Women and the Church – Feminism and Religion

On March 13, 2017, Carol Christ wrote on this “Feminism and Religion” blog:

“When I made the decision to leave Christianity rather than to work within it to transform it, I believed that rational judgments were primary. Now I am much more cognizant of the complex ways in which questions of identity, family history, ethnicity, class, community, and exclusion shape our decisions to leave or to stay. I think we need to talk more about this.”

I agree with Carol. This is an important subject to ponder as we think and write about the choices we make regarding the faith traditions we either inherited or belonged to at one point or another during our lives.

I just finished re-reading Joanna Brooks’ memoir, THE BOOK OF MORMON GIRL. Raised Mormon in an insular family in a “tract house on the edge of the orange groves” near San Diego, California, Joanna learned, and felt, early on that salvation meant “belonging,” tied to people who believed as her family and their Mormon ancestors did, “safe where no one would say your books of scripture are all made up.”

The stories that shaped Joanna early on in her life all “arrived at the same conclusions: the wayfarer restored, the sick healed, the lost keys found, a singular truth confirmed.” She wants to tell “orthodox Mormon stories,” yet “these are not the kinds of stories life has given me.” Continue reading “Should I Stay or Should I Go? by Esther Nelson”

Born into a Lutheran family of academicians, from earliest childhood I questioned their divisive, anti-Catholic rhetoric and systemic methods of indoctrination. The punitive consequences of my rebellion against their worldview were swift, harsh and unrelenting. Separated emotionally from my mother, subjected to abuse by a narcissistic father who considered himself a warlock, I subconsciously adopted the warrior archetype as a means of survival. Steely armor encased my heart, hidden beneath a feminine veil. When the feminist voices of the 1970’s grew into a force that would not be silenced, for the first time, I felt less alone.

Actively seeking alternative spiritual resources throughout the years that followed, I found a road with many tributaries rising up to meet me, as though that ancient Irish blessing had touched my life with grace. Soothed by nature’s elements, I have always felt the presence of divinity in the earth and sky, in the company of animals and invisible beings. Through studying Hindu and Buddhist traditions, I learned the value of going into the silence. A glimpse of the divine feminine appeared when Quan Yin poured compassion into my soul from the vessel she carries. An immersion into the Western Mystery Schools brought the Hebrew Tree of Life into focus, and there I found a balance of yin and yang, male and female in the Kabbalah’s Sephiroth. Continue reading “How Joan of Arc Crashed Through My Pagan Heart by Marcia Quinn Noren”