There are so many massive tragedies in the world that need to be addressed at the moment. However, for me, there is only one that I want to write about today and it is the passing of my dear friend,… Read More ›
General
Restricting Access to Birth Control is Immoral by Katey Zeh
On a hot August day in 2012, I was taking my usual monthly trip to Walgreens to pick up my birth control prescription. As I pulled out my wallet to cover the co-pay, I was pleasantly surprised when the pharmacist… Read More ›
Bans are Bandages not Solutions by Ivy Helman
I’m heartbroken by yet another shooting in the United States. I want to believe that all humans are, deep-down, intrinsically good. I want to trust humans to act in the best interests of others. I want peace between and inside… Read More ›
The Gendered Cost of Fast-Fashion by LaChelle Schilling
This last week, my students watched True Cost (2015), a documentary about the environmental impacts and human casualties of the fashion industry. According to the film, fashion is the number two most polluting industry in the world (oil is number… Read More ›
Listening Deeply to Yourself by Xochitl Alvizo
“You need to take a step back. You need to take a pause, relax, reassess. Two steps back, you can see more clearly, then you can move forward.” That’s what my brother first told me as I shared with him… Read More ›
Neither My Duty nor My Honor by Natalie Weaver
Just the other day, I realized that discussion of my housekeeping has been a fairly regular conversation throughout my life. One of my earliest memories is being about four years old in my yellow bedroom on Ruth Avenue in North Canton,… Read More ›
Birthing a New World by Xochitl Alvizo
Yesterday I “paused” my post and left you with words from a dear friend Edyka Chilomé, a powerful “artivist” invested in the healing of our world. And our world is in need of healing indeed. Today was another tough day… Read More ›
Feminist Gutter Punk Freedom by Xochitl Alvizo
My brother is, in this own words, an “old school street, squatter, gutter punk.” Indeed, he lives outside the system. He is an anarchist atheist and has lived many nights of his life on the streets – by choice. He… Read More ›
Catholic Bishops: Corporate Executives or Prophets? by Dawn Morais Webster
This is a moment to drive the merchants of hate out of the Temple, as Jesus did. But will the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) bear prophetic witness? Do they have it in them to proclaim the Gospel?… Read More ›
Women and the Ethics of Conflict by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Some time ago, trans-activist F. was the target of bullying and harassment via social networks that lasted months and included defamation on Twitter and Facebook, articles in feminist blogs and web sites, and letters to women’s organizations and public institutions… Read More ›
Badb, Goddess of Life and Death by Judith Shaw
With the ongoing occurrence of huge hurricanes, floods, mudslides, earthquakes, possible nuclear war and more in both the US and worldwide it seems that the wrath of the Goddess has been awakened. I felt the need to revisit the Celtic… Read More ›
What I Believe (Post-2016) by John Erickson
Ever since the election of You-Know-Who, I have been doing a lot of creative writing.
Traveling Sexism by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
This summer I traveled quite a lot domestically. While I was in airports, on trains, waiting in lines, and going about my summer I kept coming across certain patterns and experiences which were becoming all too common and too significant… Read More ›
Who Does Islamic(s) Feminism(s) Belong To? by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Who does Islamic(s) feminism(s) belong to? The answer to this question seems obvious: Islamic feminism belongs to all Muslim women who wish to adhere to it, and feminism is for everybody, as bell hooks said. In reality however, it is not… Read More ›
Learning Gratitude for the Gifts of Life on the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete by Carol P. Christ
In Crete we are always being given gifts—fresh cherries, ice cold bottles of raki, yogurt swimming in honey, and so much more. Over the years it finally hit me that this spirit of great generosity is a living remnant of… Read More ›
Cleaning and Cleansing: Rituals of Embodied Life by Carol P. Christ
While the world is falling apart all around me, I have been slowly engaged in a major cleaning and cleansing of my home. It started when I began to move my summer clothes to my main closet in June. Here… Read More ›
The Internet and the Divine? by Ivy Helman
When my dad was in town for the wedding, he asked me a question about Prague. I didn’t know the answer. So, I said, “let me look on my all-knowing phone.” I googled the question, found a reliable website and… Read More ›
Book Review: FLORENCE IN ECSTASY by Jessie Chaffee
Jessie Chaffee‘s Florence in Ecstasy is the most luminous debut novel I have read in a very long time. Imagine, if you will, a darker and more literary version of Elizabeth Gilbert’s popular spiritual seeker’s memoir, Eat Pray Love. This… Read More ›
SHEELA-NA-GIG by Carol P. Christ
On a trip to Ireland several years ago, I was fortunate to have been able to see the Sheela-na-gigs in the National Museum of Dublin. Two of these Sheelas including the one removed from the Seir Kieran Church of County… Read More ›
Honey: A Thousand Flowers by Mary Beth Moser
Today I am finishing the last bit of the honey I hand-carried home from my most recent trip to Trentino. Sun yellow in color, it is made from the nectar of mountain flowers. Its label tells its origin—di montagna, of… Read More ›
Missing a Teachable Moment: The Purple Dress by Marilyn R. Freedman
Intelligent and impish eyes took in my approach, and the little girl moved away from the post office doors. But not before I saw her sweet face with round cheeks still full of baby fat squished against the glass. With slightly messy, curly… Read More ›
A Total Eclipse of My Heart by Marie Cartier
I’ve known for years and years that on my wife’s, Kim, bucket list was to see a total eclipse of the sun. She began over a year ago researching weather conditions and making reservations, researching camera equipment, buying the special… Read More ›
Moving Toward an End: The Role of the Faith Community in the Struggle to End Domestic Violence by Katie M. Deaver
I have used my last few posts here on Feminism and Religion to begin unpacking the three primary understandings of atonement theology, the feminist critiques of these understandings, and how the relationship between power and violence influences how Christian women… Read More ›
Corra, Celtic Serpent Goddess by Judith Shaw
Even though snakes never inhabited Ireland, as in the rest of the ancient world both the serpent and the dragon were ancient symbols of life, fertility, wisdom and immortality for the Celts. Ancient Celtic ornamental work is entwined with serpents and… Read More ›
In the Words of the First Poet and Historian: “I am” by Michele Stopera Freyhauf
These days I find it hard to write – I feel plagued with negativity, and the news and violence and overall hateful actions of others have weighed deeply on my soul. While I personally am ready to celebrate a milestone… Read More ›
Talking Gender and Islam at the Grassroots by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
In my current trajectory linked to community development — via both activism and my professional field — I’ve learned that popular education is a very useful practice and methodology to decentralize all types of knowledge. Since I embraced Islam, part… Read More ›
The Trouble with Boaz by Katey Zeh
I’ve always been troubled by the story of Boaz found in the Book of Ruth. While there are plenty of biblical narratives that horrify me–Hagar, Tamar, and other “texts of terror” as Phyllis Trible called them–the story of Boaz is… Read More ›
On the Events of Charlottesville, VA by Xochitl Alvizo
It is in our hearts –one’s sense of superiority exists within. We are all and each capable of hate and bigotry. It is considered the appropriate and necessary response to say that there is no room for it “here” –… Read More ›
B’tzelem Elohim and Embodiment by Ivy Helman
It is quite common, I think, for Jewish feminists to gravitate to the first creation story of Genesis/Bereshit as an example of human equality but struggle to claim this same passage as an example of the goodness of embodiment. Genesis/Bereshit… Read More ›
Self-Care is a Feminist Issue: Holy Women Icons Project’s 7-Day Online Self-Care Retreat by Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber
Several years ago, I was pastor of a welcoming and affirming church. As a queer clergywoman, I thought that such a place would be the perfect place to flourish and thrive as a pastor. And yet, because of heterosexist and… Read More ›
