WOMEN IN RELIGION:
The Radical Perspective

Radical feminists:

• return to the earliest religious traditions; the roots of religion = goddess-worship

• disregard the male gods created by patriarchal cultures

• worship the goddesses who directed an ancient, egalitarian culture

RADICAL FEMINIST PRESPECTIVE:
Three Strategies

1. Create a goddess-centered religious expressions in which women dominate; men are excluded

2. Create non-hierarchical religious expressions in which men and women share equally in rituals, ceremonies, and leadership

3. Include men but give prominent roles to women in practice and leadership

Mary Daly’s Radical Critique of Patriarchal Religions

• Patriarchal religious institutions:

– aim injustice at more than half the world’s population = women

– “use their male God” to legitimate oppression, particularly that of women

– are “irredeemably” antifeminine and, therefore antihuman

– should be left behind by women as they are instruments of their betrayal

THE RADICAL CRITIQUE

• Radical feminists, Jew and Christian, reject the BIBLE as hopelessly androcentric.

• Radical feminists have little regard for the transcendent dimension of the divine.

• Radical feminists would replace the transcendent God with the immanent presence of the goddess within.

• Individual conscience is stressed over codified laws (I.e., the 10 Commandments)

Critique of the Radicals

• The “revenge element” = the radical feminists deny any opportunity for the full participation of men in religious expressions.

• Is the concentration on divine immanence an escape from the “otherness” of the a transcendent diety or God? Is God made in the image of human desires and needs?

Contemporary Goddess-Centered Religions

A Brief History of Wicca:

• Earth-centered, unitive, gender-balanced spirituality

• Preliterate, traditional folk religions of Africans, Native Americans, and Europeans

• combines knowledge of natural forces with psychological insights for effective healing

• predates historical, world religions

A Brief History of Wicca

• Shamans, priests and priestesses, medicine men and women use magic to “bend or alter” the forces of nature

• goal is the recovery of physical, emotional and psychological harmony

• magic developed into rituals in which natural objects were used to facilitate fertility, health, safety, plenty, peace, etc.

A Brief History of Wicca:
The Middle Ages

• Christians and the secular governments of Europe seek out and persecute persons who practiced magic

• Major difference in worldview:

– unitive worldview of wicca

– dualistic worldview of Christianity

– if the power of witchcraft can not be determined as coming from God, it MUST BE EVIL, DEMONIC POWER!!

A Brief History of Wicca:
Malleus Malificarum

• Written by two Dominican clergymen, James Sprenger & Henrich Kramer in 1486

• Witches cast evil spells on humans, animals, and cultivated fields

• Witches have sex with the Devil who appears as a he-goat during the wild ritual of the witches sabbath

• Witches have control of men’s sexual organs which they sever and hide

A Brief History of Wicca: Notice the Sexual Fear and Bias!!

• Most persons accused of witchcraft in Europe and America WERE WOMEN!!

• Most were single and unprotected by men

• Many were midwives or natural healers

• Suspected witches were tortured until they confessed

• Condemned to death, tens of thousands were hung or burned at the stake

ONTOLOGICAL DUALISM

Two Different worldviews about BEING:

1. UNITIVE: all is one, the Divine is immanent and enlivens and empowers everything in creation; typical of earth-centered spirituality = wicca & neo-paganism

2. DUALISTIC: the Divine is transcendent; Creator and creation are separate = “dual” means “2”

ONTOLOGICAL DUALISM

• One of the most powerful ideas in human intellectual history

• Provides the philosophical, theological, and social underpinnings of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

• From the perspective of Women in Religion, it has made the subjugation of women philosophically and thus socially acceptable

ONTOLOGICAL DUALISM: Characteristics

1. The Divine is separated in terms of “being” from the creation (earth, human activity)

• the source of being is “outside” human experience

• the source of being is “outside” the natural world

• God does control the course of human history

ONTOLOGICAL DUALISM:
Characteristics

2. Usually, earthly existence is seen as inferior or, at best, a stage to prepare human beings for their eternal reward or punishment.

• Radical Dualism = some interpretations see the Earth and nature as Satan’s realm

• Nature is a “howling wilderness,” a place of demonic temptation and evil

ONTOLOGICAL DUALISM:
Characteristics

3. Nature is devalued

• Man is identified with the Creator

• Woman is identified with Nature

• Nature is a mere prop for the Divine plan

– sets up a manipulative, controlling, exploiting attitude towards nature and women

– radical dualism sees nature as evil and women in league with the Devil

ONTOLOGICAL DUALISM

• THE GOOD = Creator, Heaven, Man, Mind, Spirit, Sun, Light, etc.

• The GOOD must be ACHIEVED!!!

– WORK, WAR, WINNING!!

• THE BAD = Creation, Nature, Woman, Body, Soul, Moon, Darkness, Devil, etc.

• The BAD must be CONTROLLED!!!

– USE, ABUSE, ACCUSE!!

Women of Wicca

Anne Lobdell

• explained the unitive worlview of earth-centered religions

• showed a video where women described the joys and challenges of wiccan practice

• described the various ritual ceremonies and celebrations practiced by the Macomb Coven of Unitarian Universalist Pagans

WOMEN OF WICCA

Cynthia Jones and Patricia Storm:

• casting of the circle in the full-moon-harvest festival

• founded DIANA’S GROVE; wiccan, ritual magic center in Missouri

• uses ritual magic as an effective self-actualization strategy to achieve emotional, physical, spiritual & psychological harmony

WOMEN OF WICCA

Christa Landon:

• Pagan-priestess explains why human beings need to re-align themselves with nature

• blames “radical dualism” for much of the oppression in the world

• the dualistic perspective makes it easier to identify and persecute “evil enemies”

• “Star Wars Theology”

WOMEN OF WICCA

Kate Cogan: CUUPS Witch

• points out that the persecution of witches began when the Catholic church needed to define its worldview in face of competing perspectives, including Islam and Judaism

• explains that the “Gods” of the old, pagan traditions became the “devils” of the new tradition, in this case, Christianity

• unitive/dualistic conflict explained

RAMTHA SCHOOL OF ENLIGHTENMENT

JZ Knight channels a 35,000 year old Ascended Master named RAMTHA

• unique radical response to traditional religious expressions

• an example of New Age Spirituality

• seeker style religion

• seekers finding transforming identity and relationships in this life

Ramtha & Wicca:
Some Similarities

• RSE teaches techiques for focusing consciousness & energy (Magic???)

• Students definitely bend or alter reality to bring about emotional, psychological, and physical harmony in their lives

• the worldview appears to be unitive

• JZ and the school have been branded “demonic” by the Christian establishment

• belief in reincarnation and karma

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHANNELING

• Rejection of traditional Christianity and its scripture

• belief in reincarnation

• roots in the tradition of 19th century Spiritualism

– contact with the dead in “sceances”

– belief in ghosts and spirits

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHANNELING

• Contact with spiritually-evolved beings who have migrated to higher planes of existence

• the soul travels through higher and higher levels of consciousness

• Channeling groups are closely affiliated with UFO-oriented beliefs systems; higher beings may come from more evolved solar systems

WOMEN IN RELIGION:
The Reconstructionist View

• Reconstructionists examine their traditions and scriptures from the experience of women

• They try to recover the history of women from their faith communities

• They struggle with the fact that sacred scriptures are reflections of a patriarchal, androcentric culture.

THE RECONSTRUCTIONIST VIEW

• Reconstructionists concentrate on the role and experience of women at the time the traditions and scriptures were written.

• Jewish and Christian scholars expose the oppressive patriarchal structures that existed at the time scriptures were written

• They work to restore the place of women in the original story = empowerment!!

REFORMIST FEMINIST SCHOLARS

• Reformers focus on themes of liberation that run through the Jewish and Christian Bibles

• The look for examples of God’s concern for the poor and oppressed (exp. = Amos)

• They distinguish between personal and social sin.

• Connects with Liberation Theology

REFORMIST FEMINIST SCHOLARS

• Liberation Theology stresses freedom from economic, racial, and cultural oppression

• Feminists add the “sins” of sexism to the list of injustices

• Reformers see the need to transform governmental, economic, and religious structures that alienate and oppress women - “reform” their respective traditions

REMORMIST FEMINIST SCHOLARS

Jesus as the ethical eschatologist

• reforms his traditional faith to initiate God’s reign on earth

• transforms life on earth by alleviating the hardships of the poor, suffering, hungry, and women

• Mary, his mother, sides with the poor and oppressed (Luke 1:51-53)