“Religion misoverstood is poison“-Nas, ‘What Goes Around’

When I published my initial entry regarding the doctrine of submission, it was not my intention to do multiple installments on the subject. However the discussions that ensued provoked more thoughts.

I suppose if I wanted to I could go on and on about it. I could argue with people about submission in Christianity and Islam. We could debate the “context”(insert eye roll here) regarding what the Scriptures say about submission and gender. We could debate the “real meaning” of said Scriptures. But at a certain point it becomes irrelevant.

The doctrine of submission isn’t just some abstract idea. It is taught in the real world. There are life and death consequences of submission, especially for women and children. I think of all the women-past,present and future-that are harmed by this nonsense. I think of the women whose bodies and minds are battered by it. I think of the pastors, priests and imams who give women horrible and damaging advice in the name of God and submission. I think of the brainwashed, foolish women who defend an ideology that harms their own sisters. And I have something I’d like to say to them.

To all who defend the patriarchal bullshit of traditional conservative Christianity and Islam, I have a clear message for you. In the words of my man Cee-Lo, FUCK YOU. Fuck you and your primitive, ass backwards mentality. The doctrine that you teach, and the fact that you claim it’s divine, brings unbearable misery to women and children around the globe.

Think of the victims of submission.

Think of the woman crying with fresh bruises all over her body, courtesy of her husband who has been raised to believe he’s doing as God commands.

Think of the young children, who witnessed the beating and are cowering in fear.

Think of the middle-aged woman in Southern Africa, dying from a completely preventable disease known as AIDS.  Think of the children this mother will leave behind, deprived of their mother too soon.

Are my words harsh and cruel? Yes, they certainly are. But my words are tame compared to the reality that women across the globe continue to endure in the name of God and man.