Women vs. Religion (ritual, testimony, preach, spiritual, worship)

[Booko]

The theme of equality of men and women is so expansive in Baha'i Writings, I barely even know where to start , but maybe these couple of passages will do something to address the question:

And among the teachings of His Holiness Bahá'u'lláh is the equality of women and men. The world of humanity has two wings -- one is women and the other men. Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible. Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 288)

That is to say, when perfect equality shall be established between men and women, peace may be realized for the simple reason that womankind in general will never favor warfare. Women will not be willing to allow those whom they have so tenderly cared for to go to the battlefield.

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 167)

2090. The Emancipation of Women and The Achievement of Full Equality is one of the Most Important Pre-requisites For Peace

"The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged pre-requisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half of the world's population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations. There are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such denial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership in all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate be created in which international peace can emerge."

(From a letter written by the Universal House of Justice, October 1985: Ibid)

[Hema]

The Atman or Spirit is the same in man and woman.

EDIT: Hinduism doesn't see God as male nor female but as having male and female qualities. Thus, God is Mother and Father. Even many of the avatars came with a female manifestation - Ram and Sita, Krishna and Radha. A woman is considered as the Deity Lakshmi. If a woman is mistreated that home will never prosper.

[dogsgod]

Freedom from religion offers the most freedom for all.

[Bishka]

Originally Posted by dogsgod

Freedom from religion offers the most freedom for all.

Could you give an example of why you feel that way?

[Prometheus]

becky, I grew up LDS and I must say that I find your church to be very constrictive on both genders but more so on women.

The following, to me, says it all about how subordinate women are.

LDS Apostle Erastus Snow, Oct. 4, 1857:
Do the women, when they pray, remember their husbands?... Do you uphold your husband before God as your lord? "What!—my husband to be my lord?" I ask, Can you get into the celestial kingdom without him? Have any of you been there? You will remember that you never got into the celestial kingdom [during the temple ceremony] without the aid of your husband. If you did, it was because your husband was away, and some one had to act proxy for him. No woman will get into the celestial kingdom, except her husband receives her, if she is worthy to have a husband; and if not, somebody will receive her as a servant. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, p. 291)

Basically, men can get to heaven through Jesus alone but women can't reach heaven without the help of a man.

Edit: I forgot to mention the obvious fact that women can't hold the priesthood while men can. I never found a reason to justify this except that maybe the Christian God is sexist. (I personally believe He is.) Or you could just say that the reality of it is that women truly are lesser than men.

[michel]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Edit: I forgot to mention the obvious fact that women can't hold the priesthood while men can. I never found a reason to justify this except that maybe the Christian God is sexist. (I personally believe He is.) Or you could just say that the reality of it is that women truly are lesser than men.

I believe that the principle (in Christianity) is that the woman is "in charge" of the family, whilst men are in charge of the religious aspect of the family.....

Here in England, we have many women vicars (church of England Priest); I see nothing at all wrong with it, in fact I think that women have just as much to offer the church as do men...

[Terrywoodenpic]

Both men and women are created by God, both are equal in every way in the sight of God.

It is the traditionally inspired imperfections of our understanding, false teachings and the wish for sexual dominance that has created the inequalities in our religions and civil laws, and our social standards.

I would go along entirely with the Quaker view as far as gender is concerned.
(and many other of their more inspired views as well)

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by Terrywoodenpic

Both men and women are created by God, both are equal in every way in the sight of God.

Well, God made Adam out of dirt but made Eve out of Adam. To me this implies that the writers of the Bible believed women to be lesser than men.

I promise, God does not see the sexes as equals. In fact I can prove it with a one easy verse.

Genesis 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.


I could probably give you 50 versus and more which, either implicitly or explicitly, show females to be lesser beings than males. I just don't think it's necessary since God as is clear as day in this verse.

[Kcnorwood]

From what I remember about being a christian & reading the bible christiany seems to downplay the importance of women. I tend to agree with Prometheus he