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Fayetteville Freethinker Mythbuster board

Women's Equality (2005)

  1. It is often said that Jesus was revolutionary in his teaching the equality of women. Can you name one of his 12 apostles that were female?

    Unfortunately, you can't name any because he didn't have any. Although the New Testament has several conflicting lists of the apostles, they do agree that none of the twelve were women.

    Imagine how the world might have been different if he had set such an example.

  2. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) which guaranteed "equal justice under law" to all citizens and affirmed the equal application of the U.S. Constitution to both females and males was written in 1923. In what year was it ratified?

    Answer: It was never ratified. Religious lobbies have successfully fought it every year.

    The ERA has been introduced into every session of Congress since 1923. By 1982 the ERA had been ratified by 35 states, leaving it three states short of the 38 required for ratification. It has been reintroduced into every Congress since that time. Here's what it proposes:

    “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

  3. In what year did the US Supreme Court grant unmarried couples legal access to contraception?

    It took until Eisenstadt v Baird in 1972.

  4. When did the 19th amendment, which gave all U.S. women the right to vote, become part of the Constitution?

    1920.

    By that time, the following countries had already given women the right to vote:

    • New Zealand
    • Australia
    • Finland
    • Netherlands
    • Denmark
    • Iceland
    • Canada
    • Austria
    • Estonia
    • Georgia
    • Germany
    • Ireland
    • Kyrgyzstan
    • Latvia
    • Poland
    • Belgium
    • Sweden
    • Norway
    • Luxembourg
    • Ukraine
    • Belarus
    • United Kingdom
    • Russian Federation

  5. Did the Promise Keepers founder say that gays and lesbians are "stark raving mad"?

    Yes. Founder Bill McCartney has called homosexuality an "abomination of Almighty God," and was a supporter of Colorado's Amendment 2, a measure that was so extreme in denying lesbian and gay civil rights that it was struck down by the Supreme Court. He has also called lesbians and gays "stark raving mad."

  6. St. Paul, who wrote more New Testament books than anyone else, said that women should not: (select one)

    1. braid their hair.
    2. wear gold or pearls.
    3. speak in church.
    4. pray with their head uncovered.
    5. have authority over a man.
    6. all of the above

    Answer: F. all of the above.
    1 Tim. 2:9, 1 Cor. 14:34-35, 1 Cor. 11:3-10.

  7. In the Bible, if a man rapes an unengaged virgin, the young girl who is raped must:

    1. testify in court against him.
    2. receive all of his possessions.
    3. marry her rapist.
    4. have her father sacrifice a goat.

    Answer: C. marry her rapist.

    "He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives." Deuteronomy 22:29

  8. According to the Promise Keepers, the Bible says a fetus is a person and that abortion is immoral. Does the Bible really say this?

    Not at all. Consider:

    • In the Bible a child was only given a value after the age of one month. (Leviticus 27:6 "If the person is from a month old up to five years old, your valuation shall be...") Below the age of one month they were given no monetary value.
    • Only male babies over one month of age were counted as persons during a census. (Num. 3:15 "... every male from a month old and upward you shall number.") A baby under one month old was not counted as a person.

    The Bible has many examples of pregnant women ordered killed at God's command. No concern is shown for the fetus. The Bible contains over 600 laws governing everything from fabrics to how to cut a beard, but no law prohibits abortion. Jesus never mentioned it either. The Oxford Companion to the Bible notes:

    "... no value whatsoever was given to a child under the age of one month. There is no indication that a fetus had any status."
    (Abortion article, page 4)

  9. Does the Bible really advocate that the husband should "rule" over his wife?

    Yes. Genesis 3:16 states that the husband "shall rule over" the wife. First Corinthians 3:11 says that "the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man," and Ephesians 5 says "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife." Nowhere does the Bible say that men and women should have equal rights.

  10. Did Promise Keepers leader James Ryle, whom the founder Bill McCartney calls his pastor, really say that the Beatles were "anointed" by God?

    Yes. In the "Sons of Thunder" speech, Harvest Conference, Denver, November 1990, Ryle said:

    Psalm 68:18 says, "When you ascended on high, you led captivity captive, and you gave gifts to men, even to the rebellious, that God may dwell in our midst." The Lord spoke to me and said, "What you saw in the Beatles -- the gifting and that sound that they had -- was from me. It did not belong to them, it belonged to me. And it was my purpose to bring forth through music a world-wide revival that would usher in the move of my spirit in bringing men and women to Christ."

    And I want to tell you those four lads, the fab four, they aborted something. They took what did not belong to them and used it in a way that it was not intended by God to be used. It did bring a revival of music -- but it brought it on the other side of the fence if you know what I'm sayin'. And the Lord spoke to me and He said, "In 1970 I lifted that anointing off of them. And it has been held in my hand ever since."

  11. Do men make more than women for doing the same job?

    Actually, no.

    A part-time working woman makes $1.10 for every dollar made by her male conterpart. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004)

    College-educated women who haven't married and haven't had children earn on average $47,000 to a man's $40,000 (U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income, 2004)

    It depends how many hours are worked per week:

    • For 25-34 hours: Women earn 134% as much as men
    • For 35-39 hours: Women earn 107% as much as men
    • For 40-44 hours: Women earn 87% as much as men

    Warren Farrell, expert on gender issues and leading member of N.O.W., shows in his exhaustively researched book Why Men Earn More how the idea that bias-based unequal pay for women is largely a myth. He shows 25 workplace choices that affect women's and men's incomes—including putting in more hours at work, taking riskier jobs or more hazardous assignments, being willing to change location, and training for technical jobs that involve less people contact. He shows that taken together, these 25 differences lead to men receiving higher pay and women having better, or at least more balanced, lives.

  12. Did an African-American Promise Keeper really say that Uncle Tom is a role model and shouldn't be criticized by the Black community?

    Yes. Wellington Boone, self-appointed Bishop and Promise Keeper speaker, stated "I want to boldly affirm Uncle Tom. The black community must stop criticizing Uncle Tom. He is a role model..." He also said: "I believe that slavery, and the understanding of it when you see it God's way, was redemptive," and "Blacks have had more than two centuries of training in being a slave of man. It can be added as a long-term qualification to prepare them to be a fine slave of God or to rule as a king."