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The difference between Christianity and Islam being, of course, that Christianity has outgrown most of its historical baggage. (Discounting the lunatic fringe, of course.)
Read within the historical context, Jesus was outrageously egalitarian (and not only with regards to gender, either): He freely conversed with women in public places (such as the Samaritan woman at the well), had female followers (who, admittedly, are somewhat neglected by the gospels, but then again, the authors were probably not quite as enlightened as their venerated messiah), objected to the divorce practices of the day (which were outrageous insofar as they allowed men - and ONLY men - to cast out their wives at a whim, like you might discard an old car), and so on and so forth.
Heck, even St. Paul probably wasn't as much of a misogynist as tradition would have it: the genuine epistles not only condemn the practice of treating women as second-class citizens, but also reference female congregation members who are greeted by name (something that, in the context of the times, was outrageously unconventional).
Of course, Christianity lapsed back into the patriarchal zeitgeist within less than a dozen generations, and the middle ages were rife with misogyny. But that cannot detract from the fact that Christianity is considerably more egalitarian than Islam could ever hope to be.
Read within the historical context, Jesus was outrageously egalitarian (and not only with regards to gender, either): He freely conversed with women in public places (such as the Samaritan woman at the well), had female followers (who, admittedly, are somewhat neglected by the gospels, but then again, the authors were probably not quite as enlightened as their venerated messiah), objected to the divorce practices of the day (which were outrageous insofar as they allowed men - and ONLY men - to cast out their wives at a whim, like you might discard an old car), and so on and so forth.
Heck, even St. Paul probably wasn't as much of a misogynist as tradition would have it: the genuine epistles not only condemn the practice of treating women as second-class citizens, but also reference female congregation members who are greeted by name (something that, in the context of the times, was outrageously unconventional).
Of course, Christianity lapsed back into the patriarchal zeitgeist within less than a dozen generations, and the middle ages were rife with misogyny. But that cannot detract from the fact that Christianity is considerably more egalitarian than Islam could ever hope to be.