Here are the top three most-viewed posts for September 2012 on feminismxianity: On Christian Privilege and Being An Atheist Ally Did Jesus Have a Wife? I Hope So Oh Yes, Women Are Human Too In case you missed any of them, the discussions in comments can get a little interesting! Feel free to join in. I’m having a great time writing here and being part of the Patheos community. Share an answer to this question in comments: What topics and issues do you... Read more
40 Days of Prayer to Stop the War on Women is a campaign by Faith Aloud, with a prayer a day beginning September 28 and leading up to the election. Faith Aloud is a movement to give spiritual support to persons making reproductive decisions. As people of religious faith and conviction, Faith Aloud supports reproductive justice for every person. Our struggle for reproductive freedom includes issues concerning: abortion, adoption, choice, LGBTQ rights, Same-sex marriage, reproductive health and their intersections with... Read more
On September 23, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois issued a statement detailing the evils supported by the Democratic Party Platform: God isn’t in it enough (and could be taken out!), abortion should be safe and legal, and gay rights are human rights. He continues: Now, why am I mentioning these matters in the Democratic Party Platform? There are many positive and beneficial planks in the Democratic Party Platform, but I am pointing out those... Read more
Who do you think you are? Your religion does not trump mine. If you have a moral or religious objection to dispensing medication that a woman has a legal right to, then maybe you should get another job. In your lawsuit, you said that you “believe life begins at conception, emergency contraception may act as an abortifacient, and the dispensing of such medication is against [your] religious beliefs.” First, and most importantly, emergency contraception is not an abortifacient: According to... Read more
Theologizing about church is, for me, sort of like theorizing about family. Something to be done with hesitance and great care. Nevertheless, in this, the fifth in my series of posts “Getting Theological,” I write about the institution, the idea, the place, and the tradition that is church. As someone who grew up being taken to church, every Sunday, my first knowledge was that church is something you did with other people, in my case family, and it’s something that... Read more
Two things I love about this moment: 1: That a presentation at an academic conferences is of interest to anyone other than the 35 people in the room. 2: That people are so bothered that Jesus might have had a wife. Also, I’m feisty enough to want it to be proven true just to see what would happen. Karen King, historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School, presented a paper at a meeting of the International Association of Coptic... Read more
Political candidates often talk about how they want to help families. Whether they are talking about the economy or the environment, the mantra of supporting families is employed for many reasons. Religious communities often champion the value of family, talk about “family values,” and speak of themselves as families. But whose families do political parties and religious communities seek to protect and support? We know that immigrant families are not supported by some politicians’ positions. We know that families with... Read more
Of the many analyses of the 47% of Americans who are dependent on government programs or benefits, or not paying taxes at any one time, the most meaningful one to me is that this is not a fixed group of people. It’s not the same people year to year. And at one point in time, it’s probably been you. I know it’s been me. From The Washington Post: “Politicians and commentators often talk about those who don’t pay income taxes... Read more
Many good people work at the intersections … of feminism and Christianity, of ministry and justice, of religion and politics, of gender and society, of race and inequality, of everything and then some. I’ve invited a few people to tell a story from their work at the intersections, and will be sharing their stories from time to time here. Today’s story comes from Katie, who teaches at a Christian college in the Midwest. She writes about the difficult conversations around... Read more
One of the best things about participating in the Faith and Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute at The Center for American Progress this year has been working with people involved in organizations doing amazing work at this intersection. One of them is the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which I’ve written about previously. I was particularly excited to find out about the program called Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom, or SYRF. Here’s a little bit about them: Spiritual Youth for Reproductive... Read more
Caryn Riswold
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