A handbook of Freethought

by Unknown

Jesus and Paul were celibates, and their teachings and practice in regard to woman, have done her incalculable wrong.

The man is not of the woman, but the woman is of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman (was created) for the man. ([1 Cor. 11 : 8, 9].)

Paul gets this idea from the mythical story of creation in Genesis.

In that childish story God is represented as making woman as “an help meet,” for Adam. Indeed her creation does not seem to have been intended at all, but the Creator seeing that it was not good for man to be alone, “caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took out one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead: And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.” ([Gen. 2 : 21, 22].) Woman was an afterthought to the Lords of creation then, and she is an afterthought to the lords of creation now.

In that ancient myth woman was doomed to perpetual servitude because she was of an investigating turn of mind, and sought to know good and evil. The sentence was, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” ([Gen. 3 : 16].)

Neither Jesus nor Paul proclaimed the dignity of marriage, or discerned the necessity of enlarging the sphere of woman. Jesus shared the common sentiments of his age, and looked upon the marriage relation as incompatible with the establishment of the kingdom of heaven. He deemed it necessary to call his disciples away from their families, and even to advise the men to make eunuchs of themselves if they were able to do so. ([Mat. 19 : 12].) In his teachings on the question of divorce, he is far from perceiving the even-handed justice which the case demands. He says ([Mark 10 : 11, 12]) that if either the husband or the wife put away one the other and marry again, commits adultery. All second marriages would therefore be unlawful according to this teaching. In Matthew ([5 : 32]) he permits the husband to put away the wife for the crime of fornication, but makes no provision for the wife to put away the husband for the same offense. His disciples received an unfavorable impression of marriage, and after listening to him on this subject, they suggested: “If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.” ([Mat. 19 : 10].) How could these plain people have misunderstood him upon a subject with so little chance for misapprehension?

Paul’s teachings were adverse to the marital relations: “Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.” ([1 Cor. 7 : 27].)

“It is better to marry than to burn.” ([1 Cor. 7 : 9].) What an idea of marriage! He does not have the least conception of love, or of the higher and refining joys of the conjugal relation. But permits him who cannot keep himself from beastliness to marry. In this his judgment is remarkably short-sighted, for he does not regard the sacrifice which the woman must make who marries the beast. He looks upon woman as a mere safety-valve for men’s passions,—her rights are not considered: she has no rights. He will permit man to marry, but young widows he denounces as heaping up damnation to themselves in marrying: “But the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry having damnation, because they cast off their first faith.” ([1 Tim. 5 : 11, 12].) To marry was to wax wanton against Christ, which was nothing less than damnation! But old widows who were above sixty years of age could join the church if they had “been the wife of one man” and “had washed the saints’ feet.” ([1 Tim. 5 : 9, 10].) I wonder what he thought of rejecting all young widowers, and accepting none under sixty years of age, and only those of them who had washed their grandmother’s feet?

Paul not only advocates celibacy which is an evil to woman, but where the marriage relation exists he insists upon the subjection of woman to her husband: “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands;” ([1 Peter 3 : 1].) “Obedient to their own husbands;” ([Titus 2 : 5].) “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection;” ([1 Tim. 2 : 11].) “Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be (subject) to their own husbands in everything.” ([Eph. 5 : 24].)

The reasons given for woman’s subjection are, “The man is not of the woman, but the woman is of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman (was created) for the man.” ([1 Cor. 11 : 8, 9].) “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.” Wherefore? Because “Adam was first formed, then Eve.” “And Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” ([1 Tim. 2 : 11–14].) Woman has always been the guilty cause of man’s great misfortune. Adam was not to blame but Eve was the guilty one. Lot was innocent but his daughters were fearfully wicked. Joseph did not tempt anyone, but his master’s wife tempted him. Job, dear man, was all patience, but his wife flew into a rage, and tried to have him curse God and die. Solomon, the pure-hearted and single-minded man of seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines was inspired to say, “One man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all these have I not found.” ([Eccl. 7 : 28].)