Evaluate Feminist Views on the Role and Functions of Religion in Society Today.

Some Feminists argue that religion is still oppressive due to fundamentalism. Religious fundamentalism is usually against the increased autonomy of women because it violates ancient religious teachings and arguable male dominance of women. USA anti abortionist’s pro-life groups opposed women’s right to choose beliefs and this has resulted in some extremists blowing up abortion clinics and murdering doctors involved in the abortions. Cohen and Kennedy say fundamentalist reforms are born out of fear of women’s liberation undermining religion and the foundations of society. This illustrates how women are still oppressed by religion because they’re choices are being limited.

Throughout most of documented history women of all cultures and civilizations have lived under patriarchal circumstances. In almost every religion and civilization women's status was not equal to that of a man's. Women in most cultures are looked at as subservient, obedient creatures that were put on this world for very few reasons, mainly to bear children and do what their husbands require of them. In fact, religions are a big part of the reason of this oppression due to the religion's reinforcement and justification of patriarchal conditions. In this week's selected readings from different aspects of Islamic, Byzantine Christian, and Western Christian cultures, it is very apparent as to how these three religions did reinforce and

They differ from broader notions of human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls, in favor of men and boys. Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include, though are not limited to, the right, to bodily integrity and autonomy, to be free from sexual violence, to vote, to hold public office, to enter into legal contracts, to have equal rights in family law, to work, to fair wages or equal pay, to have reproductive rights, to own property, to

In these religions there is no gender equality being practiced. There are some religions that have enhanced the activities in Women. The Mormon women in Utah were the first to vote in 1870, but it was later revoked by congress in 1887 (Women’s Suffrage). The Mormon Religion has enhanced the activities of women because they both genders equally. Mormons are one of the few religions that do

Religion is powerful in that it controls followers’ behaviours and beliefs throughout their entire lives; it is a form of social control. Catholicism is one of the most widely known religions influencing more than 2 billion people around the world (Ross). Within Catholicism not everyone are seen as equals; men have greater privilege than women. The bible and church are from a male’s point of view (Christ 86) and passages within the bible are used to enforce a sexual hierarchy. In fact, the oppression of women begins with the first story in Genesis about creation, which portrays females as being inferior to men and even of an evil nature. This one passage is the main source of justification of oppression of woman in the church (Daly 13).

May religious women are still not permitted to become priests or are only allowed to work themselves up to a certain level before they hit a religious ‘glass ceiling’, identifying where they want to be, but not being able to reach it due to the constraints set upon them. On the other hand, there are views to suggest that women are no longer oppressed in religion. For example, many cults are run by women and Paganism, from which many New Age religions originate, remains the most female-friendly approach to religion with a strong feminist element, where God is a mixture of male and female, and strong female leadership is common.

In many cultures, such as Judaism, Islam and the Roman Catholic Church, religious leadership positions are reserved for men only because their deities are identified in masculine terms. Female religious specialists are found in societies where women are believed to greatly contribute to the economy, as well as to the gods and goddesses that the culture believes in. Some cultures even go as far to form all-female convents, such as nunneries.

On Tuesday, April 24th, I attended the Religion and Gender Equality: An Interfaith Discussion Panel. This discussion revolved around how the prominent monotheistic religions relate to gender equality. The panel consisted of experts on Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Dr. Susan Weiss-Greenberg, the executive director of JOFA (Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance), spoke about Judaism. Professor Karina Martin Hogan, an associate professor at Fordham University, spoke about Christianity. And Suzy Ismail, the founder of Cornerstone (a faith-based communication counseling center that focuses on youth, identity, and relationship rebuilding), spoke about Islam. These three women all talked about how their respective religions treat women and how women are

The role of women in religious scripture dictates an inferior position in society. Beginning with the creation of Adam and then Eve, as his helpmate. Her purpose was that Adam would not be lonely. This origin provides the ground work for inequality of genders on the basis of religious scripture. The roles prescribed determined that women should be in a subordinate position to man. The female role and relationship with God is defined by the various books of the Old and New Testaments, the reported actions of Jesus Christ, and finally the Qur'an.

Discuss the contribution feminism has made to our understanding of the sociology of religion. Illustrate your arguments with sociological examples.

First I will discuss how higher spiritual beings (or something that is held sacred in a religion) relate to gender inequalities. In Judaism, G-d is neither male nor female. Though the decision is very personal and there is no right answer. People who practice Islam worship Allah, god that many think of as a male. Hindu’s worship a singular god but in many forms. This is a polytheistic religion. Some forms of this ultimate divine god are female. In Christianity, the trinity is a set of three figures all considered male. In Christianity, Mary is a figure of power.

The current situation of women in religion is an intriguing yet controversial topic as they tend to hold rather unfavorable positions based off religious teachings.

For many years women have been trying to claim their rights while men have many privileges that women do not have.

It has always been an interest to me how human rights have been able to evolve over time. Which is why I have chosen the article Married Women’s Legal status in Eighteenth-Century New York and Virginia by Joan R. Gunderson and Gwen Victor Gample. Learning how men and women’s rights differed in earlier centuries, and mostly why they differed has always been a question of interest I had in which this article helped answer in certain ways. I know that up to today even though women have the same legal rights as men; a part of society hasn't been able to enforce those rights clear enough. For example, theres men in society that still believe women should stay at home and care for household duties. However thats mainly under personal beliefs not necessarily under women legal status.

By using opiate to describe religion, “he meant that religion, like a drug, makes people happy with their existing conditions. (“17.3 Sociological Perspectives on Religion,” 2017). In the views of Karl Marx, he stated that “religion played an important role in lifting up the existing social structure, as well as, covering the sight of individuals to prevent seeing their lives and social conditions in their society political terms” (Witt, 191-192). Although an interactionalist and a functionalist would disagree with some of the midpoints in Karl Marx’s conflict theory of religion, they share one common perspective on religion by reinstating the idea of how “religion only helps perpetuate a pattern of social inequality” (Witt, 191). Correspondingly,