Eve has taken a lot of crap over the years. Not only has she been vilified as being some sort of demon temptress harlot whose actions doomed humanity to a life of misery and suffering, but all of womankind has had to bear the withering scorn of Adam’s sons for daring to eat of the fruit first.
Ignoring whether or not Eve is solely responsible for man’s eviction from the Garden of Eden, it should be asked WHY her actions are viewed as a bad thing. Eve’s crime is that she gave humanity knowledge and self awareness. Before they ate of the fruit, humanity consisted of two dopes who were kept as pets by a jealous and vengeful god. Eve’s actions lead to mortality, yes, but they also lead to the actual beginnings of humanity, they lead to defining what makes people, people.
The Greeks had a similar story, except in their story, the main character was a tragic hero. Prometheus, an immortal titan, stole fire from Hephaestus’s forge and gave it to man. For his crime, he was chained to a rock and suffered two eagles eating his liver every day. He wasn’t viewed as a bad guy. He was viewed as someone who interceded on man’s behalf, giving them something wonderful and then paying a devastating price for it.
Eve’s actions, however, were apparently so terrible that they were used as justification (in part) of misogynistic teachings by the Church. Where did Original Sin come from? Why it came when that damn WOMAN ate of the tree of knowledge!
Instead, the Church should revere Eve as a saint. Without her, humans would be nothing more than two kept pets, the property of a god who demonstrated repeatedly that he couldn’t abide anything that dared to approach him. One only needs to look at the story of Babylon to see the results of humanity daring to say it was awesome. They built a tower that reached into the heavens and He struck humanity down for it.
When humanity reaches toward the stars and tries to claim greatness, the Old Testament God is always there to squash them back into the mud. And yet it’s Eve who is vilified. Why revere the God who tries to damn us with muddled thought and shortness of intellect? Why condemn the rebel who granted us capacity for greatness?
The entire depth and breadth of human history is the result of that spark of human self awareness. Maybe we should celebrate our humanity instead. Eve personifies everything we are: over curious and consumed with a thirst for knowledge. We rebel against the universe and thumb our noses at the higher powers and stick our noses where they most certainly do not belong. And it all started with Eve.
Dylan Charles
dylancharles.net 
2 eprops.
however, this argument rests on what you believe is worth celebrating. clearly innovation and the creativity of the human mind is what you believe is important. but a similar argument could be made for being “closer” to god, for being as god designed and intended? i think the vilification of eve may have to do with the interpretation that humankind is now tainted and imperfect. perfect in this definition, would i guess mean we hang out and chill in the garden of eden while god does what he likes with us. well, not like he doesn’t, anyways.
…what’s my point, again?
hm…
i guess i’m just saying it’s all about your value system.
I think this could be made into a lucrative brand of merchandise.
It does also show that Adam is a butt-kissing dweeb who was led around by his penis.
I think another of Christianity’s problems with the Fall is that they got booted out of heaven where everything was provided and perfect. After the Fall, they had mortality, self-awareness, but they also had to make clothes, find food, and build a shelter. It’s like kids being kicked out of the nest at 26.