A Presidential Call for Religion to Support Equality
Former President Jimmy Carter recently wrote that he was severing ties with his church, stating:
This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths. Nor, tragically, does its influence stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue or temple. This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women’s equal rights across the world for centuries.
An excerpt of the Religion News Service (RNS) story:
NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter can still command people’s attention. His 2009 column on why he quit his church for women’s rights — “
Losing my religion over equality” — has abruptly gone viral.
Carter, 90, a Nobel Peace laureate and longtime human rights champion, has campaigned to end violence and discrimination against women since leaving the White House in 1981, calling it “the human and civil rights struggle of our time”.
Carter’s
campaign for the better treatment of women and girls globally has never stopped and last year his book, “
A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power,” was published calling on world leaders for action.
Ensnared in religious beliefs and traditional customs that often trump civil law, women’s rights are under constant assault across the globe, Carter told Reuters.
He has drawn up a list of 23 gender-based issues he wants addressed, from child marriage to honor killings…
– READ THE FULL STORY on Religion News Service (RNS) – of why he wrote this, and the response his essay provoked.
