My daughter in Hanoi told me this morning that International Women's Day in Viet Nam was a major holiday. I wonder if most U.S.-based people reading this even know that March 8 is International Women's Day.
This stunning photo dramatically illustrates that around the world pregnancy is still a leading cause of women's mortality. Yet, the Bush administration has just proposed sweeping cuts to family planning programs in its 2007 budget.
Today, a group of religious leaders will be holding a worship service in Washington, D.C. to commemorate International Women's Day. You can join their call for adequate funding for global women's health by supporting the Focus on Female Health Worldwide Act. And you can join our call for full inclusion of women in the world's religions, a goal we have yet to meet.
1 comment:
Thanks for creating this blog. Your name asks what the connection is between sexuality and religion. The answer is everything.
From its very inception Christiantiy has taken upon itself to define and regulate the praxis of human sexuality. Unfortunately, that legacy comes via Paul, Augustine, and Jerome all of whom had, IMHO, serious issues regarding their own sexuality. Superimposed over that was the belief that Mary was not only a virgin but was born, in Augustine's terms, without original sin.
It is from this warped and convoluted understanding of human sexuality that Christianity imposed its dictates, upon pain of excommunication, to not only Christians but by legislation whenever possible.
Yes, that was 1500 years ago and it is also today exactly what the radical religious right is trying to do by transfroming America into a theocracy in their faith belief image.
What is needed to combat their myopicaly truncated understanding of human sexuality is the clear voice of people of all faith traditions sounding the clarion call that America is a diverse, pluralistic nation and that our Founding Fathers created a wall of separaton between church and state in the Constitution and that is just the way we want it to remain.
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