Deconstructing Christianity And The Patriarchy
Do you ever find it strange that the base theology of monotheistic religion is an unconditionally loving and radically accepting God, and yet the religious devotees continue to be at the forefront of hate crimes?
I consider the arguments surrounding abortion to be a hate crime against women.
And obviously, all the times our brothers and sisters are attacked or killed at gay bars are hate crimes.
And our transgender and non-binary siblings who have daily threats on their lives or are killed are hate crimes.
Have you heard that religion is responsible for more deaths than all wars combined?
Well, not quite. It is estimated that 150 million to 1 billion people have died in wars throughout history (Hedges). However, some say the church has been responsible for 195,035,000 deaths in the name of religion (How many people have been killed in the name of religion?). That may not be more than 1 billion, but that’s more than five times all abortions—worldwide (Abortions worldwide this year). Ironic that abortion continues to be at the forefront of conversation while the church’s victims are whitewashed and buried in propaganda.
In real life, the Catholic Church has been responsible for the sexual exploitation of 330,000 minors (The Associated Press). And that’s just the Catholic Church. There are more than 45,000 different denominations of Christianity (Coffey). If every church abused 330,000 kids, it would be more than 148 million victims, which is still 47 million less than the total deaths from religion.
The church, just in Europe, killed 43,000 women accused of witchcraft (Guardian News and Media). What’s witchcraft? At the time, it was the study of herbs, science, dreams, and anyone free-thinking. In the United States during the Salem Witch trials, “witches” could have been anyone accidentally hallucinating on an LSD-like substance found in moldy bread, called ergot (Wilford).
In southern America, 10-12 million people were enslaved to Christians (Mintz). Christians backed this belief with scripture—because slavery is in the bible (Blum). They also used hell as a tool to keep the slaves obedient, by giving them a greater fear of the afterlife than the current torment they endured (Berstein). The passages in Genesis 9 continue to be used as justification for white supremacy, as the children of god were called to enslave the Canaanites, and thus this was later used to enslave the African people (Bembry). And, in case you weren’t aware of Morman culture, Mormons teach their constituents that the “Mark of Cain”, a punishment for murdering his brother Abel, in the Old Testament was that of black skin (Wikimedia Foundation).
Between 2019 and 2020, (and this is just reported hate crimes, many are never reported) 2,765 people were involved in a hate crime as a result of their religion, 2,305 were involved in a hate crime due to their sexual orientation, and 464 were involved in a hate crime due to their gender identity.
Writing this as of 2022, Since 2015, 151 transgender and gender non-conforming people have been violently murdered.
Checking on my numbers again in 2023, 59 fatalities were tracked in 2021. 32 transgender and non-gender conforming individuals were killed in 2022 (Schoenbaum). According to another source, 41 were fatally shot or wounded (Fatal violence against the transgender and gender non-conforming community in 2022).
In 2021, 712,990 LGBTQ youth ages 13-24 attempted suicide. The Trevor Project estimates that 1 LGBTQ youth ages 13-24 attempts suicide every 45 seconds in the US. LGBTQ youth are 4x more likely to attempt suicide compared to their peers—not because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but because of the prejudice they deal with daily. Having just ONE affirming adult can lower the risk of suicide by 40%.
“In 2023, Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are at significantly increased risk. LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers. The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth (13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. — and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds.
The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth” (Facts about LGBTQ youth suicide).
Pulling it all together, the foundation of monotheistic religions is that of an unconditionally loving and radically accepting God, and yet “his children” continue to perpetuate hate crimes, violence, and prejudice today just as they have for centuries. This is because the basis of monotheistic religions is not an unconditionally loving and radically accepting God at all, it is that of a white and male God. And as long as you are white, male, and marching to the tune of the patriarchy set in place for us by our white, male ancestors, everyone gets along. But as soon as anyone, especially a minority, steps out of line and starts resisting the patriarchal norm, all hell breaks loose.
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Let’s play a game, a thought experiment if you will. I am going to write some commonly debated topics below, but then we’re going to change the wording slightly.
Women cannot have equal rights because this offends [___]
Minorities cannot have equal rights because this offends [___].
LGBTQIA+ cannot have equal rights because this offends [___].
Women cannot have abortions because this offends [___].
The [___] gets away with it because the [___] controls the money, the medicine, the government, the military, and the church.
Now, what word(s) came to mind?
Try reading it with the following:
the church
the government
the patriarchy
They are all the same. It is a deep-rooted supremacy in our society. The church, the government, the patriarchy—it is all the white man, as the Native Americans called them (What Indians called white people).
However, as much as the white man tries, the white man can never control nature–not the water, not the air and space, not the fire, not the earth, and not the Great Spirit–the true God.
The white man uses big words and systems like “government” “science” “religion” and “the church” to orchestrate control over us, and we allow it to happen because it is hair-raising to stand up to the white man. The white man won’t give up his power–and why should he? He’s been in power far too long to give up now. Things are just getting good again–for the white man. War is approaching, and those who are sensitive are caving under the pressure. It’s only a matter of time before a global government, a totalitarian white man, arises. The white man calls this the antichrist.
So what do we do? The white man has to fight the white man. Stop participating. Change the narrative for those who do not have a voice. Let it be known that you are for the people, and not just for the white man. Create a new shift for the benefit and empowerment of all involved, not just the white man. Unite with your siblings, and lead us out of this patriarchy. Reclaim power, and establish a matriarchy, protected by the patriarchy. We need more white men to break glass ceilings.
This is not to say that your neighbor, Bob, a white man, is the problem. However, if Bob, Dave, and Paul stand idly by while women in their workplace are being sexually harassed, or if they make off-color jokes about non-white men, then yes, Bob is part of the problem.
We don’t want white men in the white house, on the TV, or in the church, anymore. We want a diversity of color, gender, languages, sexuality, and cultural backgrounds. White men, you can give this to us, if you stand up for us.
We want women in power, protected by men.
We want Native Americans and minorities in power, protected by men.
We want LGBTQIA+ people in power, protected by men.
Men, we are asking for you to protect us. Give us power, and protect that power with your life. We will nurture you, and together we will heal our hearts and purge ourselves of poison. We are not asking for you to give up your power, we are asking you to rise to the occasion with the power you already possess. Help us, and we will honor you.
Love & Light
SE
Check my sources:
Abortions worldwide this year. Worldometer. (n.d.). https://www.worldometers.info/abortions/
Bembry, J. (n.d.). Justifying slavery via Genesis 9:20-27: The vicious legacy of racist interpretation of the Bible. Stone-Campbell journal. https://ixtheo.de/Record/1727473183
Berstein, A. E. (2017, June). 3 The Punishments: Slavery, Torture, and Hell. Oxford Academic Cornell Scholarship Online. https://academic.oup.com/cornell-scholarship-online/book/22724/chapter-abstract/183137127?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Blum, E. J. (2017, July). “It Is True in More Senses Than One, That Slavery Rests upon Hell!” Embodiment, Experience, and Evil in African American Discussions of Slavery and Slaveholders. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/institutionSearch
Coffey, D. (2022, July 29). Why does Christianity have so many denominations? LiveScience. https://www.livescience.com/christianity-denominations.html
Cole, J. (1962, September 1). Did Christians kill thirty to fifty times as many people in political violence as Muslims in the 20th century? Skeptics Stack Exchange. https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/34270/did-christians-kill-thirty-to-fifty-times-as-many-people-in-political-violence-a
Facts about LGBTQ youth suicide. The Trevor Project. (2023, September 7). https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/
Fatal violence against the transgender and gender non-conforming community in 2022. Human Rights Campaign. (n.d.). https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-community-in-2022
Guardian News and Media. (2018, January 7). Why Europe’s wars of religion put 40,000 “witches” to a terrible death. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/07/witchcraft-economics-reformation-catholic-protestant-market-share
Hedges, C. (2003, July 6). “what every person should know about war.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/books/chapters/what-every-person-should-know-about-war.html#:~:text=Estimates%20for%20the%20total%20number,men%20away%20from%20their%20wives.
How many people have been killed in the name of religion? Reddit. (n.d.). https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/33tofh/how_many_people_have_been_killed_in_the_name_of/?rdt=41847
Mintz, S. (n.d.). The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Historical Context: Facts about the Slave Trade and Slavery | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teacher-resources/historical-context-facts-about-slave-trade-and-slavery
Schoenbaum, H. (2022, November 16). The report says at least 32 transgender people were killed in the U.S. in 2022. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/report-says-at-least-32-transgender-people-were-killed-in-the-u-s-in-2022
The Associated Press. (2021, October 5). About 333,000 children were abused within France’s Catholic Church, a report finds. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/05/1043302348/france-catholic-church-sexual-abuse-report-children#:~:text=PARIS%20%E2%80%94%20An%20estimated%20330%2C000%20children,accounting%20of%20the%20worldwide%20phenomenon.
What Indians called white people. Tom Benjey’s Weblog. (2014, January 14). https://tombenjey.com/2008/09/12/what-indians-called-white-people/
Wilford, J. N. (1976, March 31). Salem Witch Hunts in 1692 linked to LSD‐like agent. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/31/archives/salem-witch-hunts-in-1692-linked-to-lsdlike-agent-salem-witch-hunts.html
Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, October 17). Black people and Mormonism. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people_and_Mormonism#:~:text=Smith’s%20canonized%20scripture%20the%20Pearl,African%20you%20ever%20did%20see%22.