Vermont is once again ranked as the least religious state in the country. Over half the people in our state are less likely to believe in God than the rest of the country. However, being the least religious state doesn’t stop the sectarian denominations from their power struggles for domain over man, land and beast. The upshot is that our state is a target for overt religious proselytizing.
Unfortunately, throughout recorded history there is no question that humans have paid a terrible price for the faith of others. No matter what perceived benefits, real or imagined, one might get from depending on belief to “sustain them through the good and sometimes not-so-good moments in life,” the combined effect of, not just religion but “faith-dependency” itself, has done far more harm than good.
When you factor in the arrogance of missionaries who claim that everyone is a child of “God” and “He” has a plan for us, they are in-as-much telling humanity that they have no choice in the matter. In their view, you are a child of god, he has a plan for you – whether you like or not – and that’s that.
Since we are not trained to recognize that Judaism, Christianity and Islam are fundamentally one religious ship-of-state, the destructive in-fighting can never go away between what is essentially a single monolithic father-centered family of believers.
Additionally, by convincing their followers that their particular denomination is in fact the true religion who worships the true god, there can never be peace on this earth. Indeed, faith of our fathers has been and remains one of the most divisive and dangerous forces in human behavior.
But the real horror is that because Judaism, Christianity and Islam are steadfastly patriarchal, the resultant single-greatest “holocaust” known to man is the story of women. What human being, man or woman, with any sense of decency could enable and perpetuate these pathological religions?
Moreover, how can this religious ship-of-state command the respect and adherence of women when it subjugates women, treats them like chattel, biblically condemns them as “unclean,” subjects them to unspeakable abuse, and trashes them as second-class citizens, or worse?
What is more, the most troubling dynamic is the ongoing history of women being unable to breakaway. In the modern era, women may be urged to try and change from within, but few women cut themselves loose from the collective of patriarchal religions.
Until women can rise from kneeling to a man-god mythos and assert her rightful and equal place, gendercide will be with us for a long time.
~Vidda Crochetta
The denominational domain “grab” of “man, land and beast”
The denominational domain “grab” of “man, land and beast” is not new to Vermont.
The Vermont Republic, in the Age of Revolution, despite the popularly of its sovereignty, had difficulty reconciling its commitment to the ideas of radical democracy where “denominations and political parties clashed, townspeople and church members proved ungovernable, and young people grew wayward and rebellious.”
To solve these problems religious restraints became part of the fabric of its sociopolitical history.
As long as they don't act on those feelings...
AP wire: “The LDS (Mormon) church still teaches its members that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that same-sex relationships are sinful. But the church launched a campaign earlier this year encouraging members to be more compassionate toward gay and lesbian members of the church. The church welcomes members who experience “same-sex attraction” as long as they don’t act on those feelings.”
Well, maybe god doesn’t have a plan for everyone…pity women and gays. The struggle continues in a man’s man world.
I told you we should all be bisexual.
I Am A Girl
I Am A Girl
2013* Rebecca Barry* 88min*Australia*Documentary
Showing with Big Mouth on Saturday, March 8 at 12PM and Sunday, March 16 at 7PM
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaR-UcCpZfA
I Am A Girl Receives 4 Nominations for the 2014 AACTA Awards*
There is a group of people in the world today who are more persecuted than anyone else, but they are not political or religious activists. They are girls. Being born a girl means you are more likely to be subjected to violence, disease, poverty and disadvantage than any other group on the planet. As each girl moves closer to coming of age, I AM A GIRL, a feature length documentary, reveals what it means to grow up female in the 21st century.
See all Women’s Film Festival movie synopsis and trailers here: http://womensfreedomcenter.net/newsevents/womens-film-festival2014-film-synopses-click-on-title-to-view-trailers/
The Global Gender Gap Report, 2013
Gandhi said in 1921: “Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so degrading, so shocking or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity; the female sex (not the weaker sex).”
For five years in a row, Iceland has been rated the country with the world’s smallest gender gap by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The rating means Iceland is the country where women enjoy the most equal access to education and healthcare. It is also where women are most likely to be able to participate fully in the country’s political and economic life.
Iceland is joined at the top of the Gender Gap Report by its Nordic neighbours Finland, Norway and Sweden. Overall, the gender gap narrowed slightly across the globe in 2013, as 86 of 133 countries showed improvements. However, “change is definitely slow”, says one of the report’s authors, Saadia Zahidi.
Europe has seven countries in the top 10. The UK is 18th and the US is 23rd.The Philippines, at fifth, is the highest ranking Asian nation and Nicaragua is the highest-placed country from the Americas, at 10th.
The G20 group of leading industrial nations has no representative in the top 10, nor do the Middle East or Africa.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-24650912
Full report here: http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2013/#=
{As a lifelong feminist, these postings are my contribution to recognize and celebrate International Women’s Day March 8, 2014 http://www.internationalwomensday.com }
Pretending like men aren’t safety threats is an act of violence
“I bring this article back into queue for readers to revisit this issue. While women generally do not ( and perhaps cannot safely ) address the plight of women as direct and head-on as I do, they nevertheless are the only voices that can speak to you in ways that too many men cannot even imagine.” ~Vidda
In today’s Reformer Letter Box (09/0614), Emma Redden from South Newfane writes, “I am mourning the death of another woman [20 year old Katelyn McFadden] in this country who has died at the dirty, bloody hands of men… Three women every day are killed by male partners. [The Reformer article] doesn’t ask us to consider how everyday we condone and encourage a culture that demeans, objectifies, abuses and kills women. Men are our biggest private safety threats. They are also our biggest public safety threats. Pretending like this isn’t true is an act of violence.“
Read full text:
http://www.reformer.com/letterstotheeditor/ci_26477954/letter-box
Private Violence: Always close to home
By THE WOMEN’S FREEDOM CENTER
Read full text: http://www.reformer.com/opinion/ci_26470424/private-violence-always-close-home
Partnercide: 40 percent of women killed by a partner
About 40 percent of women killed worldwide are done so by a partner, according to the World Health Organization’s first global review of violence against women.
The problem isn’t nearly as bad for men, who are six times less likely to be murdered by a partner than women, according to the review.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/06/21/who-study-forty-percent-of-murdered-women-killed-by-their-partners
Not surprising in a man-centered patriarchal world. I can’t help but thinking that in a matriarchal world this would not happen. In an Equality World this would….?
Piggyback believer breeders
https://www.ibrattleboro.com/sections/state-news/sanders-and-vermont-religious-leaders-address-wealth-and-income-inequality
We won't go down with your belief-dependent horror show quietly
Submitted by Vidda on September 7, 2014 – 10:08pm. #
We will not go down with your belief-dependent horror show quietly
Read: https://www.ibrattleboro.com/sections/state-news/sanders-and-vermont-religious-leaders-address-wealth-and-income-inequality#comment-7364