Understanding Our Sexist God


If we take the time to read the Bible, it is easy to see that the God of the Bible is sexist. The dictionary defines the word "sexist" in this way:

  1. Discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women.
  2. Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender
God certainly is sexist. For example:
  • Instead of creating both Adam and Eve at the same time in the same way, as equals, God creates woman from man and then says she will serve him as a helper (Genesis 2:18)
  • God punishes women with physical torture for eating the fruit, but does not torture men (Genesis 3:16)
  • In genesis chapter 5, no women are listed by name in the lineage of Noah.
  • None of the 12 apostles are women
  • Etc.
See this page and this page for dozens of additional examples of God's sexism.

Most people would also agree that sexism is wrong. Men and women should be treated equally. Despite God's sexism, modern societies ignore God and recognize that both men and women should have the equal right to vote, to work, to teach in our schools, to serve in congress, to start and lead companies, etc. In the United States we recognize that men and women should be treated equally under the law.

Therefore, since God is sexist, and since sexism is wrong, God looks ridiculous to most people who are intellectually honest with themselves. On the one hand, God is supposed to be perfect. On the other hand, God definitely is sexist. There is no way to reconcile these two facts.

What we have here is a clear, unambiguous data point: The God of the Bible is sexist. It is obvious to everyone. The question is, what do we do with the data? Christians and non-Christians answer the question in different ways, and the difference is fascinating:

  • A non-Christian (who by definition is a person who stands outside the the delusion of Christianity) simply looks at the data point and accepts it. This data point shows that God did not write the Bible, because a perfect being would not, could not, have written and presently condone a book that is sexist through and through.

  • A Christian, on the other hand, either ignores this obvious data point or tries to rationalize God's sexism. This is one of the key symptoms of delusion.

If you are a Christian, I would ask you to consider this question: If God is all-loving, why is he such a sexist in the Bible? Why didn't God make Adam and Eve equals when he created them? At the very least, why doesn't God reach down and update the Bible for the 21st century?

Extending that, let me ask you this: Why would you worship a God that is sexist? Especially if you are a woman.

The Bible says so many things that are just as ridiculous:

Deut 25:11-12

    If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, you shall cut off her hand; show no pity.
Deut 21:18-21
    If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place. They shall say to the elders of his town, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.
Lev 20:13
    If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.
Ex 21:20-21
    When a slave-owner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. But if the slave survives for a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner’s property.
1 Tim 2:11-12
    Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.
There are thousands of verses like these in the Bible. As intelligent people, it is easy for us to see that all of them are nonsense, just like the Bible's sexism. An all-knowing, all-loving God would not advocate slavery, the beating of slaves or the murder of teenagers. Verses like these tell us, without question, that God had nothing to do with the Bible. The Bible was written by primitive men with no input from a perfect, all-knowing being.

A Christian's attempt to rationalize the nonsense will often extend into truly bizarre realms. A Christian, for example, might say, "Well, all of those verses are from the Old Testament and no longer apply because of Jesus." First, that statement is untrue -- 1 Tim 2:11-12 is in the New Testament. Second, the fact that we still publish the Old Testament shows how silly this notion is. Why would the Old Testament still be printed in the Bible if Jesus overturned it? Third, why would God EVER tell us to beat slaves? And finally, Jesus specifically states that the laws of the Old Testament still stand. In Matthew 5:18 Jesus says:

    For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
Then he goes on to say:
    Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
According to Jesus, the Old Testament is alive and well. According to Isaiah 40:8, "the word of our God stands forever." The notion that these ridiculous verses no longer apply is completely untrue according to the Bible. Christians imagine that they "no longer apply" as a way of rationalizing their religion.

If, as a Christian, you would stop rationalizing and simply open your eyes to look at the data that is before you, you would be able to see how untrue your religion actually is.

If there is anything we can do to help, please visit the contact page or the forum. Start reading the book with Chapter 1 and learn the truth.

Thank you for visiting today, and we hope to hear from you soon.


by Marshall Brain


New York Times Coverage
WWGHA was
discussed in a
New York Times piece
by N. D. Kristof.
For a counter-point to Mr. Kristof, please see
Chapter 26.

Recommendation by Sam Harris
Sam Harris recommends WWGHA in his book Letter to a Christian Nation.

Endorsement by Richard Dawkins
In a New York Times Letter, Richard Dawkins calls WWGHA a "splendid Web site."


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