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THE QUESTION
The theme of The Women's Conference 2008 is We Empower. Does religion empower women?
Does Religion Empower Women?
The theme of The Women's Conference 2008 is We Empower. Does religion empower women?
» More on The Women's Conference
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on October 21, 2008 5:01 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Religion Can Empower Women, But Does It?
Women can indeed be empowered by religion, although much of the feminist critique of religion in the 1970s and 1980s suggested they could not.
Posted by Julia Neuberger, on November 24, 2008 9:27 AM
Healing Before Empowering
Christianity is good for both men and women, even when it does not empower us. Americans often carry the illusion that empowering a person is always a good thing, but a moment of reflection clears up that optimistic fantasy. Bad people should not be empowered and good people already are.
Posted by John Mark Reynolds, on October 27, 2008 4:57 AM
Too Many Leaders Promoting Gender Inequality
Gender inequality is too often supported and even tolerated by male stereotyping and supported by limited interpretations of the Holy Texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Posted by John Bryson Chane, on October 27, 2008 3:02 AM
Measuring Women's Power
Some women are empowered by their religious choices; some are not.
Posted by Kathleen Flake, on October 27, 2008 12:16 AM
Being True to God's Call (Not Man's)
The increased prominence of women in public life and in church life in Western Christianity is due, in part, to women who rose to that task in the conviction that they were being true to God's call to them.
Posted by M. Cathleen Kaveny, on October 24, 2008 4:16 PM
Some Religion Empowers Women
My no-glass-ceilings version of Christianity empowers women to become clergy, as several in our family - including my wife - are. This is the usual meaning of "empower," namely, to empower-in-society, in societal functioning.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on October 24, 2008 3:35 PM
Faith-Based Feminism: The Most Powerful Model
Unfortunately, many Americans assume that Islam oppresses women or renders them of lower value. On the contrary, my faith unequivocally declares my equal value as a woman. Islam instituted revolutionary change in women's status and rights.
Posted by Daisy Khan, on October 24, 2008 2:12 PM
Women Vital in Christianity
Contrary to popular stereotypes -- and the way in which some religions, like Islam, oppress women -- the Christian faith has been the single greatest source for the advancement of women's rights.
Posted by Charles "Chuck" Colson, on October 24, 2008 1:43 PM
Bound to What Gives us Freedom
One of my favorite quotes is by St. Ignatius of Loyola, who said, "pray as if everything depends on God, and act as if everything depends on you" - this is what religion should do for women.
Posted by Matt Maher, on October 23, 2008 2:50 PM
If Religion Is Power, Women Deserve Their Share
Given how subordinate women have been for centuries, and how unabashedly organized churches stood on the side of social repression, I think any road to empowerment for women is a positive development.
Posted by Deepak Chopra, on October 23, 2008 6:44 AM
Empowering Women to Choose
All religions can empower women, and all have empowered women at various times. They can also disempower women and have done so many times. The issue is less about religion and more about those who call themselves religious.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on October 22, 2008 4:26 AM
The Goddess Empowers Women
The Goddess is deep compassion--but she's not always sweet. She empowers us to be strong as well as kind, wild as well as nurturing. Ultimately, she is nature herself, the great cycles of birth, growth, death and regeneration that move through all of life.
Posted by Starhawk, on October 21, 2008 1:20 PM
Religion has Duped Women
Religion has kept us bound, frightened, uptight, abused and unhappy. Religion for the most part has not empowered us at all, but instead kept us under a yoke that only gets heavier and heavier.
Posted by Susan K. Smith, on October 21, 2008 11:54 AM
Eve Was Empowered
Sarah Palin is scarcely the first right-wing woman to have moved into political power through conservative Christianity and she will not be the last.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on October 21, 2008 11:23 AM
Empowering Women, the Catholic Experience
While religion has often distorted the inner journey of women and has tried to rein in the liberty granted by the Spirit, it has also been the conduit whereby women of all generations have learned from the past. They have learned that the gifts of the Spirit are available to all, regardless of gender.
Posted by Thomas J. Reese, S.J., on October 20, 2008 4:16 AM
FEATURED COMMENTS
JeffD1: As it turns out, the vast majority of the religions that we have had and still have on this planet do NOT empower women. Quite the reverse. ...
Athena4: I was born and raised a Roman Catholic. I was a huge reader, and loved Greek and Roman mythology. I was really turned off by Catholicism for...
