Where are women within religious history?
The exponential growth of artificial intelligence over the past year has sparked discussions about whether the era of human domination of our planet is drawing to a close. The most dire predictions claim that the machines will take over within five to 10 years. Fears of AI are not the only things driving public concern about the end of the world. Climate change and pandemic diseases are also well-known threats. Reporting on these challenges and dubbing them a potential “apocalypse” has become common in the media – so common, in fact, that it might go unnoticed, or may simply be written off as hyperbole. Is the use of the word “apocalypse” in the media significant? Our common interest in how the American public understands apocalyptic threats brought us together to answer this question. One of us is a scholar of the apocalypse in the ancient world, and the other studies press coverage of contemporary concerns.
In a class I was teaching on Robert Ingersoll, we read and discussed one of his popular lectures on “The Gods.” Among his observations on religion (“Each nation has created a god, and the god has always resembled his creators”), Ingersoll calls attention to one of the most disturbing – and damning – facts in all the history of faith: None of the highest gods, of the major religions, have ever been female. We might add to his observation: None of the great religions of the world were founded by women. No scriptures, that we know of, were written by women. No major religion has been led by women. In all of recorded religious history, women were not allowed to be in the highest levels of leadership. No theological seminary has been founded by women and, until recently, none have been led by women or taught by women professors. No creeds, confessions or major theologies were written by women. Only in the most recent times, have some women, in some traditions, been “granted” the “sacred office” of the clergy. This was only achieved after centuries of resistance by the “divinely-appointed Fathers of Faith.”
Ingersoll, along with freethinking colleagues Helen Hamilton Gardener and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, knew the Bible very well. Gardener wrote her book, “Men, Women and Gods,” in the 1880s and Stanton wrote her infamous “The Woman’s Bible” in the 1890s. Both were encouraged by their friend Robert Ingersoll to stand up and speak their honest thoughts. As Ingersoll wrote in his preface to Gardener’s book: “It is refreshing to know that here, in our country, there are thousands of women who think, and express their thoughts ... they examine for themselves.”
Each of these freethinkers lamented the fact that churches were mostly populated by women who looked to their male clergy for guidance in matters of faith; many women looked to the authoritative reverends in robes to expound and explain to them, the Word of God – what their Father in Heaven wanted them to know, and how to stay in their appointed place.
The creation story, taught to every Sunday School and Sabbath School child for centuries, says Woman was created as an afterthought – Man was lonely – and then it was the woman who brought about the “fall” of humankind ... the Original Sinner who gave birth to Original Sin.
Though there are notable exceptions – for instance, Ruth, Esther, Mary – the whole biblical story presents women as marginal, second class at best, occasionally used as props or object lessons – instructed by Paul to keep silent in church and obey their husbands. While polygamy was blessed by the Lord in early Israelite history, the highest form
of faith in the latter pages of the story was celibacy. After all, Jesus was single (as far as anyone knows), his inner circle of disciples were all men, and the entire leadership of the early Church was male. If they were married (or had women partners) we don’t hear about it. As we know, the rest of Church history is male-dominated from first to last.
If this problematic history doesn’t make us uncomfortable (discomfort for both men and women) then we’re not paying attention; we haven’t educated ourselves by confronting the most troubling questions.
And, of course, here we’re only talking about “religious” history. Add political history, the history of science, philosophy and the very writing of history itself, and the picture comes into clear focus. If we have blurry eyes, we’re the ones who need to correct our vision.
Though he lost his mother when he was an infant, Ingersoll knew she was an assertive freethinker who, like his wife Eva and two daughters, kept the concerns for the rights of women distinctly in mind throughout his life. I could say the same, since my mother, wife and daughter, along with many women teachers, clergy and friends, have imprinted the knowledge of the intellectual, ethical and social gifts of women. It always makes we wonder why religion has rarely recognized, affirmed and celebrated women. Sure, there are many exceptions, and we’ve “come a long way baby” in the last 50 years, yet like racism, sexism doesn’t allow for rapid change, or even substantial evolution, except with revolution in society and consciousness.
Equality of all genders in our culture is critical to our common growth as a species. If religion helps us mature, it offers some value, but if, as in most of its history, religion remains an obstacle, resisting progress, it must be seriously questioned or even set aside or abandoned. Either way, we have to remind ourselves that women need to lead the way forward, while men need to let go of any tight grasp on power, especially a Higher Power.
Chris Highland was a minister and interfaith chaplain for nearly 30 years. He is a teacher, writer and humanist celebrant. His books and blogs are presented on “Friendly Freethinker” (chighland.com).