Feb
9
Jimmy Carter Chooses Women’s Equality Over Church Affiliation
February 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Posted by: Kathleen Daniel
Thank you! says Marianne Williamson on her website, posting this open letter by Jimmy Carter, Losing My Religion for Equality, to say that he is severing his ties with the Southern Baptist Convention after years of trying to change its views over its treatment of women. Indeed! He also speaks as part of fellow global Elders Nelson Mandela, Gro Brundtland, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and other leaders deeply committed to challenging injustice. Their recently published statement declares that “the justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable.” Carter says that “Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God,” and that he had to take action.
… when the Convention’s leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be “subservient” to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service. This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths … This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women’s equal rights across the world for centuries.
At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities. ….
It is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population. We need to challenge these self-serving and outdated attitudes and practices – as we are seeing in Iran where women are at the forefront of the battle for democracy and freedom… ”
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