The Bible is sexist.

Thank you for accepting, and I’m looking forward to hearing your opinions too. Before I get into my opening argument, I have to make something clear. I don’t believe that Christians are sexist. In fact, many churches around the world today are as close to gender equality as you can get. As the title implies, this debate is exclusively going to center around the book we English-speakers call the Bible, which some believe to be divinely inspired. I trust that my opponent knows this, but I don’t want to seem intolerant towards Christianity in general. The Bible is a collection of loosely related books written from around 600 BC to 100 AD. So it reflects the values of its times, including views on women. In this period, and long afterward, the female was seen as inferior, and she was expected to obey her husband and trust his judgment above even her own. The Good Book encourages this view with great enthusiasm. The Old Testament If we’re looking at this from a Christian perspective, which we are by even including the New Testament, it’s almost pointless to include the Old. However, by looking at one Jewish fable, we can learn how the Biblical authors justified their prejudice. Even in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, we can find the story behind why women are relegated to second place. Eve, the first woman, is tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, and convinces her husband to do the same. So the fall of mankind was caused by a woman. When God discovers their crimes, he is furious, but just before exiling them from Eden, he has something to say to Eve. He tells her “Your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16) Clearly, this applies to all women, not just Eve, because God also gave her the pains of childbirth in the verse right before, and creates mortality for the both of them right after. Whether or not the Biblical story of creation is a true one, God has set the relationship between husband and wife as one between master and slave. I personally believe that the Book of Genesis is a work of fiction, but I can see how this story would have been a useful tool for husbands in ancient Hebrew culture. If one’s wife is acting unruly or disobedient, simply tell her the story behind why God says he gets to “rule over her”. From that point on, the sexist society of the Old Testament narrative is more implicit than explicit. I could name a hundred verses where men casually trade around their wives and daughters like livestock, or a hundred laws about stoning women for not being virgins, but there is a character count to worry about. Besides, I don’t want to create a distraction from my main argument, which is based in the letters of Paul. The New Testament Saint Paul of Tarsus defined Christianity as we know it today, and his letters make up most of what we call the New Testament. Jesus was silent about gender relations, and while women play an important role in his life, this doesn’t necessarily mean anything. But Paul has quite a lot to say about the ladies, and remember, Christians believe that he was inspired by God himself. In his first letter to the Corinthians, when giving instructions on public worship, Paul remarks that “women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in a church.” (1 Corinthians 14:34-36) Why is it shameful for a woman to speak in church? He doesn’t really say, but this verse is crystal clear, with no other possible interpretation. It even makes a reference to “the law”, the Laws of Moses which came from God on Mount Sinai, and its call for female inferiority. Paul even condescendingly adds that if a woman is confused on a spiritual matter, she should just ask her husband, whether or not he knows anything about this very new religion. That’s right folks, mansplaining is a virtue. Another epistle of Paul is the one sent to the Ephesians, and at one point in the letter, he explains how a Christian household ought to be run. “Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.” (Ephesians 5:22-24) This seems a little extreme even for its times. We’ve heard women described as property, slaves, and nuisances. But to say that she must obey her husband like she obeys God? That sounds almost blasphemous, but it can’t be if it is the word of God. So it’s not only in church in which women must shut up and listen to the men speak. Wives must obey their husbands, no matter what, and again, no room for any other interpretation. But let’s examine the context. After telling the women what to do, it tells the men what to do: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” (Ephesians 5:25) Men should love their wives, which isn’t a bad message, but women should dedicate their entire lives to waiting on their husband’s every whim. That hardly seems equal. The final verse I will cite comes from Paul’s first letter to his friend Timothy, instructing him on how to run his own ministry. In the middle of instructing him on how prayer should be done, he goes on a sort of sexist rant: “Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” (1 Timothy 2:11-14) If anyone was skeptical of my argument that the Bible justifies its sexism with the Adam and Eve fable, here it is from the pen of one of Christianity’s most influential figures. According to the Bible, it’s abominable for a woman to have authority over a man. It goes against natural law. Instead of sharing knowledge as equals, women must keep silent and listen to their hairy masters, whether or not they’re actually more intelligent. The very next verse seems positive, but I will demonstrate why it promotes an incredibly sexist worldview: “Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.” (1 Timothy 2:15) Yes, woman has a very special job assigned to her by God. The job of a broodmare. So long as a woman pops out plenty of cute babies, she is doing her Christian duty. But be immodest? Become a cleric, as men are allowed to? Ask a question in church? Disobey, talk back to, or even question her husband? Have any goals or aspirations that the men in her family wouldn’t like? Those are sins that put her straight on the path to Hell. All these quotations can speak for themselves. The Bible shuns women, and portrays them as completely inferior to men. And the Bible’s sexism has had harmful effects over thousands of years of history, but we don’t need to go into that. And that ends my first argument. Looking forward to hearing Con’s rebuttal! Sources:The Bible (New Revised Standard Version)