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From: caress@northstar90.dartmouth.edu (P. Caress)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Newspaper Article
Message-ID: <25105@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 14 Oct 90 16:50:56 GMT
References: <4836@sarah> <1990Oct12.214229.23575@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Sender: ambar@ora.com (Jean Marie Diaz)
Organization: Dartmouth College
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In article <1990Oct12.214229.23575@nntp-server.caltech.edu> morphy@truebalt.cco.caltech.EDU (Jones Maxime Murphy) writes:
>First of all, god is consistently referred to as male, unlike the
>supreme deities of many other religions. 

I believe that some translations of the Bible have eliminated gender
specific references to God (for what it's worth). Also, at my
college's convocation, the opening prayer began with the invocation,
"Mother, Father, Great Spirit..."

>Most damning, however, is that god consistently prefers to talk to
>men. All prophets are male, as is Christ. Women are purely auxiliary,
>as far as god is concerned.

>The results of this are obvious. While women are welcome to perform,
>say, fundraising duties or other auxiliary functions, they are almost
>universally excluded from the power structure of organized
>Judaeo-Christian-Islamic religions.

Having described yourself as being raised Catholic, you must know
examples of women to whom God has spoken and who have thereby acquired
the status of sainthood.

(For that matter, Joan of Arc hardly performed "fund-raising duties or
other auxillary functions." *grin*)

During the Middle Ages, several "Mystics" were women. Their writings
were influential.

I have heard of female faith healers, though I'm sure there must be a
lot more male faith healers.

Do the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions have gender bias? Yes,
considering that they were created in patriarchical societies. Will
they always have this bias? No, considering that modern religions will
conform (however belatedly) to modern society. After all, it isn't as
if every single person who steps into a church is a sexist idiot; most
people are more enlightened than the priest referred to in the first
article of this thread.