This is a very interesting article that I found on the www.infidels.org website, with the exact same title. I only thought it proper to share it with you. Please read and comment.

"When I was an active Christian minister and missionary, I noticed that women were generally more zealous church workers than men. As I learned more and more about the Bible, I began to wonder why. In my younger days, I had often heard preachers cite the elevated status of women as one of the wonderful achievements of the Judeo-Christian religions, but this was not what I was seeing in my own private Bible studies. I was finding instead a shockingly disdainful attitude toward women in a book that had been presumably written by divinely inspired men.

Time would fail me if I tried to cite every biblical example of contemptuous attitudes toward women, so I will have to limit myself to just a few. King David's affair with Bathsheba while her husband Uriah was away on military duty produced an embarrassing pregnancy. David first tried to conceal his indiscretion by bringing Uriah home on furlough apparently so that he would sleep with Bathsheba and later think that the child was his. When Uriah's loyalty to his unit proved so strong that he refused to indulge in the pleasures of a conjugal visit, David sent him back to the front with a letter ordering the commander of his unit to put Uriah in "the forefront of the hottest battle" and then withdraw so that he would be killed. The order was executed, and when word of Uriah's death reached David, he took Bathsheba and added her to his harem ( 2 Sam. 11).

If there is such a thing as contemptuous conduct, then David's actions in this matter certainly qualify. One would think that if this deed called for divine wrath, David would have been the rightful target of it. But the Bible tells us that God chose to punish David only by inflicting pain and death on the members of his family, beginning with his wives. Nathan the prophet, sent to reprimand David for his sin, delivered this message from God: "I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he will lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun" 2 Sam. 12:11). One could imagine that this would not have been a pleasant thing for David to witness and would have in that sense constituted "punishment," but we must look past that to the fact of what God was threatening to do. David had sinned grievously, but God was going to punish him by having some unnamed "neighbor" rape his wives "before all Israel and before the sun" ( v12). According to the story, David repented and so his wives were spared the indignity of public rape, but that is beside the point. The fact that David's god would even threaten such a thing raises serious doubts about the Bible's claim to be the verbally inspired word of an omnibeneficent deity. Certainly, this story in no way reflects the "elevated status" that preachers say the Bible has brought to women. If it does, I have to admit that I can't see it.

Women today often complain that our society has relegated them to second-class citizenship. I agree and would even say that perhaps third-class citizenship would more accurately describe the condition of women in modern America. Why then do they, as a group, have such high respect for the Bible? Modern news coverage has made us aware of the shocking treatment accorded women in the Mideastern Islamic societies that now occupy what was once the ancient biblical lands, but this attitude toward women was frequently reflected in the Bible and is merely a social custom that has survived biblical times. Women in western societies fare somewhat better, but they do so despite the influence of the Bible on our culture, not because of it, for if our laws were based on strict adherence to biblical precepts to the degree that Moslem nations base their laws on Koranic precepts, women in our society would fare no better than their Islamic sisters.

Just consider these examples of biblical attitudes toward women. A woman was considered impure for seven days during her menstrual period, and anything she touched was also considered unclean ( Lev. 15:19-24). After a woman had given birth, she was considered impure for 40 days if her child was male, and 80 days if her child was female ( Lev. 12:1-5). The fact that her period of uncleanness was twice as long for giving birth to a female hardly suggests an "elevated" opinion of women in the biblical society of "God's chosen people." If a woman was taken captive in battle, any Israelite male who found her appealing was entitled to take her to be his "wife" ( Dt. 21:10-14), but nothing was said in this passage about securing the woman's consent. If a jealous husband suspected his wife of adultery, he had the right to make her submit to a trial by ordeal to prove her innocence. The ceremony was too elaborate to summarize here, but part of it required her to drink a concoction called the "water of bitterness" that was derived by mixing holy water with dirt swept up from the tabernacle (temple) floor. If her body did not swell and her thighs rot after the water of bitterness had entered the woman's bowels, she was declared innocent. In this event, however, the accusing husband was declared "free from iniquity." This trial by ordeal is described in Numbers 5:11-31 and should be read by all who believe that the Bible has accorded women an elevated status. One wonders how many wrongly accused wives among "God's chosen people" suffered great pain and even death from having had to submit to this trial by ordeal. I must also note before leaving this point that the Bible required no comparable trial for husbands suspected of adultery.

The attitude toward women reflected in this trial by ordeal pervaded Israelite culture. The prophet Zechariah, looking for a symbol of wickedness in one of his prophecies, selected a woman to be that symbol ( Zech. 5:5-. In the book of Ecclesiastes, the celebrated wisdom of Solomon expressed this exalted opinion of women: "This is what I have found, reasoning things out one by one, after searching long without success: I have found one man in a thousand worthy to be called upright, but I have not found one woman among them all" ( 7:27-28). We could hardly expect a better opinion than this from a man who had no more respect for women than to take 1,000 of them to be his wives and concubines ( 1 Kings 11:3), but one would expect an omniscient, omnibeneficent God to have this man indicate a slightly better attitude toward women at least while he was being divinely inspired to record God's eternal truth. Since he didn't, are we to assume that God's eternal truth is that women are to be considered evil?

The New Testament era brought no improvement in "divine" opinion of women. Needing a symbol of apostate evil, the Holy Spirit presumably inspired the writer of Revelation to make that symbol a "LovePeddler" ( 17:1-5). The Apostle Paul, perhaps the most chauvinistic of all New Testament writers, ordered women to "keep silence in the churches" and to "ask their own husbands at home" if they wanted to know anything, "for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church" ( 1 Cor. 14:34-35). He said to the young preacher Timothy, "I permit not a woman to teach, but to be in quietness" ( 1 Tim. 2:12). He ordered wives to be in strict subjection to their husbands ( Eph. 5:22 ; Col. 3:18 ; Titus 2:5), as did also the Apostle Peter ( 1 Pet. 3:1). One must assume that this injunction would apply even to a woman of high intelligence who may have made the mistake of marrying a fool. After all, who are we to dispute God's eternal truth?

A friend and associate of mine at the college from which I recently retired once told me that she had quit attending church. When I asked why, she said that she had been upset by some things the minister of her church had said in a recent sermon. After she had explained what the minister had said about the woman's place in the family and church, I obtained a Bible and showed her that the man had said nothing except what the Bible teaches. Her reaction was first surprise and then a frank assertion that she didn't care what the Bible said; she still didn't like it. I have to wonder how many women there are like her who attend church faithfully and work zealously on its behalf without ever realizing that their faith is based on a book that is very uncomplimentary to women."

@Elbaron: Could post, from the Qur'an, verses where Women are given low opinion, in the same way you have been able to quote from the Bible. Is it possible that in the Qur'an that you have a negative qualification for women, whereas men are given positive qualification on the same isssue?

@Olabowale, you are absolutely right. It is exactly the same thing. Now if the god of the christians and that of the moslems is subjecting women to mockery, do you think it fair of him?

@Elbaron: What I was requesting from you is that you should research the Qur'an, but you will not find in it where women are given low opinion, so blatantly like what you have been able to find in the Bible, without any sweat. Never mind, the culture of the arabs or others where islam is in a significant population. Unfortunately, these muslims have not shed the tradition of their people preIslam. These bad cultures were eradicated by islam. Unfortunately, as the time past and after many generations after the death of Prophet muhammad (AS), the people went back to these abandoned and unislamic cultures. They mix these renewed preislamic, unislamic cultures with what is accepted in Islam. Therefore, the non muslims may think that all of these, the unislamic and islamic behavious of the muslims as Islam. For example, the Saudi Arabians not allowing their women to drive cars is unislamic. The women in the time of Prophet Muhammad (AS) used to ride Camels or horses. Women used to be educated as well, because it is the first verse revealed to Myhammad; Read, addressing the whole community and to Muhammad, Proclaim. Muhammad also said that one should acquire knowledge even if it is in China. Can you imagine how far China was to the people who travel by camel or horse? Islam gives men and women equal responsibilities in Belief, Salah, Saum, Zakah, Hajj, etc.

I dont think God regards women to be nothing.
Obviously lesser than men, thats why he made them after us and as HELPERS not PARTNERS.

you guys can come one to

www.one afrika.net

too and discuss other religious issues too.

join the space between "one" and "Afrika"so you can access it

Elbaron,

First, The writer doesn't know the scriptures or understand what he is quoting, not that it alone makes his opinions wrong but I wanted to point that out so that others know that in fact David's concubines or wives were raped on the roof in front of everybody, by his son. God did as he promised as punishment to David.

The writer seems not to have read the bible that far but only the part he thinks makes God look bad. I guess he did not go past the part where he thought God had forgiven David.

Secondly, none of the scriptures quoted by the writer prove anything about God's feelings towards women. The writer would have a long way to go, to prove that 'raping a woman' is 'abusing a woman'.

Why do I say that? Because being raped has been called the number 1 sexual fantasy of women. In fact there was a whole genra of books by white women who fantasized about being raped by Black American men.

There are even date rape songs that women love. I personally have seen one white woman state to two black males, she loves when the man just takes the 'sex' and doesn't ask her. She never met them before in her life. Scared the mess out of me being that I was with her and meeting these fools also. I left quickly and she was mad that I made her come away from those men.

Not that being raped is a certified sexual attraction for women, I am just showing that the author might have trouble proving that it is a certified abuse of women, or at least all women.

And especially 1000 wives, who King David could not have possibly been sexually satisfying.

Moving on to keep it even more real.

Here is the answer to the author's question:

Why so much devotion by women to the church?

The bible says it would be the women who spread the gospel but that is covered up now.

That's why, the author probably did not know that.

The first person sent to preach the gospel that Christ is risen, was a woman.

Psa 68:11 The Lord doth give the saying, The female proclaimers are a numerous host.

This version of the bible is called Youngs LITERAL translation.

God said there would be more females involved in proclaiming his word. This is why the churchis lopsided 80 percent female.

The bible also said that those who serve are the greatest in God's church.

So again, this is why you find that women are the servants of all in most churches, doing the hard daily work, while the men just sit around with the pretty jobs -- like preaching for 20 minutes a week.

Men have elevated thier 20 minute a day job but I can assure you, the work that women mostly do -- like serving poor the meals, cleaning the church, helping family's, is the work of God, more so than the mediocre sermons we hear from men.

Hey y'all,
This matter bout women being 2nd 2 men is one dat has been around 4 a long time. I'm not takin sides, i just want 2 discuss on d matter as best i can.
Its a shame dat this issue started way back, as the bible records.2day women in general r treated like they have half brains or like dey cant do any beta dan a man has done.
I hate it wen i hear comments like women r just child factories, or a woman's life is in d kitchen. What authority do these people have 4 makin comments like dat?
We all, male and female alike fail 2 see d importance of women. The truth be told, women r harder workers dan men cud eva be. We r foreva tryin 2 outlive dis scar and do beta dan people say we can, dats y i'm always overjoyed wen i c women in authority, women who have power, n use it well. In Nigeria 2day, there r a number of women in ministerial positions, n its not such a surprise dat they do so well.
Even in the next century or millenium, i dont think women will eva outlive this perception, but so far, its been a thing of joy 2 watch some try.
Personally, i wont be held down by wat people think i am. Like i always say, "its a matter of opinion", it doesnt mean its true.

@olabowale
the koran categorically condemes women by saying that most of them will root in hell. what opininon can be lower than that after serving allah for years all u get is that kind of reward "most women will be in hell". i was once a moslem and u will be lying to dispute what i have said. islam like christianity too puts men on top of women.islam doesnt give women equal responsibilities as men.

olabowale:

Islam gives men and women equal responsibilities in Belief, Salah, Saum, Zakah, Hajj, etc.

and its the same islam that doesnt give equal responsibilty in enternity because its says there will be more men than women in aljanah(paradise) because women are more evil than men ,besides that so many of them will go to hell because they have not been pleasing their husbands. as we all know one of the greatest duty of a woman is to her husband according to islam so it categorically makes the men superior because the man's greatest duty is serving allah alone an not his wife but for the woman , its serving allah and her husband. its just doesnt make sense. besides when allah was talking about the rewards of paradise he didnt really say much to what the women will get(their reward) when they get there(paradise) most of what he said was what the men will get(their reward) they will be given women and virgins for their pleasures but not much was said about what the women will get(men that died for the course of allah will be rewarded in jannah with virgins).islam gave men the right to beat their women though the mordern day imams are trying to make it look simple but we all know that the husband has the right to beat up his wife in accordance with islam. islam does not give equal responsiblity for men and women with regards salah(praying) where there are men and women the men will always lead the prayers women are not allowed to lead prayers where men are present e.g in a family or in a society, women are not allowed to be imams and scholars too. so where is the equal responsibility? if there was equal responsibility women will  be allowed to lead men too in prayers. even in the mosques women pray behind the men. when it comes to inheritance women are to recieve less than men according to the koran so where is the equal responsibility ? if there was equlity the will recieve the same. even in marriage a muslim man is allowed to marry a non muslim woman but a muslim woman isnt allowed to marry a non muslim man, where is the equality here too? since men are allowed to do so many things that women arent allowed to. this goes to show u there is no equal responsiblity in belief as u claim.

The prophet mohammed himself said it that if he was to oder people to bow to each other he will oder the wife to bow to her husband.(there by making the man look superior). there are verses  in the koran that says that a woman who's husband is angry with her will not have her prayers accepted by allah but it never said a man's who's wife is angry with will have his prayers not accepted by allah(it also shows there is no equality in belief here too) a man is allowed to marry up to 4 wives but women arent allowed to do that. so u see it just goes to show u that islam does not give men and women equal responsiblity at all.this also goes to show us that both religions have put men ahead of women, no wonder the line IT'S A MAN'S WORLD