Sara Hurwitz’s ‘Rabba’ Title Sparks Orthodox Jewish Condemnation
Because women aren’t permitted to be rabbis in the Orthodox Jewish tradition, Sara Hurwitz was given the made-up title Mahara”t upon her ordination. A little while later, after she was quietly given the title rabba, the Orthodox Jewish world responded with condemnations.
A fine start. And now we look forward to a deeper, and broader conversation.
Mennonite in a Midlife Crisis (of Faith)
Poet and writer Rhoda Janzen rebounded from a series of overlapping crises by going home to her Mennonite family—and lived to tell the (surprisingly funny) tale.
What the new Conservative Bible Project fails to grasp is that the Bible’s not there to provide timeless certainty but to provoke arguments and unsettle what it is that we think we know.
Jennifer’s Body and Why I Like Buffy’s Body Better
Has a hotly anticipated new horror film about a murderous cheerleader subverted the mythos of woman as the source of evil or just the opposite?
Jewish “Women of the Wall” Defy Law to Pray
A powerful documentary, “Praying in Her Own Voice,” chronicles twenty years of struggle for religious equality at one of Judaism’s most sacred sites and asks: How can there be unity when half the population is silenced?
Oh My God(dess)! Feminist Spirituality in the Third Wave
Feminists hate religion, right? Not necessarily. From Christian feminists participating in Wiccan rituals to Goddess worshipers honoring Jesus, the landscape of feminist spirituality is is not what it was in the ’60s and ’70s.
Sisterhood is Islamic: an Interview with Daisy Khan
The face of modern global feminism is wearing hijab. The director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement talks to us about the new "Jihad Against Violence" and other developments in the worldwide Muslim women's movement.
Women of Opus Dei Explain “True Feminism”
In response, most likely, to the (fictional) account of the lesser status of women in Catholicism’s most notorious semi-secret society in The Da Vinci Code, a group of women has come together to explain what feminism looks like, Opus Dei-style.
Misreading Neda and Judges 19: Death of Young Iranian Woman Is Not a Rallying Cry for War
Some, like Paul Wolfowitz, have criticized Obama for not responding to the Iranian election violence, symbolized by Neda, more aggressively.
Catholic Bad Girls or Good Catholic Women: Bridging the Generation Gap
A young, lesbian, Catholic progressive responds to Frances Kissling on the question of old-school ideas and strategies versus the brave new world of boundary-busting and online activism.
Planned Parenthood ‘Stung’ By Lila Rose
Lila Rose, a 20-year-old UCLA student, is taking on Planned Parenthood with a phony story, video equipment, and support from a host of Christian Right media outlets and organizations.
The Best and the Brightest of the Catholic Bad Girls
We picketed bishops and Popes, stole their dresses, stood up at the consecration of the Eucharist and said the words out loud. We are the bad girls of Catholic feminism, and we have stood up, over and over again, for women’s freedom.
“Troublemaker” Women Honored, Receive Ivy
What sort of religious institution honors a “run-like-hell Catholic” and the first Asian-American woman Rabbi, among others?
Sex and the Chosen People: Be Fruitful and Multiply, Etc.
From essays on same-sex segregation in Orthodoxy to the Jewish case against marriage to queer theology, this collection—edited by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg—offers everything you ever wanted to know about Judaism and sexuality but were afraid to ask.
Someone Has Been Giving Away Money
There have always been tensions between religious reasons to give anonymously and social demands for accountability in giving. In this case the money, millions and millions of it, is going to women-led educational institutions.
Court Rules: Feminism is Not a Religion
When an Ivy League women’s studies department is sued for promoting the idea that women are divine princesses and men are minions of Satan, we are reminded that the act of defining religion is important work.
The Bible as Security Blanket, Blindfold, or Weapon
Drawing on sources as diverse as feminist theology, biblical criticism and Midrash, renowned poet Alicia Suskin Ostriker’s latest book of essays seeks to rescue the Bible from the clutches of narrow conservatism.
O(Pinn)ion: God’s Little Soldiers: Procreation as a Weapon
The Quiverfull movement sees children as an army of missionaries meant to reshape the United States along biblical lines.
The 10 remaining picks did little to rectify the anti-reform, anti-woman, anti-gay tilt of Obama’s Faith-Based Advisory Council. Not to mention the conspicuous absence of a single academic theologian.
The New Values Voters: Progressive Women
A study shows that progressive women activists are motivated by values, but not the “values voter” kind. How about mutual responsibility, community, and concern for others?
RD10Q: The Fight Against Feminism
It’s not just another weird religion story about families with eighteen kids. The Christian Patriarchy movement represents a growing backlash against women’s rights within religious communities.
RDBook: Wifely Submission and Christian Warfare
A growing movement among conservative Christians exhorts women to give up the foolish notion of independence and subordinate themselves to their husbands. In this excerpt from Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, Kathryn Joyce connects the dots between cinnamon buns and submission.
Faith is Not the Enemy of Feminism
A new report identifies three areas where women's empowerment and religion are linked: activism, scholarship, and popular culture.
The very first girl to perform the Jewish coming of age ritual did so in the 20th century. She was the daugher of Reconstructionist founder Mordecai Kaplan.