Two days in a row...bask in my attentiveness.

So one of my big religious issues right now is the role of women. If you've looked at my stepfather's blog, you can probably tell I was raised pretty liberal, and well, it has to be said for both parents: I've never been told I can't do something because I'm a girl.

Sports shooting is one of my hobbies. Not the most ladylike thing to do, but I enjoy the heck out of it, and I've never been told I can't do it. Well, I was told that once..in Kentuky at a match. One of the guys in my set spouted off that girls can't shoot because they lack upper body strength. After finishing out at an embarassingly better time, I couldn't help but point out that girls can shoot because they lack upper macho ego. That's a lecture for another time though.

The point being, neither of my parents have ever stopped me from doing anything because I'm a girl, and in fact they have mostly defended my right to do it. So when it comes to religion, my understanding of gender roles is a little...odd. I've never been taught that I was any less capable than any man, so I don't think that I am.

So then comes Catholicism. "Man is the head of woman, and God is the head of man." Eve is responsible for original sin, and because of that, all desire, all lust, all vice is born on the shoulders of women. Wow. Tough load to bear. The idea that everything bad men do is because of women kind of turns my stomach. Women are inferior in the eyes of God, and cannot serve him directly as men, though certainly they can devote their chaste lives to Him. Meh. But here's the thing....that's Catholicism on paper. But when you look at countries that have majority Catholic populations, you see something entirely different. Europe, with its progressive views on equality and gender roles is a continent with a LOT of Catholics. Brasil, South America, Central America, are Catholic dominated areas, and yet we don't hear about honor killings from them. That same verse from the new testament I started this paragraph with? Finishes by explaining that God does not hear the prayers of women whose heads are not covered. And while I remember older women at church dropping a lace hankie on their heads, no one covers here anymore.

So why is it so different in Islam? Why is a religion that on paper is progressive sexually, and on a gender basis, the dominant religion of countries who host honor killings, or practice female genital mutilation? Why is a religion that says I am worth as much to God as any man the prime religion in countries that discourage women from learning and working outside the home? And the ever unanswered question: If women are spiritually equal, why can't they lead men in prayer? Why do these cultures believe that the sight or sound of women is enough to drive a man beyond reason..as if men were slathering hormone driven beasts with no further thought on their mind than sex? If a man is pious and good, and is taught early on that women are his peers, wouldn't he be raised able to be in their company without making a pass at one of them?

People say that the culture is different from the religion..to look at the raw teachings. How can I? No one follows them.

More on this later.... Lunch now.