Are religions unfair to women?

Post Reply New Topic

You didn't snort. Your post doesn't count.



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYX_j9828Rc[/youtube]

...............................................................................................................................*SNORT*

Behind every successful man there is a woman.

Behind every successful man is a woman. Behind her is his wife.

Buddhism has patriarchal aspects to it that are discirminatory against woman.

Not to mention the fact that the Buddha himself is male as well ofcourse.

Tolerance, free thinking and open mindedness in general are aspects I don't immediately associate with religion.

....As told in "The First Buddhist Women," the Buddha originally refused to ordain women as nuns. He said that allowing women into the sangha would cause his teachings to survive only half as long –- 500 years instead of a 1,000.

The Buddha's cousin Ananda asked if there was any reason women could not realize enlightenment and enter Nirvana as well as men. The Buddha admitted there was no reason a woman could not be enlightened. "Women, Ananda, having gone forth are able to realize the fruit of stream-attainment or the fruit of once-returning or the fruit of non-returning or arahantship," he said.

Unequal Rules for Nuns

The Vinaya-pitaka section of the Tripitaka (Pali Canon) records the original rules of discipline for monks and nuns. A bhikkuni (nun) has rules in addition to those given to a bhikku (monk). These include subordination to monks; the most senior nuns are to be considered "junior" to a monk of one day.

Some scholars point to discrepancies between the Pali Bhikkuni Vinaya (the section of the Pali Canon dealing with the rules for nuns) and other versions of the texts, and suggest the more odious rules were added after the Buddha's death. Wherever they came from, over the centuries the rules were used in many parts of Asia to discourage women from being ordained.

When the orders of nuns died out in India and Sri Lanka centuries ago, conservatives used the rules that called for monks and nuns to be present at nuns’ ordination to prevent the institution of new orders. Only recently has the ordination problem been solved by allowing properly ordained nuns from other parts of Asia to travel to ordination ceremonies. However, the establishment of nuns' orders in Tibet, where there had been no nuns before, for some time met with resistance. Even today, in some parts of Asia nuns receive less education and financial support than monks....

...the Larger Sukhavati-vyuha Sutra, also called the Aparimitayur Sutra, is one of three sutras that provide the doctrinal basis of the Pure Land school. This sutra contains a passage usually interpreted to mean that women must be reborn as men before they can enter Nirvana.

On the other hand, the Vimilakirti Sutra teaches that maleness and femaleness, like other phenomenal distinctions, are essentially unreal. "With this in mind, the Buddha said, ’In all things, there is neither male nor female.’" The Vimilakirti is an essential text in several Mahayana schools, including Tibetan and Zen Buddhism....

...Today, Buddhist women in the West generally consider institutional sexism to be vestiges of Asian culture that can be surgically excised from dharma. Some western monastic orders are co-ed, with men and women following the same rules....

I think that most religions are extremely patriarchal and mysoginous.

That is one of the reasons why I have a bit of a problem with them. An example of that mysogynie is the fact that all of the most important religious figures are male. From Jesus to Mohammed. I have had an on and off interest in Buddhism as a way of life for a relatively long time but even Buddhism has patriarchal aspects to it that are discirminatory against woman. Not to mention the fact that the Buddha himself is male as well ofcourse.

Late last week, the Dalai Lama said during a visit to Australia that the next Dalai Lama could very well be a woman. In speaking to reporters about how the world needs more compassionate leaders today, he said that “biologically, females have more potential…females have more sensitivity about others’ well being.” As a result, he said, “if the circumstances are such that a female Dalai Lama is more useful, then automatically a female Dalai Lama will come.”

I wonder when the Catholics will have their first female pope?

*SNOOOOORT!*[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZoTn_hxAMc[/youtube]

Well, missionaries did go around the world to proclaim the word that women had to cover up their titties. So, of course that's unfair to women. And, unfair to men, too, given the lengths that we have to go to just to behold a pair.

Speak for yourself! That's the one privilege I'm almost NEVER denied.

So, in your church, the women have to show their titties? That's one way of increasing attendance.

If the female choir members have to sing while nude, then the women won't have to nag their husbands at all to get ready for church cum Sunday morning. The men will be all dressed up, and sitting in the car waiting.

What does church have to do with anything?