Monday, December 15, 2008

Can you love God and feminism?

Jessica Valenti wants to know. She's Executive Editor of the blog feministing and a prolific author. She's asking questions honestly as an outsider to religion, as "not a religious person - [if] raised with a healthy dose of agnosticism (though [her] parents are Buddhist and [her] extended family is Catholic)."

She's reading about and watching "the True Woman conference," saying it "doesn't seem anti-feminist," at first glance. She notices, in fact, that the "main promotional video has a sisterly kind of vibe - it's all about loving God and living a good life."

However, upon more thorough analysis, she's asking if this is all Christianity is. She's highlighting the curious arguments of the conference organizers, saying "it seems just wrong to me to suggest that a woman can't value her independence and the rights our foremothers fought for and also love God."

More of Valenti's questions: "How do you balance your feminism with your faith? How can women who are involved in organized religions that promote patriarchy and traditional gender roles change the existing power structures?"

Great questions worth asking.

2 comments:

Jane said...

Balancing feminism and faith . how do I do that?
IT's a bit like breathing I suppose ...

Dan Ruth said...

my partner once wrote an essay for a book called "my red couch, and other stories on seeking a feminist faith." the essays are quite varied, are personal and authentic. there is not one answer that the authors agree on to the question of "can i be a feminist and love god?" but the answers are great.