Is Islam Evil? - Part VI

Sexism in Genesis

In Genesis, Jehovah is represented as a male, even though Jehovah has no body and thus cannot be either male or female.  I have argued that this aspect of Genesis is sexist, and, assuming that Genesis was written under the guidance and inspiration of Jehovah, this shows Jehovah to be a sexist for promoting sexism.  

Based on this information, Jehovah either believed that women are morally or intellectually inferior to men and thus Jehovah held a false belief about human beings, thus Jehovah was a false god, or else Jehovah did not believe that women are morally or intellectually inferior to men, in which case Jehovah was being unfair and unkind towards women by promoting sexism, and thus Jehovah was not a perfectly good person, and was a false god.

The false representation of Jehovah as a male is not the only evidence of sexism in the book of Genesis.  There are other examples of sexism that provide further confirmation of the claim that Jehovah was a sexist.  For example in Genesis Chapter 2, Jehovah creates various animals for the sake of the first man, Adam, and brings each animal to Adam to be evaluated and named by Adam.  Finally, Jehovah creates the first woman, also for the sake of the first man, and also brings the first woman to Adam to be evaluated and named by Adam.  

This story is sexist because it represents the reason why Jehovah created women as being for the sake of men, and because it states that Jehovah brought the first woman to the first man in order for her to be evaluated and named by him, indicating that men are supposed to rule over women, just as humans were to rule over all animals.

Genesis indicates that women were created for the sake of men:

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." (Gen. 2:18, NRSV)

This verse implies that men have value and worth inherently, but that the value and worth of women derives from their being of value or of benefit to men.  Thus, this verse promotes sexism.  It promotes the idea that women are inferior to men, and that women should serve the needs and desires of men.

The comment by Jehovah in this verse is clearly sexist, but those who have difficulty seeing this should consider if the shoe had been on the other foot:

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the woman should be alone; I will make her a helper as her partner."  (Gen. 2:18, with genders reversed)

There are further indications of sexism in this Chapter of Genesis.  Jehovah brings each animal to Adam, to be evaluated and named by Adam:

So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. (Gen. 2:19-20, NRSV)

Jehovah then creates the first woman, from Adam's rib, and then, as with the previous animals, brings the woman to Adam to be evaluated and named by Adam:

And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. (Gen. 2:22, NRSV)

Thus not only are the non-human animals indicated to be inferior to humans and under the rule of humans, but women are by analogy indicated to be inferior to men and under the rule of men.

In Genesis Chapter 1, Jehovah puts animals under the authority of humans:

God blessed them [humans], and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." (Gen. 1:28, NRSV)

When Jehovah brings each animal to Adam to be evaluated and named by Adam, this is a symbol of the placement of humankind in authority over all animals:

Adam earlier had named the animals, which was a demonstration of his authority over them.  Here his naming of Eve suggests Adam's position of rule, as referred to in verse 16.  In the ancient world when one king placed a vassal king on the throne, a new name would often be given to demonstrate the overlord's dominion.  Likewise, when God enters covenant relationships with Abram and Jacob, he changes their names.
(The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walton, Victor Matthews, and Mark Chavalas, IVP, 2000, p.33)

In Genesis Chapter 1 Jehovah also had named aspects of the universe and the earth to show his authority over creation:

God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. (Gen. 1:5, NRSV)

God called the dome Sky. (Gen. 1:8, NRSV)

God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. (Gen. 1:10, NRSV)

In ancient cultures and in various biblical passages, including passages in Genesis, we see naming as a sign of authority of the name-giver over the person or thing that is named: 

God's separation of light from darkness and his naming them (1:4-5), like his other acts of separating and naming (1:6, 8, 10, 14, 18), are the acts of a sovereign who determines the destinies of his subordinates. 
(The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, Oxford Univ. Press, 2001, p.43)


The naming of the animals by the human being (vv. 19-20) is the narrator's way of indicating human dominion over the created world (as in 1:28-30); it recalls the divine name giving in Genesis 1. 
(HarperCollins Bible Commentary, Revised edition, James Mays, general editor,  HarperSanFrancisco, 2000, p.86)

Thus the author of Genesis, who we are assuming was guided and inspired by Jehovah, promoted sexism by telling a story in which Adam first gives names to various non-human animals, and then gives a name to the first woman.  

Furthermore, assuming that the actions of Jehovah are correctly described by the author of Genesis, Jehovah intended for this to be the case.  Jehovah brought the animals to Adam in order to get Adam to name the animals, and Jehovah brought the first woman to Adam in order to get Adam to name the first woman.  So, Jehovah was complicit in promoting sexism in two respects: (1) by influencing Adam to perform an action that suggests Adam's superiority to, and authority over, Eve, and (2) by guiding the author of Genesis to record this event in such a way that would promote the idea that men were superior to women and that men should have authority over women.

Again, either Jehovah is omniscient or not.  If omniscient, then Jehovah knows that men are not morally or intellectually superior to women, and so do not deserve to be given authority over women.  In this case Jehovah was being unfair and unkind towards women, and Jehovah is a sexist for promoting sexism and discrimination against women, even though Jehovah knows better.  If Jehovah was unfair and unkind towards women, then Jehovah is not a perfectly good person, and Jehovah would be a false god.  

If, on the other hand, Jehovah is not omniscient, then  Jehovah might be excused for holding the false belief that women are inferior to men, as we might excuse ancient Hebrew men for having held such false beliefs.   But if Jehovah held such false beliefs, then Jehovah is a sexist for holding such beliefs and promoting such beliefs, and Jehovah is also a false god, for being fallible and less than omniscient.

Either way, Jehovah is a sexist, and Jehovah is a false god.  Since Jehovah is a false god, Jesus was a false prophet, and Christianity is a false religion.

To be continued...