It appears that throughout history most religions feel the need to keep women down. I'm told that hinduism does not do this but I am unsure about that as I have only spoken to one Hindi on this subject. Before getting into why this is the case, I'm going to support this theory using three different religions, the Greek gods, Christianity, and Islam.
In ancient Greece, Medusa was seen to be a beautiful woman. Medusa was so beautiful in fact, that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, became insanely jealous and convinced the gods of Olympus (first Athena, who passed it along to Zeus) to turn her into a creature so hideous that if men look at her, they'll turn to stone. The message was clear to the women of Greece, don't think you're too beautiful or be vain about your beauty because you wouldn't want Aphrodite turning you into a hideous beast. Also, the three offspring of Cronos that would overthrow their father (Poseidon, Zeus and Hades) were all men. It is true that Athena defeated Poseidon in a contest for who the capital would be named after but Poseidon was always seen as the more powerful god. Christianity also incorporated the idea that it was bad to be vain by making it one of the seven deadly sins. As a point of order, I am aware that some forms of Protestantism and Lutheranism allow women to be pastors but these religions don't really count to me because any time a religion changes it's canons based on society, I feel it to be too watered down for my respect. This is an important note because I am not claiming that religions should discontinue their anti-feminine ways but merely to point out the reasoning behind it. In Christianity, women cannot enter the alter or be priests. They are taught to be fruitful and multiply, which can easily be extended to the "bare foot and pregnant" image. Mormons have the belief that God tells them who they take as their wife, and if the woman refuses, she gets beaten by the would-be suitor, the male members of her family and raped for violating God. Also, men can have multiple wives but a woman who has more than one husband is seen to be committing adultery. The point is also seen in Islam. Women must walk behind their husbands, they cannot prey in the same area and must keep themselves covered up so they don't distract the men who make the society run. The types of degradation goes to the lengths that they must use their hair to wash their husband's feet. These three religions are among the most popular in the ancient and modern world and all have one underlying theme....keeping women down; so why are women religious?
If a feminist were to read this, they would jump on the church for being sexist and the like. At the risk of soudning like someone who "blames the victim," I will say that women don't seem to put up much a fight. I truly believe that the Creator did indeed create women second. I believe this because when I look at a man, I believe he was the first shot and woman was the improvement on the original model. I go into this in my book so will end it with that. Despite women being much better looking, they also control men with their beauty. It's not as extreme as Muslim nations state in that buses and cars crash because some women show some skin. Any non-Muslim state is proof of this, but beautiful woman do catch men's eye. So much so, that I beleive men got together and decided they needed to counteract women's power by creating a power larger than women to convince them to be subservient. This is how organized religion may have gotten its start, but why has it stayed strong for thousands of years? There must be something about women that despite the hold they have over men, they subject themselves to rules of organized religion that obviously are biased toward males. Here are those reasons.
The common theme among heterosexual women is they want to be taken care of. They like feeling secure with the man they are with. This is why by far the most important feature a man can have to attract a woman is confidence. They want to be sure they are secure and they want a man that is so secure with himself that it will rub off on her. Religion empowers men so that they are given a confidence that they can combat women's power. This makes it easier for them to approach them and not be shy. Deep down women know that despite taking the husband's last name and naming him the head of the house, they are in control. Women don't want the control so they latch on to anything that will give men more confidence and the most obvious source is religion.
One problem I see with this theory is that if I was correct, then you should see a positive correlation between the rise of masculinity and religious women. Instead, with the recent pussification of the American male, you see a drop in religious people male or female. One explanation for this is simply women are giving up, which is why you see a recent increase in lesbianism. I will never pretend to understand women, but ever since I've moved to New York, the people I've befriended are almost always women, so I do spend a lot of time around them. Most of the women I know are very strong but they look for stronger males than they are. They say, "I want a guy with a stronger personality than mine" unfortunately, this mentality normally leads to abusive men who have little to no respect for women.
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