Oppression of women is part of a major religion? Really? I disagree! Most likely you are misunderstanding it somehow.
I think you are the one who is misunderstanding. Take for example Deuteronomy 22:13-21 (all translations taken from the NIV);
'If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her, dislikes her 14 and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” 15 then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin. 16 Her father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. 17 Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, 18 and the elders shall take the man and punish him. 19 They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.
20
If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, 21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death.'
So if a man engages in the serious misconduct of slander he only gets a fine, but if a woman engages in the minor misconduct of not being a virgin when she is married she is to be murdered in a brutal manner.
Or take Deuteronomy 22:28-29;
'If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.'
So if a woman gets raped the solution is for her to be married to her rapist?!
Most major religion actually tried to (gradually) ease the oppression of women. A prophet can only do so much! Try going to a biker's bar and announce everything those bikers are doing is wrong. Preach to them that riding bike is wrong, wearing bandana, leather jackets, boots, tattoo is wrong, tell them drinking beer is wrong etc. etc. and see what happens to you.
Similarly prophets came at a time when they had to teach a tough crowd - so they had to try and educate them gradually. Had they announced extreme changes then they would have been eliminated immediately.... many were! They didn't had police to protect them! They came at a time when you can say a wrong thing and die for it.
Amongst the problems with the idea of prophets gradually educating a tough crowd is that it implicitly means that a part of their law was false at the time of revelation since they couldn't reveal the fullness of law in one go. This could mean for example that they allowed oppression of gays owing to the tough crowd they preached too. Therefore we should not make the next prophet's job so hard by being regressive and illogical and clinging to outdated laws requiring the oppression of gays that were for a prior time only due to a tough crowd.
I don't think you are understanding the implication of my belief that all religions are man-made. The implication is that I am blaming the people - that is - the people who invented some of the oppresive religions.
You are forgetting about moral compass! Everyone knows what is right and what is wrong. Some decide to overshadow what their instincts is telling them through biased reasonings. A prostitute knows what she is doing is wrong without religion, a thief knows stealing is wrong without religion. They may justify their behavior but who are they fooling but themselves!
And who are a people that oppress gays fooling but themselves.
I didn't say that. I said double the exposer to unsuspected and vulnerable situations can increase the number of date rape victims! A female friend of mine was not aware her acquaintance was lesbian and she found herself in a situation with her where she wasn't prepared how to react. Hence I said double the exposer to date rape kind of situation when you are not expecting any unwarranted advances - can double the chances of an experience that you were not asking for. Sometime you could be drunk and you are not in full control! If this activity was discouraged then there will be less occurrence of that. IMO
It is discouraged, by having laws against rape.
Double the exposer means - we are already exposed to hetero date rape situations - homosexuality increases that exposer! I hope you understood what I meant this time!
This makes no sense, even if homosexuality is outlawed homosexuals can still break the law and engage in homosexual rape, so you aren't doubling the exposure. Also gays are only about 10% of the population, so adding an extra 10% isn't doubling the exposure anyway. But it was just an unfounded allegation anyway.
If they don't willingly reproduce then that could be against God's plan but many do find alternative ways and have babies!
By adoption they can do it, but adoption does not effect the gene pool. They can also do it using IVF and a surrogate mother, however this is an expensive means which prevents most people from attaining it.
If you believe in evolution (natural selection) then you should acknowledge that - need and desire for something with accessibility - could find a way of manifestation into a real trait (in the long run)! So, regardless of how minuscule - they could still contribute a negative influence in the gene pool. It is like a computer virus! The damage could be big one day if it has unrestricted access. For example - many young men (especially in Japan) are into video games and they don't have time for relationships these days. This kind of change in behavior could trigger bigger change in a long run. Video game addiction is playing a similar role as homosexuality. IMO Both counter-productive as far as procreation is concerned! IMO
You are making an unfounded allegation that homosexuality has a negative effect on the gene pool. As far as procreation is concerned, we live in an over-populated world and encouraging it to be even more overpopulated is one of the major sins of some religions.
Tell a doctor who is treating a patient with multiple chronic illness to use Occam's razor approach in his diagnosis. See if he can figure out the cause of his symptoms and treat him successfully that way.
They do use Occam's razor, it is the whole basis of sticking to evidence based medicine and the reason doctors don't engage in nonsense treatments like exorcisms.
The simplest approach is not always the correct approach!
True, but it is *usually* the correct approach, so if you wan't to deviate from the simplest approach you should have justification for doing so.
You should practice what you preach! (just kidding!)
I do practice what I preach. I am not preaching that people should necessarily be homosexuals, only preaching that peopple should allow homosexuals who want to marry to do so. Since I would allow homosexuals to marry each other I'm practicing what I preach.
In my opinion.
