No Marker, No Grave

By: Gus Victoria

The myriad thoughts of the mind are freed

And in chaotic order dance anew,

A moment of weakness

Fulfills a lifetime of strength,

No temple to shame,

No doctrine to defile,

No blame to seek,

Guilt is a garment unworn,

To the fire consigned,

Justice is the new badge,

Dogma no more;

Words in the wind

From the granite slabs

Ground to dust,

Dry corpse by the vulture devoured,

No marker,

No grave,

Faith lives on,

Religion is forever dead.

Live and Love. Be Proud. Be Free.

By: Gus Victoria

The past week has been quite important for millions of gay people in this country and the many millions more that proudly call themselves friends and are family to them. The great joy in the Supreme Court’s decision to deem Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional was palpable. Sometimes it takes great moments like this to realize simultaneously how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. A victory, even one such as this, should not distract us from the still sad reality that for many people, in many states, the ruling did very little if anything at all. Also it cannot easily bridge the gap caused by those who with either ignorance or hate choose to deny to some of their fellow citizens a natural and just right; the freedom to love and profess through mutual  lifelong commitment that love regardless of sex.

Those who would redefine marriage do so without an understanding of what marriage is and a depressingly active trivializing of love. To cite God and a sacred scripture as the grounds for that action is wrong on several levels. Firstly it blatantly shows a willfully malicious and selective reading of holy texts. Secondly, it disregards the very clear principle of separation of Church and State that this country was founded upon. Third, and to me, most tragic, it dehumanizes those it seeks to control by labeling them sinners and not acknowledging a very real love.

Love is ancient. It is the fabric of human nature that binds us all to each other and beauty. The divine essence is love and we all carry it within ourselves. From this fount springs forth compassion, empathy, joy, hope, and faith. No one is born with hate in their hearts. Hate is learned. Hate is not the opposite force of love. Hate does not oppose love. Hate inhabits an empty house. It can only be sown where love is not. There it grows if allowed to, if fed more hate. Until of course, inevitably, it becomes a force unto itself. Even then, a true love that delivers in its light understanding can banish the darkness cast by hate.

Marriage, as those behind such an oppressive act of government want it to be understood, is fairly recent and it has nothing to do with love. A marriage in that regard is a simple legal contract. It was created for purposes of inheritance and politics. Its purpose was financial and political. Love rarely if ever figured. If marriage then, taken in that context of a legal contract, is such then there can be no question as to its legality between same-sex couples. Religion plays no part and to deny such legal protection to one portion of the citizenry is against both the laws and principles this country was founded upon.

If Biblical scripture is used to define by some argument of precedent or natural law that such a union must be between one man and one woman it  ignores much. It chooses a few passages throughout the entire work while ignoring many other laws deemed unnecessary, inconvenient, or outdated. Also it chooses to focus, with detrimental effect, on a tiny portion while missing the entirety of the message contained in the rest of the work; that love prevails above all.  Adherents can love, but if someone chooses to love someone of the same sex, no matter how sincere that affection may be, they are by necessity and without argument wrong.  I must allow myself to be wrong for how can I learn and grow if I know everything already? Yet, even in those things I feel right about, I cannot allow myself to use that conviction to deny others their rights. Truth stands on its own and demands no further defense.

It is faith in that truth that must ground our convictions. That indeed love will prevail and those that seek to stop two men from marrying, or two women, will inevitably lose. That marriage will be redefined from its imperfect birth as a cynical legal contract to that which it has always been destined to be; an outward manifestation of an inner truth to be celebrated by those friends and family of the happy couple.

As we celebrate Pride this day and every day. As we mourn those whose lives have been cut short by the depression and weight of unacceptance. As we look to a brighter future let us not lose sight that it does get better. It WILL get better, if only we let love guide us. Hate imprisons most harshly he that originates it. Spread love and be free!

Love Is Its Own Law - Marriage Equality

By: Gus Victoria

Here we stand and wait at the threshold of history. Waiting for a verdict from the highest court in the land. Nine men and women soon make a decision that will impact millions. History will judge them based on that decision. We will celebrate or we will scorn. As a nation we will debate long after the decision has been handed down. Tears of joy and tears of despair will flow and mingle together.

Thousands march on either side. Millions more use their voices, words, and actions to advertise their belief. To change minds and hearts if possible. To rant if not. And what does it all mean? Nothing and everything.

At question is marriage and who among this nation’s citizens has a right to marry and whom. Seems a simple answer. The heart follows its own path, infinitely capable of that one force that is greater than all others; love. Can a couple of the same sex be allowed to marry and enjoy the same rights and benefits that heterosexual couples already do? To most of us the answer is clear and undebatable. The problem is that answer is not the same. Debate must, in such a State as our own, commence. Unfortunately we aren’t very civil when we feel ourselves, or those we care for, threatened and we begin to pepper this discussion of love with hate and prejudice. Violence can never create and hate can never persuade. Fear may induce some to act and think in a certain way for a while, but understanding brought about by love can banish fear easily. Hate has a firm hold only because we grasp it so tightly. Let go of it and let the heart speak. You’ll be surprised what it says.

More to the issue at hand though. Vague studies have been known to show...everything. I hate to discard a whole category of argumentation, but here when people are discussing passionate matters then the debate cannot be stripped down, quantified, and presented in a neat little study. Better to dispense with it altogether. Why cannot a man marry a man or a woman a woman? That is the question. At its center being the question; what is marriage?

How does one define it? That answer dictates on what side of this debate a person stands.

Scriptures and fear drive much of the conversation on one side. Fear and loathing on the other. Fear being common to both. The great divide is who can marry whom. For many that is what defines marriage and what, in maintaining the status quo, will keep its sanctity. A man marries a woman and they raise a family. That is marriage and its purpose. There is no other.

Wrong.

In this argument there is, and there must be a definite wrong answer and it is what makes it so refreshing for a philosopher used to dealing with deep, yet vague, questions about existence and the meaning of life. Outdated notions of the family unit are regressive in a world ready to move beyond the ancient mold of superstition and spiritual oppression. This does not mean religion does not have a place in this world, it still does. However it must understand it cannot captivate the minds and hearts of people as it once did to affect wholesale change on a society. Those bonds have rusted over the years and are clearly snapping.

That struggle is a death struggle. Rationalism and humanism in this century have and will continue to usher in a new Enlightenment. A second one that the church will not survive without serious reflection and change. Ignorance right now is an ally they need to abandon. Love was once its foundation, there will they find salvation.

That explains the ferocity of the opposition. The undermining of scriptural authority.

It is a moot point. Marriage may be defined in the eyes of the law however the lawmakers decide and the law of the heart that is love will always supercede it. A man may love whomever he chooses and a women may as well. The vow they make to each other no law of the land may ever break. To attempt to only condemns the lawmaker. Yes, hardships may have to be endured in a place where love outside the established norms exists. Some of these hardships may be fatal. This is a tragedy that those standing against marriage equality should take note of. Though the heart may be bruised and the body broken love, if it is true, will always endure. There is the sanctity of marriage. Not in the sex. Always in the heart.

The slippery slope argument that warns man may marry all sorts of animals and such after marriage is made legal is silly on two counts. The first one should be self-evident. The legalization of marriage will not create a wave of barnyard lovers. The second point is that marriage can even be legalized. Law ought to have no say in a covenant where they are not partners. It can grant benefits or take them away, but is cannot dissolve the union between two people if they have promised themselves to each other. You can says its invalid in all the law books of the country, but that does not make it so for them. Love is never invalid.

I rejoice as I stand at this threshold with many of my friends. I have no doubt that change in our nation will soon be upon us. I have no doubt that even that doesn’t matter. The debate won’t end. Love will outlive it though. Stand firm, be hopeful and NEVER be afraid to love!!

Not Quite the Atheist - Yet

With an admitted touch of irony, it is a leap of faith to disbelieve the ancient belief of Deity. It is a mark of courage to go forth in this world without the support of old dogmas and oft-repeated myths to guide and to reassure. Evil is as universal as good so long as there is a will to promote thought and exercise action. There is no hidden or apparent moral compass in religion that did not first find its creation in human thought. Why use the kaleidoscopic vision of a created divinity to filter back down what was ours always?

Religion might have once had its use. To unify and to create identities that allowed ancient peoples to understand and interact in their world with each other and various mysterious forces. Forces that have in that long march across history been explained, understood and re-understood time and again as we grow in knowledge, driven by our insatiable curiosity. As we have discovered much we have also realized there is much more that we do not know. That gap in knowledge no longer creates new myths that require strict adherence to some moral, civic, or social code. We carry around our inheritance of religion as ancient baggage that with each successive generation becomes heavier.

I am not yet brave enough nor strong enough in faith to jettison completely the millennia-old deities of my forebears, but I’m close. I look to the stars with the same wonder man did 5,000 years ago and before. The gods have changed, but that basic wonder never will. God may be out there, but I do not seek him out here. The universe is so vast it would be arrogance to limit what was created limitless. 

For another rant on the subject, check out Sorry John it Took Me So Long, But I'm a Dreamer Now

Crook and Orb

By: Gus Victoria

The Shepherd’s crook,

The monarch’s orb,

Noble gifts

Used as locks,

To heavy chains built

In darkness,

Paraded in light,

Proclaimed with glory,

Unmasked to shame,

By those unfit to wield.

Embraced by those

Quick to yield.

The Prophet and The Poet

By: Gus Victoria

The prophet speaks of fire and brimstone,

The tongue lashes the sinner’s soul

And shame is the mantle thrown

On a life unknown.

Yours a gentle hand in love extended

Embracing the thief,

Consoling the whore,

Counseling the heathen,

Yours a gentle heart is love expressed

In The Creation,

Not The Fall,

In the Wind

That moves the waters

That carve the mountains

That proclaim together

A humble majesty

Sublime in scope,

Unsurpassed in beauty.

Your prophets war

And your poets weep,

Your children murder

In your many names,

Your children search

Your many homes,

To proclaim a throne

And use in your name

The authority they give themselves

...and I weep.

A Rant on Religion - A Response to Zealots

By: Gus Victoria

(Several weeks ago there was a debate involving homosexual marriage. I argued that it should not matter who you can marry so long as love is the determining factor. That debate then devolved into a digital shouting match where the so-called religious shouted loudest. One man in particular was so full of hate that the fact he was preaching from the words of a prophet of love and justice was irony in its purest sense. Of course I will write about that particular incident in detail soon, but first I thought it best to put forth my thoughts on those zealots. Anyone that would preach to me ANY message with hate in their heart gets the same response. Some of my friends have probably wondered  why I have ventured away from a religious life I was so close to in the past. This response I hope sets the foundation and sheds some light on my journey to answer that question)

I have read studies that have shown that invariably demons are responsible for all the evil in this world. I have read accounts that all point to the same conclusion; that we are living in the endtimes and that this world will soon descend into a fiery chaos before it slips into a final eternal night. I have seen men and women cry and shed tears as they shout and yell at me and others that we are sinful and will never enter the kingdom of heaven unless we repent. I have known many people that attest absolutely to the brokenness of man. I have seen such conviction move organizations, societies, and even nations. I am here to tell them all in a voice that wells deep within my being and that is anchored in a conviction no less real and no less unwavering than theirs to simply and utterly…fuck off!

This world I have to share with you. It is a reality I have to live with. You are not personally responsible for keeping me here on this planet when I could be exploring the red sand beaches of a terra-formed Mars. No more than I can be blamed for not inventing that technology. However the regressive state that arises from the dogmatic proclamations of the religious is the momentum that makes a sprint to the future a crawl through the molasses of superstition and fear. For every step we take forward in our evolution as a species and a culture we have to take two back to consult with the ghosts of our past instead of fulfilling the promise of the future.

You argue and bicker with each other as well as with me. You hate as you extend the hand of friendship. You embrace me as a brother, but exclude me from your family. I am a statistic. I am but one more soul, one more mind, one more voice to add to your song of conquest. 

It ends tonight. I will never sing for you. I won’t ever be deceived by your friendship for to you even the best friend is worthy of the fires of your hell. Nor do I embrace your God. I hope for the sake of this world and the universe that He is but a figment of your imagination. If He is as you portray him, then the Devil might know more of Justice than that God. I disagree and you may be surprised to know I believe in a deity and pray daily. I love the traditions and the legacies all faiths have left in this world. Every faith that is adhered to by any man or woman is capable of the same good or evil that person is capable of. No demon ever forced a person’s hand, only ever another person. We have freedom to choose and a duty to choose right as reason, good-will, and justice impel us to; three things that all faiths teach and that no faith owns exclusive patents to.

Love is the force that bind us all. To me that is God. Justice is what we know must be done to restore that love. Injustice is a lack of love. All faiths teach this. Tell me then, why is yours right? Why is mine wrong? Put them aside and take my hand and together we will take possession of our future. We can begin to heal this world the moment we learn how to stop hating.

Chasing the Fairy #9

By: Gus  Victoria

A bird of a feather lost

On the path taken most

To a confession given freely

To him that asked.

A stranger hidden

From the truth given

On an empty plain

To sit on a barren pedestal

Of marble cold.

An inscription of gold

And the silken glance

Of the admiring youth

Give honor

Where ignorance is due.

Lack is surplus

When we worship

The lost empty space

Of unknown faithless frivolity.

God is greater than god

For man is more than men.

And woman mother of both. 

Jesus, Santa Claus, and Thoreau.

By: Gus Victoria

The comparisons to Jesus and Santa have been made before and not all are nice. In fact there are more than a few books and websites that do nothing but expound upon the similarities of Santa to Satan and his usurping of Christ’s role in the world particularly at Christmas time.

But what does a 19^th century American essayist/philosopher/rebel have to do with either of them? The truth is, depending on your personal beliefs, nothing or everything. Contrary to popular belief I hold a degree in Religion. It is a degree that, though I enjoyed earning, means very little in the “real world.” I do not regret my decision in pursuing such a degree and I only make mention of it because I can’t help but notice that many of my friends that studied alongside me have all followed paths much different than my own.  That is not to say I am alone in my beliefs, not at all. Simply that the community that I was part of whether through similarities of study, interest, disposition, or even convenience I no longer feel a part of. There is a restlessness of spirit that no amount of study of scripture was able to fix and which has at least in my private thoughts ostracized me from that community. Yet, there is no mourning on my part. Rather I feel as a prisoner let free from the confines of a prison. I have a newfound freedom that neither study nor experience has fully prepared me for.

Yes, I know, as Socrates once said “I know that I know nothing.” Without getting into Greek semantics and syntax I first acknowledge that I do not possess all the knowledge that would allow me comfortably to make all the right decisions every single time. Also I am honest enough to say that even at times that I do have the required knowledge to make the right choice I may, for whatever reason, choose not to. This is I believe my right as a human to be able to choose. However it is my duty as a neighbor living amongst others and in a world that I share with others to choose to do right.

Now again, what does Thoreau have to do with this? And Jesus and Santa for that matter? To me Thoreau stands as a rare ideal. Not in that his beliefs are mine though yes some of them are. What I see in Thoreau that I do not see in Jesus is freedom. I don’t mean to blaspheme here…or perhaps I do. I haven’t quite decided. Jesus; those teachings of his that are transmitted down to us are what I cherish and value. Yes I admit even those can never be fully accepted either without some amount of faith. Yet, even if those teachings are myth attributed to legend they are still very valuable and instructive. And were we still to assume that the Jesus in the scriptures is the real Jesus it is not hard to find many places where he has been taken up as an icon and idol to be worshiped blindly with little regard, if any, to his actual teachings. We seek salvation through gestures and prescribed readings while the evil in the world festers through indifference and a lack of courage to act.

Santa is an even more perfect example though perhaps not as devastating as the empty Jesus. Here is a figure that represents all the good we would like to see in the world manifested precisely in the manner by which we prevent that good from being fully realized. The commercialism is a problem yes that distracts us from doing good unto others. However the general atmosphere does have the ancillary effect of promoting a spirit of goodwill that one finds less common in the general population on a daily basis outside of the season. The real problem I believe lies at the fact that it is the material goods that keep us from attaining that full awareness of the other. We do enough to appease our conscience and little more. What happens when the trees are taken down, the toys forgotten, the lights put away? Is Santa that figure that promotes the good we are capable of beyond the season in ways beyond the material? Is he a leader or a myth we create and expand upon because it makes us feel good? Or does he represent more.

Both the modern Jesus and Santa are to me of little import when discussing matters of good and evil simply because they are constructs of a society created to serve that society not the other way around. I am not saying that we should open a church of Santa (as funny as that sounds to me). Nor am I saying that to enjoy our traditions makes us an outright agent of evil. But it is very easy to get distracted and forget what is really important.

And that leads me back to Thoreau. I don’t know what is really important and I am one of the biggest fans of our current Christmas season; to such a degree that I have been playing Harry for the Holidays since mid-September.  Is that normal? Probably not. What I find appealing about Thoreau and others like him is the rebellious nature. He questions as easily as he breathes, and I suspect that to him it is just as necessary to existence. I love the freedom of thought, to challenge an idea and not fight against the friction created by the reproach of centuries of orthodoxy. The God I choose to believe in does not look down on this freedom of thought, but rather encourages it. How can we better understand his greatness if we are not allowed to discover all that we don’t know?

Sorry John It Took So Long, But I'm a Dreamer Now

By: Gus Victoria

Religion. It looks like a dirty word doesn’t it? To me it is. It carries with it the combined baggage of our collective human existence, its origin predating the very foundations of culture. This article does not begin there. Rather the genesis of this particular rant is found years ago in one particular song; Imagine by John Lennon. For so long I had spurned this song as a soulless heathen daydream. How can one imagine let alone wish for a world without religion. Friends and family adored this song and I resisted. I was at the time a self-styled intellectual with deep spiritual roots and happy in my conservative Catholic tradition. I saw a world so different than what was ideal, but a world where religion was crucial as a means to bring back that ideal and create a better world. Imagine was a childish fantasy I wanted no part of. And then I grew up.

Years of study and living has led me to see the best and worst that religion has to offer. I could assign the bad to Satan and credit the good to God. A younger me probably would have. An angry, equally foolish me would have reversed it ironically.  I choose to do neither, because those two figures have nothing to do with it. Every action, good or bad, began as a choice. Religion is a mask we use to protect us from the truths of the world. The best and worst that religion can offer is also the best and worst that humanity can offer.

It is easy to condemn religion as an opiate or a panacea for the weak. It would be hard to argue the hate that has originated from all religions despite the message of love they all seem to convey. However it would be equally hard to deny the power of love and justice that religions all over the world throughout time have championed. The cycle of hate must not be allowed to carry on by condemning believers, nor must the cycle of love be allowed to end through a difference of belief.

Just imagine it; a world without religion and without nations. The differences of mankind would no longer divide. These are not the words of a foolish man. They are the words of a person that understands we are one. Now I understand that song. I am a dreamer. Are you?

Jesus Saves! Cthulhu Raves!

So Jesus wanted to RAVE not SAVE!?! Ohhh I get it now...someone pass me a glowstick I'm about to have a religious experience! Christianity seems to me sometimes to be little more than a 2,000 year old game of Telephone.

Listen if Jesus were a super skilled ripped lifeguard that could swim in a triathlon and still knock out a shark at the end of the day and I happened to also be drowning in the deep end of the pool because I didn’t wait 30 minutes after my massive meatball sub and a swarm of piranhas that someone released was about to turn me into a nice biology class prop then yes, oh please yes I would need to be saved! However since that doesn’t usually happen, perhaps because most of those details were based on myth, fiction and outright lies I think it is safe to say I’m not in constant danger or need of “saving.” That question has always bothered the hell out of me, which is actually an ironic statement when you think about it since its hell that I am trying to be “saved” from. 

Hey Mr. Christian apologetic have you read that handy dandy book you have in your hand? Can you tell me why you pick and choose what to believe in and how hard? Perhaps animal sacrifice isn’t so cool anymore, but why do you still get a hard-on when talking about the end of the world complete with oceans of blood and mountains of (human) dead? Oh its cool you say, that if I believe then God will save me from that awful fate? Well Mr. Christian apologist I have two words for you…fuck off! Ok not really, I won’t actually say that to you. I’ll probably say something more like “good to know, thanks!” Make no doubt I’m thinking “fuck off!” If God is like the one you describe in your book, especially with all that apocalypse shit all I can say is: What. A. Dick! I’d rather play cards with the devil even if he is a bastard and a cheater. At least he wouldn’t be as cold-blooded a douche as THAT God that decides on a whim to end the world in a tidal wave of blood, fire, and destruction.

Cthulhu-Jesus reigns, saves AND raves.

Now here I seem like a crazy atheist that condemns hate as he himself hates. Au contraire mon ami, you see I believe in God with all my heart and soul. I believe He is real and He is the creator of the universe. The entire universe mind you, not just this tiny planet. He is so much more than I can ever even attempt to quantify. So I don’t. He is. I am not He. That’s all I need to know. Morality comes from the heart and love which I also believe is a manifestation of the divine will. Why else do we universally believe it is wrong to murder?

Love to me is the underpinning of Christianity and indeed any religion. Yes there is also a need and desire to understand the world, but love is the binding and driving force. Which is why one of the things that most angers me in this world is the use of love as a justification for doing the exact opposite.

“I love you therefore I hate.”

Today a friend of mine was unfriended on Facebook by someone saying that though they loved him they did not agree with his lifestyle. He is a gay man in a relationship healthier than perhaps 95% of any straight couple I know. Many of us were angered and a good deal of us laughed when we heard. It made me think. What God of love and wisdom would condemn love? I came to the conclusion that the exclusionary message of condemnation and hate is not only contrary to the spirit of the gospels, but also incompatible with a just and loving God. If the Deity is so far above me in wisdom, knowledge, and capacity to love, why then am I able to grasp that two people in love is to be lauded and not shunned? If this poor uneducated monkey understands this why not then the master of the universe?

So of course the problem is not with God but rather with how some people view God. When the Lord of Hosts is on your side you can justify anything, right? Well I tell you what, I’d like to believe in a God that chooses right and is not as petty and homophobic as others make him out to be. Think about that for a moment. It as if God made a purple polka dot elephant and then proceeded to hate it simply because it was not like the other elephants. Really? That God is not only petty; he’s also stupid and retarded. I like to give the big guy just a wee bit more credit.

There are those that tell me to read the Bible, that the word of God is eternal and binding. Perhaps I love circular logic as much as the next guy, but to them I ask, where in that Bible will I find dinosaurs? More on THAT later…

(Originally posted March 8 , 2011)

Keep Your Modesty, I'll Run Naked Instead

I would dress naked or at the very least provocatively, but because I think it would be too tempting to my female friends (and a few of the male ones) I choose not to. Because I am a man that previous statement sounds absolutely ludicrous. To be fair that I went straight to naked is also silly. There are several levels before that would still revile most people. I am no Adonis, yet.

Avert your eyes men!

I do this to make light of something that in reality really makes me furious. It has always angered me and been one of the proofs in life that as I observe convince me that religion in general and people specifically are fucked. Here I would make a quip about how we are no better than animals and that we are just clever chimps oppressing slightly different chimps for no real reason. Not today, we are far worse than animals and the irony is that we have God to thank for that. Or rather it is more appropriate to say, we have a certain belief in God to thank for that.

*A disclaimer of sorts: Here we must take note that it is not just a certain belief in God that prompts some to adhere to a strict dress code, but also archaic notions of sexuality and passion that have either been disproven scientifically or fallen out of fashion in most places long ago. It would be unfair to say unequivocally that it’s God’s fault as people believe in Him, or do not, in millions of varied ways.  

Before I began this rant I thought about bringing in the big guns; the philosophers and scriptures on which these beliefs in modest dress are based. I opted against this because it doesn’t matter where the impetus comes from, the problem is the decision taken to impose the belief that women’s bodies are to be hidden because of man’s inability to control his thoughts and actions. It denigrates both women and men. Everyone loses.

I am not ashamed of the human form, nor do I think that we should be. Sexual immorality stems not from the physical, but rather from the inner reaches of the mind, soul, and heart which man or woman chooses to act upon or ignore. Sex is not wrong because it is. Sex is wrong because it is when we are not. That is to say, when we are not in possession of all our faculties and choose to cheat on others or ourselves. Sin derives from that. NOT, as others might fear, from the form. A naked female is intimidating to he that either has never seen her before or has never respected her. It is easier to cover up what we are not prepared to see than to prepare ourselves to see it.

Nor am I advocating we all walk around naked. I am saying what we wear does not matter so much as why we wear it. If you love dresses and neck high blouses then by all means dress that way! For the love of God though (huge irony, I know) don’t do it because you think that’s what’s expected. And PLEASE don’t do it because the man in your life tells you so. I have read in many places and seen firsthand that in many of these systems where dress for women is to some degree prescribed it is because the man deems its right.

That’s really what irritates me most; that a man will say “you need to dress this way because I say so,” and the woman will simply obey. We are both people; man and woman alike and there need not be, should not be a moment where one oppresses the other because in doing so we both lose what we can be if we both help each other reach our fullest potential instead of hinder.

Also it not only makes the woman weak by making her subservient to the man, but also it underscores that man himself is a weak creature. Perhaps even weaker than the woman he feels he must oppress. The entire reasoning for the modest dress in a woman, or at least the most compelling is often that to dress revealing would cause the man to think impure thoughts. This, to me is a travesty; it paints the female body as something sinister which causes man to think uncontrollable thoughts. Yes, men are humans and certain instincts are triggered when presented with a female human. This is natural and not evil. Beyond that, when that passing moment lingers and turns to objectification then that instinct becomes sin. To blame that on women though is absurd! The man is at fault for they are his thoughts. Imposing his will on her is in essence extending his weakness on her as well.

What are your thoughts? Depending on the discussion there will be follow up posts and we can discuss scripture, etc. This was a rant to promote my opinion and hopefully move you to write yours below and open a dialogue, whether we agree or not.