One of the most interesting aspects of the contemporary ideological debate is the relationship between feminist thought and religions. Feminism, which serves as the state ideology in Western democracies, presents clear points of friction with traditionally defined religious morality.

Sheila Jeffreys’ essay, Man’s Dominion: The Rise of Religion and the Eclipse of Women’s Rights, is dedicated to this theme. The author teaches political science at the University of Melbourne and is one of the most authoritative voices in global feminism; reading her book allows us to get a sense of “what’s cooking”…

Jeffreys traces several key points of the issue in recent history. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, the conviction had formed that religions had entered a phase of irremediable decline, and leftist ideologies utilized traditional laicist and anti-clerical arguments in their publications. During that period, feminists achieved their most brilliant successes across almost the entire Western world: divorce and abortion. The propaganda campaigns for feminist demands were marked by a frontal collision with Christian Churches, from which the latter emerged practically disintegrated.

Starting in the 1990s, things began to change: the massive arrival of migrants from Muslim countries in the West forced authorities to recognize lifestyles—and sometimes grant them legal standing—that would be considered inadmissible for citizens of Western nations.

In fact, within Islamic communities living in the West, the condition of women has not undergone assimilation into that of Western women; rather, it has remained substantially tied to the customs of their places of origin. The Left, which governs almost undisturbed throughout the Western world, imposing the feminist agenda through gender quotas, has found itself managing the relationship with immigrant communities (largely Muslim) and having to choose between indulgence toward these populations and the demands of female emancipation. De facto, two parallel societies have been created: that of the natives, where males are in a state of legal minority, and that of the immigrants, where patriarchy has not even been scratched.

Since the reproduction rate of immigrant populations is overwhelming compared to that of native Western populations, it is easy to predict that within one or two generations, feminism will end up end up on the ash heap of history…

Jeffreys also laments the difficulty of monitoring the condition of women within families and communities, implying that, in the name of female emancipation, she would like to tear the right to privacy to shreds…

Jeffreys herself reports with alarm that criticizing the condition of women in Islam is labeled as racism even within universities. Thus, we frequently see the staid and pompous academic culture of progressive tyrannies becoming a victim of its own anti-discrimination ideology!

Also disturbing the dreams of feminists are cultural currents and congregations within the Christian world that hold a conception of women that appears unacceptable to them. And it doesn’t end there: even within the Jewish religion, there are sects that assign social and family roles to women that “neo-suffragettes” consider retrograde.

A large part of the book is dedicated to an aspect shared by Islam and specific currents of North American religious landscape: polygamy. This, apparently, is the bitterest pill for feminist thinkers. Polygamy is considered intrinsically harmful to women; specifically, the idea of a male having a harem at his disposal to satisfy his sexual desires is a true nightmare for Jeffreys. In the United States and Canada, polygamy among Mormons—officially abandoned in 1890—is de facto practiced in some communities, and in recent years there have been court rulings declaring such situations legitimate.

It should be noted that Jeffreys only considers monotheistic religions, even though all other religions represent the majority of humankind—especially considering that practiced Christianity is now a minority. Obviously, this focus on monotheism stems from the fact that the Biblical conception of God has decisively shaped Western history, but it is a surprising attitude, to say the least, for someone who claims daily to want to put Western culture… on trial! The fact that the West was pagan before it was Christian is not even taken into consideration.

However, the feminist point of view is in evident embarrassment when forced to take a stance on religion. Let’s summarize the terms of the issue:

• Judaism: Orthodox Jews maintain a rigid distinction of gender roles and sometimes, in certain sects, practice polygamy or even concubinage, following the example of the patriarch Abraham joining with the slave Hagar.
• Christianity: Although in the past Christian morality decisively opposed feminism and “homosexualism,” today—after having disastrously lost those battles—Christian Churches have predominantly moved to the opposing camp. However, substantial pockets of dissent remain in the Christian world, and the theme of Mormon polygamy is seen by feminists as a “loose cannon.”
• Islam: It is traditionally the most “masculinist” religion; it regularly permits polygamy and the use of the veil to cover the female face.

Furthermore, all religions have traditionally condemned abortion and homosexuality, albeit with different nuances.

Jeffreys’ conclusion is that a vigorous secularist offensive against all religions is needed, as she believes religions have regained strength as a smokescreen for lost “male privileges” (to get an idea of what these “male privileges” are, a reading of Warren Farrell’s The Myth of Male Power is recommended).

The question is: can leftist ideologies afford such a strategy?

It is well known what Judaism signifies for the Left; the Muslim masses in Europe, funded by a flood of petrodollars, bring millions of votes to progressives; Christian Churches are now reduced to the role of a breeding ground for the progressive political class. Moreover, even from a conceptual point of view, the God of the Bible is nothing more than the “feminine and whining” mentality that generates the ideology of victimhood.

In short, an attack on the “Religions of the Book” means, for feminists, biting the hand that feeds them!

Not only that: Jeffreys also complains that the most influential atheist and agnostic intellectuals in the current cultural landscape have the flaw of… being male!!!

These are issues that are not easily solved for feminist thinkers firmly ensconced in Western universities and institutions.

Reading books of this kind is particularly disturbing and leaves a bad taste in the mouth because it shows the level of ideological paranoia established by politically correct authoritarianism. But the good news lies in the macroscopic contradictions generated by the system itself—contradictions upon which opponents of the globalist regime can work fruitfully to build an alternative and instill hope in a new world.

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Sheila Jeffreys, Man’s Dominion: the Rise of Religion and the Eclipse of Women’s Rights, Routledge 2011, p.232

Democrazia Post Vitale

Racconto ucronico ambientato nell’anno 2023

Gaia Dulcis Dea

La Preghiera per la Madre Verde

Racconto Ecosofico

INDICE

Una moglie perfetta

Il Crimine del Millennio

Lasciate Ogni Scarpa, Voi Che Entrate

Il marito a casa da solo (con prole)

Un sogno misterioso

Visita parenti

Finalmente libera?

L’inizio di una Nuova Era

Anonymous Woman Writer

Female Re-education Center

A Satirical Dystopia

Afterlife Beliefs

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The Victrix publishing house performs a commendable service in disseminating classical culture; a truly significant title in its catalog is Le credenze d’oltretomba nelle opere dell’antichità classica (Afterlife Beliefs in the Works of Classical Antiquity) by Carlo Pascal. First published in 1911, the book remains a useful guide today for surveying the sources regarding conceptions of the afterlife in the ancient world.

The general conception of the afterlife in the Western world is essentially shaped by the descriptions in the Divine Comedy, yet Dante was himself deeply indebted to the depictions of the underworld provided by ancient literature. Furthermore, references to the afterlife in the Bible are quite vague in both the Old and New Testaments, whereas the pagan world appears to have held more precise ideas about the otherworldly realm.

Among the oldest recorded customs is the offering of crowns to the dead, as if they were victors in an ideal race of life: from this concept emerged a sense of immortality that assimilated men to the gods. Ancient literature, from Homeric times onward, describes the Realm of the Dead—initially with distressing tones (such as the shade of Achilles in the Odyssey), and later with hopes of happiness that find their greatest expression in Virgil’s “Elysian Fields.” Generally, one observes that in the earliest stages, the abode of the dead is perceived as a shadowy and indistinct place; over time, clearer conceptions emerge. The posthumous condition appears increasingly linked to the deceased’s conduct during life, with corresponding rewards and punishments. This framework transitioned into Christian views of the afterlife, eventually leading to the medieval development of a temporary place of suffering that prepares souls for Heaven: Purgatory.

Pascal’s study examines the locations and figures of the underworld: from the infernal rivers to the Furies, from the Etruscan-origin demon Charon to the judge Minos. Pascal consistently references primary sources, including not only great literary works but also the philosophical doctrines of various ancient schools, as well as sepulchral inscriptions and Orphic fragments, identifying interesting connections with Jewish and early Christian apocalyptic literature. This entire heritage of the imagination would later be masterfully utilized by Dante Alighieri.

In ancient Rome, the conception of the afterlife also had political reflections through the deification of emperors (apotheosis). Ancient writers recount that numerous prodigies occurred upon the death of Caesar, and rumors spread that he had been taken up to heaven among the gods. The Roman ruling class saw the deification of the emperor as an opportunity to strengthen the sense of the state, to the extent that Augustus himself was depicted with a halo—which would later become the hallmark of sanctity in Christianity. Once again, we see how the new religion integrated itself into an already well-defined system of values and symbolic references.

It is to be hoped that the reissue of Pascal’s book paves the way for the rediscovery of his other works on ancient religious history and Medieval Latin literature, of which Pascal was a meticulous scholar.

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Carlo Pascal, Le credenze d’oltretomba nelle opere letterarie dell’antichità classica, Victrix, Forlì 2006, pp.266

Xenophanes of Colophon and the Eleatic School

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«But if oxen and horses and lions had hands and were able to draw with their hands and do the same things as men, horses would draw figures of gods similar to horses and oxen similar to oxen, and they would fashion bodies just as each of them is fashioned».

This is the most famous fragment of Xenophanes of Colophon, the Pre-Socratic philosopher whom some have considered the champion of radical skepticism, or even a pioneer of monotheism. The figure of Xenophanes is, in reality, far more complex; anyone wishing to deepen their knowledge of his thought must take into account the book by Prof. Renzo Vitali, which is the most substantial monograph written in Italian on the subject: Senofane di Colofone e la scuola eleatica (Xenophanes of Colophon and the Eleatic School).

Vitali’s book takes its cue from K. Reinhardt’s study Parmenides und die Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie (Bonn, 1916). In that publication, which exerted great influence throughout the 20th century, Reinhardt argued that Xenophanes was not part of the Eleatic school and therefore had no direct relationship with Parmenides. Furthermore, many scholars have viewed Xenophanes as a kind of religious reformer, whereas an assessment more attentive to the historical context shows how Xenophanes’ presumed theology is nothing more than an expressive mask. Despite the lucubrations of modern scholars, the doxography of ancient authors is unanimous in taking Xenophanes’ belonging to the Eleatic school for granted, with Aristotle maintaining that Parmenides had been a pupil of Xenophanes.

Only about thirty fragments of Xenophanes’ works have survived. He wrote poetic works as well as a monumental historical poem on the foundation of Colophon. Xenophanes was likely convinced that this poem was his most important work; instead, the Greek thinker has gone down in history for the philosophical fragments born in an era when Hellenic literature began to abandon the ancient values of warrior heroism to outline a model of man who acts in accordance with justice (dike) and the utility of the city (polis).

Into this cultural climate bursts the thought of Xenophanes, who contests the archaic religiosity of Homer and Hesiod and opens a cultural path more suited to new anthropological models. Human science is not absolute knowledge, but rather an effort of inquiry aware of its own limits. Truth—the absolute certainty—is the exclusive domain of the gods and cannot be bestowed all at once upon men. Instead, by searching over time—which is the phenomenal veil of Being—men move toward the reconstruction of the original unity. Vitali believes that by virtue of this path of inquiry (zetesis), Xenophanes is far from a skeptical attitude; rather, the philosopher wishes to emphasize the relativity of judgment, the difference between opinion and reality. As for the alleged Xenophanean “monotheism,” it must be noted that while Xenophanes often speaks of a god in the singular (in opposition to the anthropomorphic gods of the older Greek tradition), he believed that the god was identified with the world considered in its unity. It is clear, therefore, how this conception was entirely distant from the idea of the personal God of the Bible.

Vitali then draws attention to the terms dokos and doxa used by Xenophanes and other Pre-Socratics. The term dokos anciently indicated the beam of a roof in a building; the semantic indication remains the same even in the different meaning acquired, as the acceptance of an opinion is the very “covering” through which one sees and regards the new spatial reality of the constructed house. Doxa is the covering put together by the aesthetic frameworks through which man arrives at the construction of the entity (ens) seen and known in such a scientific manner. What gives sense to human perceptions is the noos common to gods and men: the connecting point that allows the divine to be linked to the human, as can also be seen in the ancient Orphic conceptions, according to which gods and men breathe from the same mother.

Vitali devotes a chapter of the book to a comparison between the terminology of Xenophanes and that of Parmenides, contrasting lexical modules, stylistic features, and the conceptions of the two philosophers. The extraordinary consonance of words and concepts makes it highly probable that Xenophanes was Parmenides’ teacher, or at least that Xenophanes’ influence on Parmenides was decisive. In particular, there is no difference between Xenophanes’ god and Parmenides’ Being: both represent the Absolute.

The final part of the book is dedicated to Xenophanes’ conceptions of physics, which, as is well known, was the privileged field of research for these early thinkers. The theme is particularly interesting for its philological implications. Indeed, it is first necessary to establish what meaning certain terms had in such ancient times and within the context of a scientific language. Exemplary, for instance, is the case of apeiron, generally translated as “infinite,” but which requires specific in-depth study (recall, in this regard, the imaginative hypotheses of Giovanni Semerano). Furthermore, Xenophanes’ use of the word psyche is the first evidence of this term being used in a sense different from the Homeric one.

The cultural experience of Xenophanes represents a significant moment in the history of philosophy: with him, thought failed the requirement to grasp the unity of the whole of reality; the results of its efforts were always lacking and distorted. Since then, the recurring doubt that man, instead of discovering the laws of the universe, creates them himself, has run through all of Western thought up to the contemporary outcomes of existentialism and “weak thought” (pensiero debole). As we can see, the cultural space separating modern man from the first Greek thinkers is indeed narrow, and the philosophical themes of the Pre-Socratics—which we know only in fragmentary form—contain in potential all the themes that would be developed in over two thousand years of philosophical speculation.

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Renzo Vitali, Senofane di Colofone e la scuola eleatica, Società Editrice «Il Ponte Vecchio», Cesena 2000, pp.160

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