Written by karla rove   

In the comment section about the latest Rape-gate freudian slip on Reader Supported News, "The Real Republican Rape Platform“ someone named the Republican Party the "Pro Rape Party”, finally someone calling a spade a spade. Of course, I had to add my two cents to the discussion, and side tracked me from researching an article I'm currently working on why we need tax reform in this country. Phoenix police chaplain John South wanted to know what bible Mourdock reads because “what he’s saying is absolutely wrong. It’s not biblical." Perhaps it's not the Bible Mr. South; it's just the old church teachings, written by men. At one time rape was a penalty punishable by death in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 22:25-27). But that was before "forcible rape", "legitimate rape" , "gift from God rape", "rape, another form of conception" and a different kind of rape, taking away your right to live: "There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing." (quoting Congressman Joe Walsh)

Their party view is women are mere vessels subject to men's will, and rape is clearly one of them.

It's quite evident there are repressed sexual issues here with these guys - Bill Napoli gives us a glimpse into his private sexual fantasies - the carefully crafted details give it away: "A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life." The comments also reveal the truth about why this is called a "War on Women." These men clearly do not respect women, nor see them as a human being like themselves. The darling of Western theology St. Augustine has contributed to this misogyny. His beliefs on this issue were so extreme that he considered a man’s erection to be sinful because it did not take place under his conscious control. His solution was to place controls on women to limit their ability to influence men (we all know how well that works): “Thus the woman, but not the man, should veil herself to prevent her from causing this sinful response in the male." His writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity, he framed the concepts of original sin and just war:

St. Augustine - “What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must be aware of in any woman….I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children.”

This issue about the misogyny and the war on women in this country must be addressed. Religious traditions are preaching and teaching intolerance based on religious doctrine from the past where women were considered "slaves" (see quote from St. Augustine below). It's time to come into the 21st century. St. Augustine is not the only highly regarded theologian who, through the teachings of the Christian church continues to promote the misogyny in the United States. Religious beliefs are the foundation of the platform of oppression and war on women. To understand the status of women currently and historically, read the quotes below. These quotes demonstrate why a separation of Church and State is so important to maintain our Constitution:

St. Tertullian (about 155 to 225 CE) - “Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the Devil's gateway: You are the unsealer of the forbidden tree: You are the first deserter of the divine law: You are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God's image, man. On account of your desert even the Son of God had to die."
Ambrosiaster, On 1 Corinthians 14, 34 - "Women must cover their heads because they are not the image of God . . . How can anyone maintain that woman is the likeness of God when she is demonstrably subject to the dominion of man and has no kind of authority? For she can neither teach nor be a witness in a court nor exercise citizenship nor be a judge-then certainly not exercise dominion.”
Martin Luther (1483 to 1546) - "If they [women] become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth, that's why they are there."
St. Thomas Aquinas (1224 to 1275 CE) - "As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence."
St. Augustine, - again (354 to 430 CE) Questions on the Heptateuch, Book I, § 153: - “It is the natural order among people that women serve their husbands and children and their parents, because the justice of this lies in (the principle that) the lesser serves the greater . . . This is the natural justice that the weaker brain serve the stronger. This therefore is the evident justice in the relationships between slaves and their masters that they who excel in reason, excel in power.”


In January, 2011, Congress read the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceable to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievance."

OK, this proves they can read, but they don't understand what they are reading, or do they? Or maybe they don't believe it means for everyone, just for them.

Certainly not for women, otherwise this discourse wouldn't be going on, and I could go back to writing about the inequities in our tax laws. But, the right for women to control their own bodies is a far more important economic issue.

Reality check - today is October 25, 2012 CE, not 354 CE, that was 1658 years ago. Time to come out of the Dark Ages.

If you go to my web site, the links to quote are included.