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Representatives of nine faiths grappled over religious concepts of gender roles during the final Sex and Religion presentation on Tuesday afternoon. Four Christian denominations, two representatives of Judaism and one each for Islam, Buddhism and the Baha’i Faith addressed the issue.
The subjects addressed ran the gamut from traditional cultural roles of men and women in society to the roles assigned within the organization of their faiths.
“In many fields, it’s illegal to discriminate against women,” Rev. Stephanie Salinas, who represented Baptists said. “The church is not one of those fields.” Salinas stated that her interpretation of scriptures paid attention to context. Regarding the controversy over female clergy, Salinas wryly noted that the scriptures may have simply meant that “Certain women might have needed to quiet down,” as opposed to the idea of all women being banned from religious leadership.
Alvin Winslow spoke on behalf of his Evangelical faith. Winslow spoke of the “Creation Order Principal,” a tenet derived from the order of God’s creation of man before woman, as explained in the book of Genesis. Winslow spoke of his belief that men and women played complimentary roles, which he distinguished from egalitarian roles.
Rabbi Fred Nebel, a representative of Orthodox Judaism, spoke of the roles of women and men in terms of obligations assigned by the Torah, without regard for equality. Nebel noted that specific obligations exist in the text for farmers and other people with specialized work or positions and gender was no different. However, this was not purely restrictive. Women had certain rights and freedoms that men did not have, he noted. A woman makes all the decisions related to childbirth and rearing, for example,
“In order to understand our systems, you have to get into our systems,” Nebel said, noting that the time limitations of the forum made it difficult to explain the nuances of his faith. He spoke strongly against the idea of reform. “If the Torah was written by men, we should dump it,” he said, stating the word came directly from God – and was therefore not something that could be changed.
Rabbi Darah Lerner – speaking on behalf of Reform Judaism – argued that she belonged to an “evolving” organization, one that recognizes that different rules cannot be equal ones. “You don’t have to do the same thing,” she noted, “but [you] should have the opportunity to do the same thing.”
Hind Derar, who spoke on behalf of her Islamic faith, dedicated most of her time to explaining various misconceptions of women’s roles in Islam. She observed that many people believe Islam is inherently oppressive to women, explaining that cultures calling themselves Islamic are using cultural and political arguments which have little to do with the guiding principles of the Koran.
“Islam is fair to all genders,” Derar said. “Men and women get the same rewards and punishments.”
Sandra Hutchison, a practitioner of the Baha’i Faith, spoke of its foundation in social justice and its inherent belief in the progressive nature of their faith. Formed after Islam, the Baha’i Faith sees revelation as unfolding throughout history and is quite willing to accept social progress into its fold. Hutchison explained that even in its earliest incarnations, their scriptures viewed men and women as equals.
“The world of humanity has two wings,” Hutchison read. “One is women, one is men.” The passage indicated that men could not reach their full potential unless women did, she explained
Tina Passman spoke on behalf of Buddhist beliefs. Echoing Derar’s comments on Islam, Passman stated that culture had a distorting effect on the way Buddhist cultures perceive the role of women. Buddha, in his own lifetime, was convinced of this by his principle disciple, Ananda, who caused Buddha to acknowledge that early teachings regarding women were the products of Buddha’s cultural upbringing, but inconsistent with his teachings.
Passman noted that the concept of reincarnation rendered gender irrelevant. “Every one of us has fulfilled every possible role,” she said.
The panel ended with a question and answer period, which allowed each representative to reflect on the cultural roles of women, and whether religions accepted and reinforced these roles or if they transcended them.
“We have a knitting ministry – it’s all women,” Salinas explained. “Our softball ministry is all men.” She said that while anyone could join these groups, gender still determines the ways people behave within their faith.
