Women's Rights and Religion

[FiniteImmortal]

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Pineapple, I hope I'm not coming off as attacking your view, I'm just trying to engage the points that you made. Your view is yours, and you are entitled to believe how you see fit.

My main point is that real "rights" by actual definition cannot be redistributed. It is impossible to do so. You have a right to believe what you want. If some governing body votes as a majority that you no longer have that right, it doesn't change the fact that you still do. If a society decides that Jews need to be eradicated from the earth, that doesn't mean that Jews no longer have a right to life and liberty. It means men have put them in the place of God to decide who lives and dies, and end up committing atrocities unimaginable against life and truth.
Rights don't come from the bible, the right to life and liberty still existed for the humans that lived before the bible was even written, just as the rights of Americans existed just the same before the Constitution was written to protect them. The right of human kind to life, liberty and the pursuit happiness is a truth that is held universally to be self-evident.
I wholeheartedly disagree that the bible condones slavery and ignores human rights, I'd be interested in reading some commentary on that. I read a common thread of freedom from the slavery and addiction of sin, and that humanity at its core is sacred and worth upholding and protecting at all costs.
I'm not sure why it is so morally repugnant to suggest that people have essential worth, and are more that that sum of our parts, and that we are made to love and be loved.

When I hold by newborn, should I remind myself that it is really just a bag of guts, and a needy inconvenience that needs its disgusting diaper changed way too often? We must be very careful here. When we drop the sanctity of life and trade it in for material evolution and nothing else, we walk down a very treacherous slope that other societies have gone down. Unfortunately, the ones that can't protect themselves, like infants and the elderly are the first to go, followed by other inconvenient undesirables. Take a look at Africa, Syria, Albania, and of course 1940's Germany and Poland.
When we debunk everything we shouldn't file a grievance with God and complain that there is no wonder or beauty left in the world. Truth exist, regardless of our legislation or sales of it, as do rights. We can't reallocate them any more than we can reallocate gravity.

FiniteImmortal- You seem to be woefully underinformed. Atheists are exactly the same as you...except for that pesky god attribution you subscribe shit to. For instance, I can see the beauty of childbirth, even while knowing it's 'only' a natural phenomenon. Bag of guts? No doubt. 'Only' a bag of guts? Not even close. I personally don't dwell on the science of light diffraction when witnessing a rainbow. I just enjoy. Actually, I suppose I could argue I enjoy it more than any christian...assuming the christian is 'wasting the scenery' on praising a non-existant god.

Its funny how we are actual more similar than different. When the imagery of "praising god" come up in our minds, most of us see a syrupy-sweet slick talker in a suit palming some old lady on the head and speaking with a ridiculous tone. It bums me out to have to perpetually fend off this automatic lumping-in with fakery. When I see a rainbow, I too ponder the wonder of light refraction, after all i work with optics for a living. It is two fold for me, to enjoy a sunset or a mountain top, because I can appreciate the amazing complexity and beauty in the world around us, and also see that same Majesty in a personal deity who character reflects the wonder I see. I think we all instinctively "praise" when we are confronted with enormous beauty, before I came to realign my own thinking, I praised nature, though I didn't feel nature or an empty material universe caring if i did or not. When i hear an amazing guitarist or see an amazing painter, I can't resit going up at telling him," man, that is truly bad-ass".