REL 3170 Essay One
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Florida State University *
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3170
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Religion
Date
Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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3
Uploaded by kaylagivens58
1
Kayla Givens
REL 3170
Dr. J. Cole
Essay 1: Question 2
Religion and Gender
In the United States, religion and gender are closely related. Gender plays a big role in the way a person is treated in society. Although all religions state that men and women are equal in God’s sight, the way they are treated and their level of power in religious communities differ. In Muslim ethics, the husband has more power than the woman because his job is to protect and provide for the family. God created men and women to be different, with unique roles, skills and responsibilities. These differences are not viewed as evidences of superiority or inferiority, but of
specialization.
In Islam, the family is of central importance. The man is responsible for financial well-
being of the family, while the woman contributes to the family’s physical, educational, and emotional well-being. This encourages cooperation rather than competition. By fulfilling their mutual responsibilities, strong families are created and hence strong societies. Also, emotionally,
neither man nor women live a happy life without one another. Allah describes this beautifully by saying “They are clothing for you, and you are clothing for them.” (Qur’an 2:187). When women
are placed in a position like that, they tend to settle for the fact that they are superior to men. Qur’an 24:31 also states that “women should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what appear thereof; that they should draw their outer garment over their breasts and not display their beauty except to their husband, their
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fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments.” The society is so content with letting men feel that they are above women. Judaism is so different from Islam. “Men and women are very different (read some of the
incredible modern research on this subject, which has shown the radical differences between the sexes from infancy), and Judaism sees these differences as being reflective of a different essence” (Gender Differences in Judaism). For example, at a point in time, men were allowed to marry more than one woman, but a woman was only allowed to marry one woman and not show any type of fidelity. Christianity has similar factors to Islam. In Christianity, again women are lower than men
in regard to the level of respect and power they should give and receive. “The wife is to “submit”, “respect”, and “serve as a helper”, and is explicitly delegated the role of caring for the household and children” (Gender Roles in Christianity). When women are born, they are raised to make sure that they have the skills to take care of a household. Kalbian stated, “For Christianity the relationship of sex to salvation centers on the theological insight that the body was created good.” Overall, these religions all have differences but similarities in regard to women and men being on different levels. Kalbian challenged the guidelines because he wrote about how sex and how different genders are perceived. In today’s society, there are some of the same differences, but women and men have fought for more equality.
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Works Cited
Admin. “Jewish Outlook - Gender Differences in Judaism - Din - Ask the Rabbi.” Dinonline, 4 Jan. 2011, dinonline.org/2010/12/31/gender-differences-in-Judaism/.
Hughes, Jeff. “Gender Roles in Christianity.” Disjointed Thinking, 28 Feb. 2012, disjointedthinking.jeffhughes.ca/2011/02/gender-roles-in-christianity/.
Kalbian, Aline, “Sexuality in Religions,” International Encyclopedia of Ethics
,
Hugh LaFollette, ed, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons: 2013.
Adler, Rachel, “Here Comes Skotsl: Renewing Halakhah,” Engendering Judaism:
An Inclusive Theology and Ethics
, Boston: Beacon Press (2005).
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