On Monday, April 5, 2004, at 12:29 AM, Jon Johanning wrote:
> One could even make a case (though this may be stretching it a bit)
> that a patriarchal monotheistic religion must necessarily be
> antithetical to compassion, since it models its concept of God on
> patriarchal human fathers, who can only maintain their position in
> society by not sparing the rod.
y'all need to read the prophets, who are often quite concerned with social justice, at least as much as jesus ever was. try isaiah and amos, both of whom lay into israel for leaving behind the poor, the widow, and the orphan while the rich par-tay. isaiah is especially emphatic on the hollowness and hypocrisy of israel's offering of proper sacrifices while they behave so improperly in their "normal" lives. ecclesiastes (not a prophetic book) is basically all about how, when we die, that's all there is, so we need to stick together and help each other out while we're alive.
there's no doubt that much of biblical religion is offensive, patriarchal, violent, and sexist. but, like many things, if you are paying attention, it resists the kinds of summary judgments y'all are leveling. "monotheism" is not always so monolithic.
j