita Eva, “the Very Beginning.” In
northern
Babylonia, Eve was known as the Divine Lady of Eden or Goddess of the
Tree of
Life. Unlike Talmudic scripture, the original Eve had no spouse. According to Gnostic scriptures, Eve was
obliged to punish Jehovah who so arrogantly pretended to be the sole
creator. As
the Mother of All Living, she existed before everything, but god forgot
she had
made him and had given him his powers. Eve was one of the common Middle
Eastern
names of superior feminine power. To the Hittites, she was Hawwah,
meaning
“life.” To the Persians, she was Hvov or “Earth.” Armaeans called her
Hawah
“Mother of All Living.” In Anatolia, she was Hebat or Hapat, “Hebe” is
the
Greek word for “Virgin Mother Earth. A Semitic root of her name was
“hayy,” a
matrilineal kinship group once considered the “life” of every tribe by
direct
descent from the Creatress. “Eve, “serpent” and “life” are derived from
the
same root in Arabic. Some of the
once-sacred books made Eve superior to both Adam and the creator. It
was
Eve, not god, who gave Adam his soul and brought him to life. It was
She, not
god, who cast down the evil deities from heaven and made them demons. And She, as the eternal female power, would
eventually judge the god she created and find him guilty of injustice
and
destroy him. Earth
Mother — The
Essence personification of Nature,
harmony with which was central to their faith. Their cosmos consisted
of the
Heavenly Father and his Angels of Eternal Life: Creative Work, Peace,
Power,
Love and Wisdom — and the Earthly Mother with her corresponding Angels
of
Earth: Life, Joy, Sun, Water, and Air. It was believed that humans
stood at the
point of interaction between the two complementary groups of forces and
must
become attuned to both. Note the ancient
recurring theme of female power restraining and balancing male power.
The
Friday evening communion began by saying, “The heavenly Father and I
are One,”
while the Saturday morning communion began, “The Earthly Mother and I
are One.”
Peace with her kingdom was contemplated at Sunday noon. Mary —The
Christian mother of Jesus by divine
impregnation. Mary is really a composite of Mariamne
the Semitic God/Mother Queen of Heaven, Aphrodite-Mari
the Syrian version of Ishatar, Juno the
blessed Virgin of the Romans, the Isis as Stella Maris or Star of the
Sea, Maya the Asian Virgin Mother of the
Redeemer, and as the Moerae, or
Trinity of Fates. Mary’s closest resemblance was to that of Isis and
her divine
son Horace. Mary was elevated to Mother of God to counter Isis worship
which
had spread throughout the known world. Mary took over Isis's attributes
and
titles; Star of the Sea, Redemtress, the Virgin, Queen of Heaven, etc. The first churches dedicated to Mary were
requisitioned Isis temples with repainted statues. After Mary was
admitted
in to the Roman church, the Fathers stripped her of divinity and
motherhood to
disassociate her from the Great Goddess and the popular worship of the
“mother
figure.” Mary became the Virgin who never engaged in sexual
intercourse. The
“Fathers” introduced the acceptance of Mary as a way to convert the
heathens
and to control women, who up until then, had refused to follow the new
all male
church. Ashera/Asherah — The
Semitic name of the Great
Goddess, possibly from the old Iranian word “asha,” or “universal law,”
a law
of the Matriarch. Sumerians called her Sahnan, “Strength of All Things
and “
Kindly and Bountiful Maiden.” Her sacred city Marash appears in the
bible as
Mareshah (Joshua 15:44 She was believed to be the wife of Baal. Others
worshiped Her as his mother Asherat-of-the-sea. She was called “Mother
of the
Gods” which tends to link her to the Canaanite’s “Qaniyatu Elima,” She
Who
Gives Birth to the Gods, or “Rabbatu Athiratu Yammi” Lady who Traverses
the Sea
(meaning the Moon, which the Goddess is closely associated with). The
word
“rabbatu” was an early female form of “rabbi.” In Egypt she was known
as
Ashesh, “Law-giving Mother and Great Lady of Ashert and Lady of Heaven,
the
Queen of the gods. It is believed that for 240 of the 360 years that
Solomon's
temple lasted in Jerusalem, Ashera was worshiped in it along with
Jehovah as
his bride and sister. Her wooden image was publicly displayed. When
Elijah
slaughtered the 400 priests of Baal on Mount Carmel, he left those of
Ashera
unharmed. The tribe of Asher was named after Her, it was the most
sea conscious
of the twelve tribes of Israel, holding a coastal strip about 55 miles
long and
no more than 10 miles wide, centered on Acre. The
Black Goddess Mawu-Lisa
(6,000-7,000 BC.)
was androgynous, male and female, self fertilizing and seen as the
earth and
the rainbow. Africans believed the earth
is ultimately more powerful than the sky and its gods. The sky can
withhold
rain, but Earth is the source of the life force itself. The Gaia
hypotheses of
environmental science confirms this ancient concept. The sky is in fact
created
by the earth. The envelope of air and moisture surrounding us is really
the
earth “breathing.” As in the ancient African beliefs, the sky gods are
creations of Mother Earth. She breaths them out — and can breathe them
back in
again. This is a fundamental belief in all Goddess religions throughout
the
world. Innana
(Sumerian
Goddess). Innana is the oldest known creating goddess in human written
record.
The god of the Hebrews and Christians, Jehovah or Yahweh originates
from
Innana. His name, Iahu’anat is derived directly from her name. The
basic
differences between Goddess worshipping cultures and the last 7,000
years of
male god patriarchal (male supremacist) which have infected societies
worldwide. Goddess cultural beliefs • The
earth was
and is the Goddess' body. The earth is a living breathing entity and
all life
forms are sacred. • People are connected closely to nature, its cycles,
power
and beauty. Life was celebrated in all rituals; there were no blood
sacrifices
or violence. •
Cultures were
nurturing, non-violent, dependent upon each other and therefore
respectful of
each other's needs. •Cultures were based on equalitarian or partnership
social
and political structures. There is no evidence of power over or
domination/subjugation relationships. • Resources were used for
life enhancing
technology. Inventions and creativity were used to help people enjoy
life and
the Earth's bounty. • Possessiveness and inequitable property
distribution are
not evident. Women
were free
to change sexual mates, bear or not bear children without social guilt
or
shameful stigmas attached to their actions. •Women controlled the
religious,
social, political and legal institutions which were all focused on
community
improvements and equitable distribution of wealth and work. •The
Goddess was
seen as a changing, evolving deity who did so to fill the changing
needs of
both individuals and society as a whole. •Individuality was highly
regarded and
religious beliefs and rituals enhanced that quality. •Spirituality was
as
individual as people were. A wide diversity of rituals and symbols were
shared
in homes and temples. •Sexuality was sacred for both partners and
considered a
gift from the Goddess. Women were valued for their individuality, not
their
childbearing capacity. •Access to political, economic, religious,
educational
and social power were open to all. Every woman was required to
work as a
priestess for varying amounts of time each year. Men were on all
important
community councils, though women were given the highest honors. •There
were no
weapons of violence, no fortifications surrounding Goddess communities,
and no
warfare. • Children were highly valued by both men and women and they
participated in many rituals. There were no "illegitimate" children.
• Arts, science, and life enhancing technologies were continually
created
improved upon and shared. • Communal activities for all were standard. Male
god cultural
beliefs • Male gods were/are believed to live in the sky. •The Earth is
not
sacred. It was/is devalued as a temporary stop on the way to
"heaven," the final goal to be attained only after death. Hence,
environmental destruction, since Earth matters less than heaven. The
Earth is
owned by the gods and given to men to control, along with women and
children.
(A man's home is his castle, etc.) • God was/is separated from nature
and so
were/are his followers. •Blood sacrifices, including human, were
required to
prove religious belief and to honor god. Today, giving money to the
church
serves the same purpose. • Personal wealth was/is a sign of god's favor
(the
Divine Right of Kings). Poverty was/is a sign of unworthiness. People
are
poor because they do not enjoy god's favor. Hence the cruel and
indifferent treatment of homeless people who are said to "choose their
lifestyle." The homeless are social outcasts (social Darwinism). If
they
die in the cold, it's their own fault or god's will. Thus, more
fortunate allow
them to suffer poverty and without guilt. • Possessiveness, ownership,
and
inequitable distribution of resources increased as patriarchal power
increased.
• Religious, political, educational and social structures were/are
rigidly
hierarchical, with strict rules and laws dictating who can and who will
never
gain access to wealth and power. •Male gods’ were/are rigid,
unchanging,
authoritarian who dictate every aspect of their peoples' lives. •
Individuality
is seen as breaking away from the male god's right to rule and was/is
generally
not tolerated. • Religious symbols and rituals were/are clearly defined
and
strictly adhered to. Anyone not following the strict laws of the male
gods were
either cast out of society or killed. Today, disobedient people are
still
shunned and excommunicated from their patriarchal churches. •Women
were/are
seen as inferior to men in every way. They were/are not allowed to have
as much
religious, political, or legal power as men. Educational opportunities
were/are
limited or completely denied, (modern-day Afghanistan where they are
forbidden
to attend school or to learn to read). •Marriage
to
one man was/is strictly enforced and was/is difficult or impossible to
end. The
Catholic church frowns on divorce, even from a man who rapes and beats
"his" wife. •Women were/are considered to be male property,
especially their uteruses. Hence, obsessive male stalking and murder of
women
who leave them (If I can't have her, no one can, etc.) All male gods
had/have
strict rules against women's sexual habits, including birth control and
abortion. Having many children is a source of male pride, hence
overpopulation.
George W. Bush cut funding for abortion and birth control in
impoverished
nations. •Men's sexuality was encouraged and exalted. Their pleasures
are
guaranteed by the economic power they had/have over women, often a
matter of
life and death for impoverished women. •Weapons designed for violence
and
destruction were/are abundant. Defense fortifications were/are standard
features due to constant warfare. •Only select (perfect male) children
were
always allowed to live. Female infants were/are left to die or were/are
sold as
child prostitutes or slaves. Trafficking girls for the sex trade is
booming due
to the Internet. Female fetuses are aborted in China, where sons are
favored,
and girls are often killed. • Arts, sciences and life enhancing
technologies
are usually inferior to those of the Goddess cultures. The media,
movies and
literature are obsessed with violence and carnage. Men killing women
are often
part of movie plots. Hard-core pornography featuring the torture and
killing of
women (snuff films) is rampant. • Men's activities were/are encouraged.
Most
news is men talking about what men are doing. Men control ALL the power
institutions (finance, military, technology, education, government,
medicine,
and religion the most powerful of all since it controls by fear of
god's
punishment — the Big Cop in the Sky. (Now that surveillance technology
is so
advanced, is god obsolete? |