Call me naïve. I didn’t know that there was such a thing as complementarianism until I heard some of my students defending the idea that women were called to submit to men in marriage, but they were still equal. It was one of my first years of teaching. I’m not terribly proud of the moment when I told them something like, “well, separate but equal didn’t work on the basis of race, and so I can’t imagine why you’d think... Read more
Just caught Julie Zeilinger on The Cycle (video linked … it was on in the background), talking smart about younger women and feminism. Check out the F-Bomb community … a “feminist blog about womens rights for teenage girls.” Props to Julie for handling S.E. Cupp’s inane assertion that feminism is “outdated identity politics.” (See my previous post, please, S.E.) And while I’m happy anytime smart people talk about feminism on television, when will the meme that younger women don’t get feminism go... Read more
The US Council of Catholic Bishops has no idea what radical feminism actually looks like, and apparently neither does Marissa Mayer. I noted in an earlier piece on Patheos that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s statement condemning the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States highlights that one of the problems with the nuns’ work is “radical feminist themes.” I’d really love to know what the bishops think radical feminism is. I’d be happy to... Read more
Stephen Prothero has it pretty much summed up over at CNN’s Belief Blog today: “Far too often, Catholic priests, bishops and cardinals have identified not with abused children but with their “band of brothers,” their fellow priests. In the case of the sex crimes committed by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, officials at Penn State also looked the other way. They must be credited, however, with commissioning a no-holds-barred investigation by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, whose report (PDF)... Read more
When the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops launched their Fortnight for Freedom, a two week period of “prayer, study, catechesis, and public action” from June 21 – July 4, it was to unite and rally Catholics against impositions on its teachings and practices. Really, it was about contraception and ongoing efforts to enforce a uniformly more conservative theology. The banner of religious freedom flies high in political discourse today. But it’s important to understand whose religious freedom is being defended... Read more
No, Bill O’Reilly, the ‘x’ does not mean I’m trying to take the Christ out of Christmas or Christianity. The ‘x’ is reminiscent of the Ichthys, the Jesus fish you see on some people’s cars, the ancient Greek symbol for Jesus used by early Christians, perhaps as a symbol on a home indicating that a Christian community gathered here, possibly an allusion to the ways that fish represent food and work in many parables and stories throughout the Bible. Although... Read more
Caryn Riswold
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