God Bless The Women Of Iran

God bless the women of Iran!

They have spontaneously stood up to protest and demand their Rights to be seen and accepted as equal human beings as their male counterparts.  They do not want nor need men to lead them around.  

Iranian women do not want the Republic to grant them Rights. They want men of the Republic and the Republic Lawmakers to recognize their equality as human beings and to withdraw the controls that prohibit them from exercising their human rights.

The oppression and suppression of women over the ages is not a unique phenomenon of Iran’s homophobic so-called “Islamic” regime. Women have fought for centuries to be viewed as equals in all parts of the world.  

Don’t forget that the United States was one of the last western democratic countries of the world to remove the laws that prevented women from voting.  And the current struggles over the abortion issue echo a similar issue about who has the Right to determine what happens in a woman’s body.  And don’t forget that most Baptist communities and the Catholic Church restrict the role of women’s leadership under the guise of biblical interpretation.  And don’t think that the the secular irreligious are any better.  They may perceive women more as vessels for service and servitude than as equal persons.  The human trafficking and sexual slavery scandals of our day are symbols of the perspective that women are an economic and social vessel for use by their male counterparts for personal gain at the expense of womanhood.

The Bible doesn’t hold women as secondary to men.  Sure, the biblical stories show women in their historical and cultural contacts where the men are the leaders and the women primarily the servers.  Until they break out of the imposed roles! 

One needs to read and see beyond the descriptive photos of the times.  The key moments of Jesus’ teaching is usually through a discussion or interaction with a woman:  A woman collecting water at a well and Jesus reveals his divinity to her.  She becomes the first evangelist to tell the community that something special is up.  Women are the first to witness the resurrection at Jesus’ tomb and go off to tell the discouraged men that something special is up!   Jesus challenged the men gathering to stone a woman to death:  “Let the innocent cast the first stone.”  No takers of course.  The world is full of people who want to present the image of correctness but have no appreciation for equality among us.  God sees us as equals even if we don’t.

The outright oppressors of women are being challenged.  From the male dictators of Saudi Arabia, Iran and other countries of the world who kill, torture, persecute and restrain women, to the religions and churches of the world dominated by men who think ‘maleness’ is some form of unique divine manifestation.  Ultimately, the women will win.  So long as they raise their voices in a united way they will knock down the doors.  They will breakdown the religious salt pillars. It is only a matter of time.

The message of the women of Iran is ‘electric’. The requirement of submission and dominance of one over another is a major cause of ongoing tension in our world.  And women having an equal voice in the human debate brings us closer to a more tranquil reality.  We need 100% of the peoples at the table.  

God bless the women of Iran!