Women's Role In Christianity - Research Paper Example

? Women’s Role in Christianity The role of women in Christianity is a very intricate topic todiscuss because Christianity is a very large religion and possess multidimensional aspects derived from Catholic and Protestants denominations. It is widespread in different areas and societies therefore it would be wise to know about the history of this religion to describe the role of women in Christianity distinctly. In the early Christianity, there was no separation in the description of roles of men and women. But as the time passed by and the rights of religion started changing, there started arising negative aspects of Christianity, which said men and women are not equal and that women are inferior to men (Witherington & Witherington, pp.19-22). In the ancient Greece and Rome in Christian societies, men considered women as inferior to them and they treated them as some property possessed by them. In those days, women teachers used to preach about the second coming of Christ and that this world will end very soon. At that time, Christian churches started enjoying the cuff, which lead to patriarchal thought in Christianity emphasizing on unequal treatment of men and women. This cuff remained for next two thousand years and proved to be very brutal for women. People slaughtered women pitilessly giving them the names of witches. This atrocity continued until twentieth century, only after that there was a change in this activity (Laporte, pp.15-16). This change was only possible because of initial protest of women for women rights in 1960s. This movement brought an intense change in the role of women in Christianity and women’s rights highlighted (Kung, pp.12-13). A feminist theology emerged containing prose on women’s role in Christianity and expressed God through a feminine image. Women started experiencing social, political, and cultural freedom and equality after 1960s but the patriarchal thought did not disappear completely. Its shadows still prevailed in the form of sexual dualism. This idea suggested that men and women are not only biologically different but men are more religious and stronger than women are. Whereas women were more poignant and instructive than men were. This concept was prevailing since the Greek times and only first women protest of 1960 had courage to challenge these thoughts. There aroused another concept called Marian Devotion regarding women and it proved to be controversial because Catholics appreciated this phenomenon where as protestants were in strong opposition. Many people assumed that this was strengthening the feminine view of God while others said that it was in fact damaging the feminine movement because it was destructing womanhood of women. The sexual and civilizing rebellion of the 1970s and 80s specifically desired to get rid of elevated pedestals of probity emotionally involved in womanhood (Kung, pp. 16-20). There appeared two parallel movements one as a religious and other as societal. These two movements were modern and conventional in nature. The goddess reverence, “Jesus’ movement, and Marian devotion influenced the liberal feminist theological movement” (Kung, pp. 16-20). Whereas the religious rights in Christianity works on the key of sexual dualism. The religious right strives to discover morals only within customary tradition and they refuse to accept the amendment of any kind to a customary manner. The religious right resists the liberal reproductive rights of women particularly the right of abortion and homosexuality. It also does not accept the cloning technology look for reinstatement of traditional family principles standing on the patriarchal system. In the beginning, the religious rights were only supporting the faith but then they augmented their presence in important matters of the society, such as culture and politics so they that they affect the society with their opinions. It is very likely that religious rights have abhorrence for women because they doubt that women will affirm themselves, slowly get hold of all the rights, and eventually intimidate the place of men. They feel that if society and religion give powers to women then they will acquire all the jobs of men and throw them in inferiority complex (Laporte, pp. 17-23). As it is a fact, that women pay more attention to a task than man does and they possess beauty advantage over men that they can use to attain many goals. However, women feel that gender roles are not necessary they only came into existence to analyze the obvious differences between men and women. Their purpose was never to give preference to one over other but society gave birth to these concepts for their own benefits. Religious rights do not even like those movements, which single mothers raise to get financial aids for their children because they consider woman as only responsible for the birth of these children but forget that men are equally responsible for them. They view the financial assistance as something that does not prevent the establishment of unconventional families (Chakrapani & Vijaykumar, pp. 30-34). They also refuse to accept the relativism of human existence therefore; they do not have respect for other religions and culture, and then how one can expect respect for women. They only consider Christianity as pure religion and its values as important in all. For them “Patriarchal Christianity” is the only perfect thing and core of existence, anything outside this core is meaningless and unacceptable. Religious rights of Christianity possess many beliefs that make women leave this religion. One of the beliefs is that wives are inferior to husbands; they should stay at home, obey their husbands, and follow them. However, this can never be the teachings of a religion this must have been some said by some religious right to make this society male dominant. Husbands and wives should treat each other equally and no one should treat other as inferior. They need to give each other all their love and affection as Christ gives to church. The changes took place in the Christianity in the last two hundred years have also had a great impact on their societies. The feminist movement owes to Christian society because without these movements women would never be able to get their rights. Because of these movements, discrimination has reduced largely and people give equal respect to men and women (Chakrapani & Vijaykumar, pp. 39-40). According to personal opinion, a religion can never give a teaching, which is in favor of one and in opposition of other. In particular, the people amend the teachings in a way that suits our own demands. It is the case with role of women in Christianity; the religion is not a person who makes the rules and regulations rather scholars and religious rights do these things and show biasness in it. Without women there would be not more births in the world, they have the power to give birth to new babies, they have the power to run this world. Unfortunately, the people who call themselves as religious rights do not understand this, therefore, they are unable to give respect to women and give them their rights. If I talk about Marian devotion, I am in opposition of this phenomenon because every being in this universe has a purpose whether it as a ‘living being’ or ‘non-living being’. In particular, the paper do not say that the purpose of creating women is to give births but certain organs in men and women’s body are for this purpose and if religion puts restriction to use them then religion is going against God, because of whom the religion exists. Moreover, if the religious rights were firm enough they would never create such rules, which prevent women from being superior because a person only gives reasons when he assumes that he is weak and he needs to take help from the reasons. Women are always subject of cruelty and brutality but they always fight for their rights and will continue to do that otherwise this male dominant society will beat them under its feet (Chaudhry, 1995). In brief, one should not ignore the fact that the upbringing of whole family and ultimately the whole society depends on women because she spends most of the time with children. She is the one who gives her equal time to in-laws and husband. She has to take care of every small thing of the house and every member of the family so it is very important to take care of her. If the family and the society do not give her the importance and respect that, she deserves then the whole society is going to ruin. Those religious rights who make rules against this beautiful personality should get punishment for their doings because they responsible for deterioration of the society. Because of all these restrictions put on women, they would not be able to concentrate on their work properly whether are their household chores or some corporate task. If women do not get respect, they would show their frustration in the works they perform which would ultimately cause harm to the whole society. As women today give contribution to all sort of businesses and works, they contribute in building economy of a society and inculcating religious and ethical values in the children. They also take part in sports and arts and give their parts in take a county to the success (Chaudhry, 1995). In conclusion, today, Christianity has changed many of its rules that earlier used to discourage women, but still there are many norms which are not in favor of her. Not only Christianity, but also resources have indicated many people of other religions, such as Muslims and Hindus who misinterpret the teachings of their religion and become brutal for women. These people should change their customs otherwise there would soon another feminist movement which would throw these men into deep darkness (Konstantin, n.d). Works Cited Chakrapani, C. and S. Vijaya Kumar. Changing Status and Role of Women in Indian Society. M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd, 1994. Chaudhry, Maryam. The Role of Women in Islamic Society. 1995. Retrieved on October 14, 2011: www.angelfire.com/mo/MWSA/role_women.html Konstantin. Role of Women in Society. Retrieved on October 14, 2011: http://konstantin.hubpages.com/hub/Role_of_Women_in_Society Kung, Hans. Women in Christianity. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. Laporte, Jean. The Role of Women in Early Christianity. E. Mellen Press, 1982. Witherington, Ben and Ann Witherington. Women and the enesis of Christianity. Cambridge University Press, 1990. Read More