The Rape Gang Inquiry Report continues to shock and horrify and responses are predictable enough: too much immigration, Islam is violent, send them home, etc. What amazes me is that people are still saying that the problem is that Muslims have an archaic, benighted, patriarchal culture and that feminism has work to do on the problem.
Do you not understand? This horror unfolded in a feminist country – weak, timid, fearful and incapable of executing justice. It would not even have been tolerated where the perpetrators came from, as evinced by the fact that one of them already had been castrated in Pakistan. It was condoned and connived by people who had been imbibing feminism all their lives. This is feminist society.
Now I haven’t read much of the Koran or the Haddith, so I can’t comment on what they say about how Muslims should treat non-Muslims or how men should treat women. And I certainly don’t mean to suggest that what it says is very nice. But I have read the Bible, which is older than the Koran and was also written in a patriarchal culture. And I can affirm that the principles the Bible gives us include the rule of law, impartial justice for all, chastity for both sexes and marriage by consent. The very first book of the Bible contains the account of Abraham’s servant being sent on a journey to find Abraham’s relatives and obtain a bride for his son Isaac. Providentially guided to the right family, the servant meets the beautiful Rebekah and, with utmost courtesy, presents the request to her parents and older brother.
And they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah…
And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
You can read the whole story in Genesis 24. A more beautiful picture of faith, dignity, honest dealing, a deeply considered life and (as a natural part of that) marriage by consent, it would be difficult to imagine.
Another interesting example is the case of Zelophehad’s daughters. They had to marry members of their own tribe for inheritance reasons, but they were told that, with that proviso, they could marry “whom they think best”.[1] We see the same principle in the New Testament, where Paul instructs that a widow “is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord”.[2] Christians are not allowed to marry non-Christians but apart from that it is their choice.
The Bible does give us one account of a horrific gang rape and murder, infamously facilitated by the husband of the victim (they had evidently intended to rape him), in the Benjamite town of Gibeah. When the rest of Israel heard about it, they sent messengers to the Benjamites demanding that the perpetrators be handed over for execution, to “put away evil from Israel.”[3] They refused to do it, so the other tribes armed for war and wiped out most of the tribe of Benjamin.
Guess what? It didn’t happen again. Now that’s patriarchal culture.
[1] You can read the full story in Numbers 26:33, 27:1-7, 36:1-12.
[2] 1 Corinthians 7:39b
[3] Judges 20:13
