And it’s long overdue. We no longer live in a male dominated world where the man in all ways can claim power over all beneath him. The operative word here is ‘beneath’. This relic of a hierarchy denotes and connotes superiority of one race over another: men over women.
Congratulations to those who launched the Pfarrer initiative in Austria in 2006 calling for “disobedience aimed at abolishing priestly celibacy and opening up the clergy to women to relieve shortages of priests.”
In Pope Benedict XVI’s response he held fast to the ideology of obedience to the true will of God, citing that Jesus always followed true obedience to God’s will, not “human caprice” (definition: a sudden change of action or mind without adequate reason; a whim).
God’s Will does not include enslavement to or by mortals, or even to God. Jesus went on a suicide mission to fulfill a prophecy, simply because it was written, then thought at the last-minute that God would sweep down and rescue him from the cross. Jesus, like so many before and after him, thought suffering was the only way to obtain grace. Should this be the life upon which we pattern ours and the lives of our children? It’s odd that Jesus, the most well-known and prayed to man in history has not been able to stop, through his teachings, the prejudice, discrimination, enslavement, torture and slaughter that plagues this planet. It appears that the foundation upon which Jesus preached, or at the minimum the way that foundation was interpreted by his followers and later the church was fundamentally flawed.
Prejudice with humans, begins with men and women against each other. Historically, the scales were tipped in favor of the men, as if by the mere fact that they were born male, gave them privilege and dominion over females as well as all other species and matters of importance.
Obedience is a dangerous, powerful tool used by dictators espousing birth rights based on gender, color and socio-economic status, giving them the keys to everybody else’s lives. Closed societies breed contempt for all those outside of that privileged group. That somehow a gender, color or class, by the mere fact of being randomly born into it, makes a person wise or gives a person inalienable (definition: that may not be taken away or transferred) rights over all others not born into that privileged status, demands disobedience.
What all religions and governments have dictated for way too long, the ideology that one half of the world’s human population is born wiser and more capable to lead the other half, needs to change and the only non-violent way to achieve that end is through disobedience.
To the Pope: That Pig, Lamb or Fish you’re going to devour on Easter is not God’s will. Jesus offered bread and wine as the new sacrifice, to supplant the old sacrifice of slaughtered beings. He did not offer the lamb you’re going to feast on. It is your own “human caprice” that wills it.
Jesus also said to render unto God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Religious freedom doesn’t only mean freedom to choose your religion, it also means freedom within that religion. Civil freedom doesn’t only mean freedom to choose the country or city within a country you live, it also means freedom within that city or country. Civil and religious rights have too often mirrored each other, rather than challenge each other, because of their flawed, dictatorial foundations. Disobedience on both fronts, civil rights and religious rights, are an inevitable part of evolution. Jesus was an evolutionary. He laid down the fork, and raised the bread with the wine. Serving bread with the lamb isn’t going to cut it any more in the religious realms. When you stop the prejudice, discrimination, enslavement, torture and slaughter of all beings, you will see the miracles you crave.
WORD WARRIOR DAVIES-TIGHT™ 