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.
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?
Revisiting Hagar, The Woman Who Named God
An interview with the author of a new book that takes a critical look at the biblical tale of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and sons, claiming that this story at the core of anxiety between religions isn’t exactly as it seems.
The Deadly Burqini, Or, What Exactly is an “Islamic Swimsuit”?
A young Muslim woman is denied entry to a public pool because of her body-covering swimsuit, a “burqini,” and authorities insist that it has nothing to do with Islam. What, then?
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.
Carter, Speaking Out Against Gender Discrimination, Gives “Elder Care” a New Meaning
It's great that the former president is speaking out against unequal treatment of women but why did it take him 60 years to leave the SBC?
President Carter on Religion: Stop Harming Women and Girls
In a recent Op-Ed, Elders member Jimmy Carter noted that religion is used to excuse slavery, forced prostitution, genital mutilation, and more.
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.
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.
Religion vs. Girls’ Education
Cultural and religious forces are often arrayed against girls when it comes to the right to education. Religion, in particular—whether it’s Islamic legal law or an evangelical Christian aversion to evolution—is often evoked to bar girls from school.
“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?
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.
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 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.
Women, Girls, and HIV/AIDS: Does Awareness Help?
There is a ribbon for everything, it seems. But, as we mark National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we must remember that justice requires more than simple awareness.
Muslim leaders in Uzbekistan want women to wear traditional dress, not the Arab-imported hijab, and they've enlisted fashion experts to make the case.
Men sin with sex, food, and laziness; women are vain, jealous, and filled with rage. But this has nothing to do with culture, of course.
Some conservative Anglicans have stated that if they are forced to work under women bishops, then they will seek refuge in the Catholic church.
A New Theopolitical Order: But What About The Women?
Even as they invite progressive religious groups to the table the leaders of the Democratic party shun religious feminism.
An imam argues for less modest headwear for women, because he disapproves of the break with national tradition that full hijab requires.
Turns out it was a man who blew himself up at the shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, not a woman as originally thought. But women are now barred from worship at that holy site.