May 11,
2004
Today is the day to breathe via mitochondria.
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What happens when you're stuck on a grounded plane for 4 hours? You don't care so much about getting home and updating your site. Sorry, folks. Today the BYT runs because I'm sure you'd rather have spiritual enlightenment than a list.
Dear BYT,
Why is it that almost every religion in the world contains
doctrines that are very sexist, that discriminate against women in one way
or another? Religions are supposed to provide opportunities for us to better
ourselves, yet I find it hard to reconcile this idea with the gross sexism
that is so much a part of every major religion. Do this bother you at all?
In short, yes, this bothers me very much. And it should bother us all. Religious
or no.
The historical explanation for religious sexism is beyond the scope of this
little column. To the people of the Book (Jews, Christians, Muslims), Eve
is the easily tempted troublemaker in the Garden. Paul does remind Christian
women to be subservient to their husbands. So, let’s first recognize
that sexism is Scriptural. This discrimination is likely related—in a
question of chicken or egg—to the sexism that we see within secular society,
explaining why women tend to make less money than men, why women hold fewer
positions of economic, political, or social power. The same glass ceiling
that weighs heavy in our offices and government buildings was installed early
on in our churches, synagogues and mosques, in some places more firmly than
others. It is interesting to note, however, that Christian churches are largely
run by women (in lay administration, etc.), and that women are finding positions
of religious authority easier to come by among some mainline Protestant denominations
and within Conservative and Reform Jewish groups. Catholicism remains pretty
terrible in terms of women, and unfortunately I don’t see things getting
better at the moment. That said, last week a woman delivered the sermon at
my church.
In recent years, feminists have made a mark in theological circles. There
were more women at my seminary than there were men, for example, and we did
more feminist and womanist (i.e., feminist plus black liberation) theology
than any other sort. In liberal circles, and in academic settings broadly,
inclusive language rules—God is no longer a He. God is hardly ever referred
to with a pronoun. Sometimes “Ground of Being,” but rarely “Lord”
or “King” or even “Father.”
The work of Mary Daly (esp. Beyond God the Father) was important in the ‘70s.
Elizabeth Johnson’s writings (esp. She Who Is) are most impressive. Both
women take the sexist churches to task and re-imagine God through biblical
exegesis and a reconsideration of the tradition. They (and I) would have Christians
remember that Jesus called women to be his disciples (Martha! Martha!), and
that Paul had several satellite house churches that were run by women …
proto-priests!
Reconciling sexism with compassion—what I’ve already in this
column identified as the common message of the great world religions—is
impossible. Sexism is simply irreligious.