I took a class on gender and sexuality in graduate school. I decided\u00a0to analyze\u00a0scholarly works on\u00a0ways Christianity was used to limit\u00a0women\u2019s rights and roles\u00a0in the nineteenth and early twentieth century in\u00a0my final paper, a historiography. At some point in the semester, my professor told me that I needed\u00a0to start my project over, looking instead at scholarly works on the ways in which women used Christianity to expand their rights and roles. I was already partway through my\u00a0research\u00a0and wasn\u2019t at all happy about this request. Today, though, I am extremely grateful for the lesson this professor\u00a0taught me. And before you ask, I don\u2019t think it was an ideological thing\u2014I don\u2019t believe\u00a0this professor was religious. I think she could just see that I\u2019d gotten stuck in a rut and needed to step out and view the bigger picture.<\/p>\n
That semester I learned\u00a0that women have used religion to seize power in ways I had never realized. I realized then that while religion has too often been used to disempower women, that is only part of the story. Women have also, since\u00a0time immemorial, used religion to empower themselves and expand their roles. This is why it is a shame Game of Thrones did not imbue Sansa\u2019s storyline with more history\u2014a medieval Sansa embracing the same level of piety that she did at King\u2019s Landing would have been worshiped\u00a0by the people as a saint, leaving Joffrey afraid to lay a hand to her. This is why Margaery\u2019s embrace of the church was so realistic\u2014during the Middle Ages, women frequently\u00a0used religion to gain power, influence, and protection.<\/p>\n
That class changed my perspective on religion to this day. Religion is a tool. It can be used for evil, and it can be used for good. Over the past few years as I\u2019ve gained an increasing number of progressive Christian friends, I\u2019ve been glad for the perspective that class gave me. Religion can be used to further oppression, yes, but it can also be used to push back against oppression\u2014think of liberation theology, for instance.<\/p>\n
My regulars know my backstory\u2014I grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family, and my parents reacted\u00a0very badly<\/em>\u00a0when, after I left\u00a0for college, my beliefs shifted. My own children are growing up in a secular home. I\u2019ve tried very hard not to prejudice my children against my parents, but it wasn\u2019t long before my science-loving daughter was taken aback\u2014my mother had told her that evolution was not real. Sally\u00a0was aghast. And while I try to make sure she understands the nuance\u2014for all their faults, my parents were loving, devoted\u00a0parents\u2014my daughter has pieced the story together. She knows about what happened between my parents and I.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been thinking, recently,\u00a0about the importance of\u00a0historically-grounded religious education\u2014and I don\u2019t mean Sunday school. I\u2019ve been reading Sally various religions\u2019 mythology for years now, but that alone is not enough. I\u2019ve gotten books about children growing up in various religious traditions in various places in the world, and I\u2019ve been reading them to her, trying to give her a sense of the place religion plays in people\u2019s lives. This fall, we\u2019ll be starting another semester of religious education at our local Unitarian Universalist church. Someday, maybe, we\u2019ll visit various different houses of worship and read more about various faith\u00a0traditions, their history and their diversity, and the various ways in which people have used religion.<\/p>\n