Newt Gingrich Rejects Religious Freedom and the Golden Rule

often we require an 'irritation' to spur us to new consciousness, as was the case in Frank Herbert's 'Destination Void'. if everything were all right, we'd basically be cattle or sheep, munching our grass.



i'd recommend that you read the works of Dr Elaine Pagels, possibly the world's leading authority on Gnostic Scriptures. she's issued several wonderful books on the subject, making her a prime target for conservative theological figures.



(luckily, those figures in this country apparently don't have the neurons to make them aware of her existence.)



Karen L King has produced 'The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle'.



finally, i was struck by the remembrence of science fiction writer Larry Niven's 'Known Space' series, dating from the 70's to now, in short stories and novels.



he created a cat-like race called the kzin, whose females are basically docile and brainless, considered property and good for nothing but producing offspring and being a sign of wealth. other writers have contributed stories about the kzin, a highly warlike race. in some stories it was found that, millennia earlier, they had been as aggressive and intelligent as the males.



this makes me wonder whether these writers were commenting on the sociosexual roles of people, modified by religious attitudes. this might be so, since extremist fundmentalist religion seeks to make nonhuman symbols of women, considering them simultaneously holy and cursed by their own limited worldviews. . .



. . .just a thought. . .
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