Judeo-Christian-Islamic Scriptures That Promote Pedophilia and Child Marriage

Some Jewish, Christian and Islamic scriptures promote pedophilia and/or child marriage. Jewish law sanctifies child marriage of girls as young as 12 and boys as young as 13 (Rich). An ancient Jewish scripture called the Mishnah decrees that “A girl three years and a day is betrothed by intercourse,” therefore the law allows men to marry girls as young as 3 if they have sex with the girls (Weinberg & Margalit, 2007). The Mishnah is thought to be the first Rabbinical text and is considered a major part of Jewish law.

The Book of Numbers from The Old Testament of the Christian Bible quotes Moses after a battle: "Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man" (“Numbers 31:17-18…”). Then as now it was common for soldiers to take women and girls as sex slaves, though this might refer to taking the girls as wives also. There is no minimum age limit for using the girls so apparently this indicates tolerance of sex with children.

The Book of Judges says that after the Benjaminite women were killed during a battle, Israili leaders decided to give the remaining Benjaminite men new wives by stealing virgins from Jabesh-gilead: "This is what you are to do," they said. "Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin" (“Judges 21:10-24…”). Note that they don’t say to kill children, so apparently all males (boys and men) were killed and all girls were taken as wives. In a hellish battle it’s impossible to know if a woman is a virgin so presumably they just grabbed every girl and killed women who showed signs of aging.

But there weren’t enough girls for each man, so they went to Shiloh to abduct more girls: “When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife” (“Judges 21:10-24…”). Deuteronomy 22:28-29 says that if a man randomly meets a virgin and decides to rape her she should be forced to marry him. Therefore, the Bible’s Old Testament approves of raping, enslaving and marrying girls without specifying a minimum age to protect children.

And though the Old Testament is a Christian (and Jewish) scripture, these violations are committed by Jews since Christ hadn’t arrived yet. I previously proved that underage marriage to girls as young as three was allowed in the Jewish tradition, so logically the rape and marriage of virgins described in the Old Testament was committed against underage girls. My brief research of the New Testament did not find scripture allowing pedophilia or underage marriage.

The Quran apparently allows underage marriage. Sura 65:4 describes divorcing a wife who is not menstruating but is not post-menopausal or pregnant which implies she is a child who hasn’t begun menstruating yet. Furthermore, several hadith scriptures state that the founder of Islam, Muhammad, had sex with his 9-year-old bride which Islamic clerics cite as justification for allowing underage marriage (“Islam and Underage Marriage,” 2010).

Therefore, it seems that the Jewish religion specifies the age of a child bride/groom, the Islamic religion implies marriage to children is allowed in the Quran and from Muhammad’s example of having sex with his 9-year old wife, and the Christian religion implies that raping underage girls was acceptable at least before Jesus arrived. It is unethical for an adult to have sex with a child because that harms the child physically, mentally and spiritually. It is also unethical for an adult to marry a child even if they don’t have sex with the child because marriage harms the child mentally and spiritually since they can easily be taken advantage of in non-sexual ways and the marriage prevents equality because one spouse (almost always the male) acts as a parent, disciplinarian and dominator of the child spouse (almost always a female).

Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same god. Assuming that this god is good, they would not allow adults to rape and marry children in my opinion. By this reasoning, the scribes did bad when they promoted pedophilia and child marriage. Thus, the solution would be to improve the scriptures by removing text that allows rape and marriage against children.

When people learn some scriptures allow men to rape and marry children they may decide to leave their religion and/or destroy all the scriptures. However, some scriptures are helpful. Why not recycle scripture to eliminate the bad and keep the good? This is like when a gardener removes weeds, pests and mold in order to help the garden grow stronger.

Likewise, removing the bad scriptures would promote the healthy growth of the good scriptures of which there are plenty in the Talmud, the Bible and the Quran. Religious scholar Leora Tanenbaum said, “There’s a very common belief that if we are critical of religion, the response should be to simply leave religion. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Critical thinking can lead to action, which leads to reform” (Savage, 2009).

References:

“Deuteronomy 22:28-29 (New International Version).” BibleGateway.com. Retrieved on September 17, 2010 from
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2022:28-29&version=NIV

“Islam and Underage Marriage.” (2010). Journal of Feminist Insight. Retrieved from
http://journaloffeministinsight.blogspot.com/2010/09/islam-and-underage-marriage.html

“Judges 21:10-24 (New International Version).” BibleGateway.com. Retrieved on September 17, 2010 from
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+21%3A10-24&version=NIV

“Numbers 31:17-18 (New International Version).” BibleGateway.com. Retrieved on September 17, 2010 from
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2031:17-18&version=NIV

Rich, T. R. “Marriage.” Judaism 101. Retrieved on September 17, 2010 from
http://www.jewfaq.org/marriage.htm

Savage, E. (2009). “‘Catfight’ Author Takes A Swipe At Religious Inequality.” JWeekly.com. Retrieved on September 17, 2010 from
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/40839/catfight-author-takes-a-swipe-at-religious-inequality/

Weinberg, P. & Margalit, N. (2007). “Review of Selected Feminist Approaches to Rabbinic Judaism (pdf document).” Retrieved on September 17, 2010 from
http://peninaweinberg.com/Documents/Feminist_Approaches_to_Rabbinic_Judaism.pdf

Islam and Underage Marriage

Islam's primary religious book is the Quran and it allows men to marry underage girls which is a social evil. The scripture about divorce said that a man should count his wife's menstrual periods to decide how much time to wait till completing the divorce. However, there are three times during a female's life that she doesn't menstruate: 1) during middle age after menopause, 2) during pregnancy, and 3) when she is a child. Sura #65, section 4 describes how to count the menstrual cycles of a wife who is not menstruating:

"Such of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the prescribed period, if ye have any doubts, is three months, and for those who have no courses (it is the same): for those who are pregnant, their period is until they deliver their burden"(“The Holy Quran”).

Apparently, a man is allowed to marry a child because he can divorce a wife who is not menstruating yet is neither pregnant or menopausal, which indicates she is a child. Furthermore, the narrator of the Quran, Muhammad, married a 6-year-old girl named Aisha and had sex with her when she was 9 according to numerous hadith scriptures (none mention that she was an adult or teen at the time of marriage). Because the founder of Islam is said to have married a child and the primary Islamic book allows child marriage, Islamic religious leaders often approve of child marriage.

Saudi Arabian marriage clerk Ahmad Al-Mu'bi said "The Prophet Muhammad is the model we follow. He took 'Aisha to be his wife when she was 6, but he had sex with her only when she was 9" (“Sex OK at 9…”). Hadith scriptures mention that Aisha brought her dolls with her when she went to live with Muhammad (Silas). Saudi Arabia's top religious authority, the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Shaikh, confirmed that it is not against Islamic law for girls to marry at age 15 or younger (Ori, 2010).

Aisha, named after Muhammad’s 6-year-old bride, was 10 when she was married and forced to “leave school, move to a village far from her parents' home, cook and clean all day, and have sex with her older husband:

"He took out a special sheet and laid me down on it," Aisha told IRIN, wringing her small plump hands. "After it, I started bleeding. It was so painful that I was crying and shouting, and since then I have seen him as death" (“Law Stipulates Girls Can Marry At Just 9…”).

Aisha escaped and sued for divorces. Her family didn’t support her right to avoid rape. She said, "My Dad told me to sleep with my husband, or he would kill me."

Elham Assi, a 13-year old Yemeni child bride, died from bleeding as a result of being raped by her husband. To prevent this from happening again feminists tried to ban child marriage but mosque leader Sheik Mohammed Hamzi, though aware of the rape-killing of Elham Assi, nevertheless said “I am against the child marriage law because it restrains the freedom of others…For example, imagine a young man of 13 or 14 years of age who wants to have sex…This is a violation of his rights,” (Sandels, 2010), so apparently he thinks it’s okay for girls to be raped and killed so that boys can enjoy sex. Although he is exhibiting psychopathic behavior Sheik Hamzi is a respected community leader because the Quran allows child marriage, therefore, many people believe promoting child marriage is the same as promoting Islam. Yemen’s Ministry of Social Affairs reports that “a quarter of all females in Yemen marry before the age of 15” (Sandels, 2010).

A Saudi Arabian father sold his 12-year-old daughter for $22,600 to an 80-year old man who had married three other underage girls. The girl pleaded to a journalist, "I don't want him, save me!" Feminist Eman Al Nafjan, said, “We should set a legal minimum age at which girls can be married…Without a law we get people like this 80 year old guy who takes advantage of the system to fulfill his sick obsession with little girls…Where else in the world can a man openly say that he is in a polygamous marriage with four underage girls and not get arrested? At this rate we might as well start a tourism industry to attract rich Muslim pedophiles" (“Saudi Girl, 12…”). Though Saudi religious leaders frequently approve child marriage journalist Wajiha Al-Huwaidar explained that "Whatever their religious justification, this is just a way of legally justifying the rape of little girls."

In Afghanistan pedophiles with money are finding it easier to buy girls. In 2008 MP Fauzia Kofi says she’s seeing more child brides and she explains, "I don't call it marriage, I call it selling children…A nine or 10-year-old - you give her away for wheat and two cows." Midwife Hanufa Mah tries to teach parents not to marry their girls young. She recalled the birth of a 10-year old mother: "The girl was so small. I held her in my lap until the child was born." A girl who was sold at age 13 said, "I didn't want to marry, it was my parents' decision…I dreamed I would be able to finish my education. I had no choice" (“Child Brides…”).

Yet Muslims have a choice about whether to change the Quran and hadith scriptures or not. Sura #99 says on Judgment Day "anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it!" and "anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it" (“The Holy Quran”). Thus, the Quran implies that the god Allah is good because Allah rewards good and punishes evil. However this creates a contradiction because allegedly Allah told Muhammad that it is acceptable for men to marry children which is evil but a good god would not do that.

Since logically Allah has to either be good or the Quran falsely states that Allah said child marriage is acceptable, then Muslims must choose one or the other. If they choose to believe Allah is good then naturally they will remove the false statement in the Quran allowing child marriage. And that seems to be the way out of the nightmare of child marriage and rape that has plagued the Muslim world.

References:

“Child Brides 'Sold' In Afghanistan.” (2008). BBC News. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/7342902.stm

“The Holy Quran.” IntraText.com. Retrieved on September 11, 2010 from
http://www.intratext.com/x/eng0027.htm

“Law Stipulates Girls Can Marry At Just 9 In Yemen.” (2010). Alarabiya.net. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/02/21/101004.html

Ori, K. O. (2010). “Nigeria: Senator Marries 13-Year Old, Rights Activists Appalled.” En.Afrik.com. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://en.afrik.com/article17521.html

Sandels, A. (2010). “YEMEN: Islamic Lawmaker Decries Child Marriage Ban As Part Of 'Western Agenda'.” LATimes.com. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/04/yemen-fierce-opposition-to-child-marriage-ban-persists-among-conservatives.html

“Sex OK at 9, Says Saudi Cleric.” (2008). wnd.com. Retrieved on September 11, 2010 from
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68074

Silas. “Muhammad, Aisha, Islam, And Child Brides.” Answering-Islam.org. Retrieved on September 11, 2010 from
http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/childbrides.htm

“Saudi Girl, 12, Married Off To 80-Year-Old Man.” (2010). AllHeadlinesNews.com. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017588076?Saudi%20Gir,%2012,%20Married%20Off%20To%2080-Year-Old%20Man