News about women is dominating the headlines, and most of it isn’t good.
- Texas has just passed the most restrictive abortion laws in the country and other states have vowed to use their example to pass similar laws.
- The Taliban is wasting no time rolling back the rights of women and girls under its repressive regime in Afghanistan.
- A new document about the military reports 6,290 instances of sexual assault during FY 2020. This resulted in only 50 sexual offense convictions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice
- Mike Richards, Executive Producer of Jeopardy and guest host, steps down under fire for offensive comments about women (and Jewish people and the nation of Haiti).
- Governor Andrew Cuomo resigns amid multiple sexual assault and harassment allegations.
- Despite being accused by over 60 women, Bill Cosby’s sentence is vacated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
- Other men accused of sexual harassment and assault include: Matt Lauer, Harvey Weinstein, Tony Robbins, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Brett Kavanaugh, Morgan Freeman, Tom Brokaw, Charlie Rose and the countless men who have not been held accountable for their offenses against women.
- Internationally 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence. According to the World Health Organization that statistic has remained steady for the last decade.
- United Nations Executive Director for Women in Global Health, Phumzile Nerambo-Ngeuke, says it is “the most widespread and persistent human rights violation in the world.”
- Every 68 seconds an American is sexually assaulted; 90% are women.
This all translates into a war on women that is as old as time.
The Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have historically been more a part of the problem than the solution. The tendency to proof text (take particular verses of Scripture out of context) has given a lop-sided view of how the Holy sees humanity and our responsibilities to one another. There are stories of violence against women in the First or Old Testament such as Dinah (Genesis 34), Levite’s concubine (Judges 19), Tamar (2 Samuel 13) and Jepthah’s daughter (Judges 11).
In the Second or New Testament there are verses about wives being subject to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22) and women remaining silent in the church (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). These verses taken out of context have had the historic effect of diminishing women’s agency over their own lives and putting religion in service of patriarchy rather than the Holy One.
Muslim Scholar and activist Sharifa Alkhateeb says the most abused verse of the Koran is ayah 34 of Surah 4: “Men are protectors and maintainers of women because Allah gave more to the one than the other…. Concerning women whose rebellious disloyalty you fear, admonish them, then refuse to share their beds, then hit them; but if they become obedient, do not seek means of annoyance against them. For Allah is Most High, Great.”
Yet there are narratives throughout the Testaments and the Koran that celebrate the strength and agency of women. These texts have long been ignored and it is time to lift them up as part of the witness of women in sacred texts.
The witness of Esther is about a woman’s resilience and resolve to not be humiliated and taken advantage of by her husband. The witness of Puah and Shiffra in Exodus 1 is a narrative of two women who refused to obey Pharaoh’s command to kill all male Hebrew children (Exodus 1:15-21). The account of the widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8) shows the determination and tenacity of a woman to not quit until she received what was rightfully hers. The account of Susannah (Daniel 13) is about the vindication of a woman wrongly accused by powerful men in her community. This book is not included in the protestant canon of scripture and may be unfamiliar to some. It’s worth finding a bible with the Apocrypha to check it out.
What the Abrahamic traditions have in common is that the entire message (not just those plucked out verses) speak to the integrity of all people. Standing against social norms to witness to the value of all people is a powerful message of the First and Second Testament and the Koran.
In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus quotes Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Italics mine)
The account of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 puts forth a message that it is our responsibility to stop and care for the victim.
Many Muslim scholars argue that the word translated “to hit” in the above verse is an error. Alkjateeb concludes:
“The wording of this verse emphasizes the woman’s obedience to Allah’s desires, and not to those of another human being, but those who misinterpret this verse would assign men the duty of being eternal surveillance police over their wives…. In short, this verse has been used as a tool of control and abuse completely opposed to the Islamic foundation of marriage and family.” (Journal of Religion and Abuse 1 (4):49-59)
For too long religion has been part of the problem and not part of the solution. As the war on women enters a new phase of escalation across the world, women and men of good faith and courage are needed to speak truth to power, to advocate for the powerless and to use the language of our faith to counteract poor translation, inaccurate interpretation and proof-texting.
Resources
The New York Times
The Journal of Religion and Abuse
National Electronic Network on Violence Against Women
Violence Against Women: A Christian Theological Sourcebook, Pamela Cooper-White, editor (1995)
The Irreverent Reverend 