Love, Sex and Gender in the World Religions Essay

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

​The decline of the classical empires contributed several ingredients to the spread of what turned out to be two great world religions – Christianity and Buddhism. Before this, most religions had been regional. The fading of the great empires – due to the reshuffling of geographical boundaries, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific – caused the regional confinement of religion to be modified dramatically. There was also a political decline that encouraged people to turn towards spiritual organizations.

In all areas of life and society the treatment and well being of women have always been challenged. In many religions the role and status of its women are usually overwhelmed by the actions and roles of its men this inequality of religions between male and female allows these feelings and ideology of which sex is superior or inferior to bleed into a society’s culture thus shaping their treatment of their men and women.

In her book Feminism and Religion, Rita M. Gross provides readers with an introduction to the need for, and benefits of, androgynous scholarship in the field of religious studies. Gross strives to make readers aware of the dangers of androcentric, Eurocentric scholarship. Moreover, she advances the claim that, “properly pursued, the field of religious studies involves study of all major religions found in human history” and an equal representation of both men’s and women’s religious experiences (Gross 1-4). Because androcentrism has permeated both religion and scholarship for the greater part of history, Gross strives to correct and augment this perspective with illuminating examples of what she deems “proper” religious scholarship –

Tomoko Masuzawa’s literary work, The Invention of World Religions, provides a meticulous analysis of how the term “world religions” is categorized and used in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Masuzawa addresses how the categorization of world religions has changed throughout history and how different elements of each religion, such as texts, origin, and ability to expand have shaped the classification of that religion by scholars. By using the works of well-established scholars, she is able to provide an accurate account of how the perception and analysis of these religious occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Institutions within the public domain, such as universities and hospitals, can then shape interaction with their specific audiences to abide by the practices of these world religions in order to connect with the public in a culturally competent manner.

Their first changes in gender ideology came with the Christian missionaries. Before this arrival, women were able to take on leadership roles in their spirituality. In Christianity, there is a male dominated “authority, not just in religion but in all areas of life. ”(85) Man dominated the new and booming fur trade.

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).

Desmond Tutu was a South African cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid (“Apartheid”). After the National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948, its all-white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation under a system of legislation that it called apartheid (“Apartheid”). Under apartheid, nonwhite South Africans would be forced to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities, and contact between the two groups would be limited (“Apartheid”). Tutu was the first black South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, and primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (“Apartheid”). These events of Tutu’s life lead him to winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1948 (Insert Citation).

In this essay, I will explore the religious experience in general and some of its variations around the world. The focus will be on the types of religious beliefs and religious leaders, especially in small-scale societies. An exploration of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or any other major religion is beyond the scope of this essay. The approach taken is that of cultural relativity--religious practices or beliefs are not evaluated in terms of their "correctness" or "sophistication" but,

Gender Issues in Religion Amongst the world religions are many different attitudes towards gender issues and sexuality. A hundred years ago, or even a lot less, these different perspectives did not exist, as they were often considered unimportant, as King noted 'until recently little attention has been paid to gender differences and their impact on religious teaching and practice. '[1] With some religions, their scriptures are considered to be infallible and therefore not to be questioned.

Regardless, women have found their own ways to fight the status quo. Religion, as it is unique to each individual, is an inventive way for women to push against the social norms and find necessary solace for themselves whether it be through spiritual possession or small cell group meetings. Both Shamanistic and Evangelical practices serve as an outlet for suppressed women in the shadow of the Confucian patriarchal society helping to ease the stress of marital and family life even if the slightest

The human rights cause in the rise of desacralization of religion relies also on women’s roles and significance in religious sacralization, which was developed out of fear of human extinction while serving the elite. Women were encouraged to bear children for existence and the church reinforced sexuality as the common ethic of Western society. Now, since there is an immense population base with advances in science proving to propagate the race through methods such as cloning, there is no longer the fear of human population dying out and women are no

Religion can be seen to act as a social control over women to a large

As the society continues to strive for gender equality within the work force, there is neglect in one specific component of culture: religion. Female marginality is very much prominent in the Catholic Church. As women around the world strive to create a greater voice in corporation, there should also be goals toward a greater feminine voice in Catholicism. Understanding female role in Catholicism and analyzing prominent females in Catholicism enables women of the future to develop a greater influence in the church. Women should seek for female advocacy in the Catholic Church by examining female roles in Catholicism, exceptional women in Catholicism, and traditions of Catholicism.

My paper studies the three most significant and most commonly known western religion Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in terms of the role that the woman played and a brief synopsis of the religions itself. Religion is a system of human though which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner’s experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity, or ultimate truth. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are the only religions that are based on a single creator and that are why they are called western religions. These three religions are monotheistic faiths practiced by about half of the world’s population. Believers of the three religions are found on every continent