We could argue over the meaning of scripture, the perceived abuse through the ages written by followers of religious traditions and never come to the point. Paul of the New Testament could have been a drunken sailor and the editors and translators through the years could have been mad men or politically motivated. We don't know what the Nazarene said, it wasn't written in his own hand, and wasn't written for years after his non-death. The writers did not hear the statements so it's all hearsay.
What we do know is what we can observe in today's culture.
Marriage vows in the Abrahamic traditions places women in a subservient position to men. In most if not all religions the daughter is the property of the father until marriage. When married, the wife is subordinate to the authority of the husband.
The fact that women were subordinate made marital rape a property crime rather than a crime of violence. Since religious marriage vows were considered contract law and a sacrament the courts had no jurisdiction over the sanctity of a marriage contract so there was no crime at all. This was and is condoned by religions today and only national laws can supercede these traditions. It was not followers that change the laws it was secular reasoning that put a stop to it in western societies.
Women were to be Subservient in authoritarian relationships between couples.
When a person has no control over their lives the act becomes an issue of bondage, slavery in marriage, and by marriage. Women working for nothing or for less in the work place were considered natural. It was never challenged by a religion, it was challenged by secular authority. These acceptable traditions and laws were brought to North America on ships carrying Christians who quickly established their rules in the colonies upon which state and national laws were written. Written by men, there are no women writers in any constitutional paperwork that I can find.
21st century….you have primarily Christian influence still trying to control the choices of women. Today birth control is not an acceptable nor is abortion. Women trying to control their own destinies are challenged by what religious observers find unacceptable to gods laws.
One cannot prove there is a god but we can observe the result of belief and judge the theory accordingly using critical thinking, the basis of scientific exploration. An assertion, without evidence, is not accepted as true in modern life. What a person or group thought to be true 6000 or 2000 years ago is not necessarily fact. It may comfort the observer in knowing they are following an ancient tradition, but that only serves the comfort zone it does not prove the assertion to be factual.
If one enjoys the feeling that is stimulated by believing the unreasonable then of course there is no way to find common ground with reasonable people. If one feels entitled to their beliefs because they are solipsists then of course there is no argument.
IMO.
All that we perceive or do not perceive is subject to our sensory perception. Much of what we believe is a product of nurture and environment. What we need to agree on is that we do not have an answer but that the scientific course of study is by far and unequivocally the best way to resolve our differences. Evidence is required to satisfy everyone universally and that is the best avenue to our coexistence.
The days of unity in belief of a father figure are over, we're on our own, on a spinning rock in a vast universe that we now all need to understand. We need to stop wasting time on who said what, and who's god is bigger or better, and get about admitting that the idea of god is small and insignificant in comparison to what we will discover in the future. Understanding our universe will help us understand ourselves. Being a part of the universe rather than the masters of the universe in the image of god will go a long way in releasing us from the bondage to spiritualism and unite us in a common cause.
