Bible -- Commentaries; Bible -- Feminist criticism; Women in the Bible
Among the letters in reply to the interrogatories propounded are two,
noticeable because they are in such a striking contrast to that of Mrs.
Josephine K. Henry, which immediately precedes them. Their first marked
characteristic is their total lack of facts which are sufficient to
sustain the conclusions therein stated. Conceding for the purpose of
this discussion the truth of Mrs. Livermore's assertions contained in
the first paragraph of her letter, she fails absolutely to show that
the Holy Scriptures have been of any benefit, or have rendered any aid,
to woman in her efforts to obtain her rights in either the social, the
business, or the political world; and unless she is able to present
stronger or more cogent reasons to justify that conclusion than any
which are therein specified, I shall be compelled to adhere to my
present conviction, which is, that this book always has been, and is at
present, one of the greatest obstacles in the way of the emancipation
and the advancement of the sex.
In regard to the letter of the distinguished President of the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union, her position is entirely indefensible and
completely lacking in logical conclusions. Her leading proposition is
in substance that to the extent that the Christian religion has
prevailed there has been a corresponding improvement in the condition
of women; and the conclusion which she draws from that premise is that
this religion has been the cause of this advancement. Before I admit
the truth of this conclusion I must first inquire whether or not the
premise upon which it is based is true; and judging from the fact that
the condition of women is most degraded in those countries where Church
and State are in closest affiliation, as in Spain, in Italy, in Russia
and in Ireland, and most advanced in nations where the power of
ecclesiasticism is markedly on the wane, the inference is obvious that
the Bible and the religion based upon it have retarded rather than
promoted the progress of woman.
But, granting that her premise is true, her conclusion by no means
follows from it. She desires her reader to infer that the existence of
Christianity in certain countries is responsible for the high degree of
civilization which there obtains, and that the improved condition of
women in those countries is owing entirely to the influence of that
religion therein. This is what the logicians would call a non sequitur,
which means a conclusion which does not follow from the premises stated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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