A column appeared this week in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof on the subject of religious oppression of women. Of course, a topic such as this is always a sure fire way to get a good argument going, and judging from the comments on the article at the Times website, a great forum for the people who love to get their hate on for religion to bring out their sledgehammers. There is apparently, a lot of anger and resentment toward organized religion out there, a lot of it likely justified. But there is also a lot of misconception, in my humble opinion.
Leaving the specific issue of the oppression of women to another day, the most common theme of the commenter's was that religion is nothing more than control of the individual through behaviour modification, most notably, the double barreled guilt of sin and threat of damnation (of the eternal type). I grew up in such a culture, so I have empathy for those who's experiences (or who's information about religion comes from people who had such experiences) put them in this place. There is no denial that such ideologies are out there, in every religious format. But this is not what religion in general and Christianity in particular are about and were never meant to be about. In my opinion, of course.
Now, before anyone starts feeling the need to run to their Bibles and proof text me into oblivion, I'll say from the beginning that I don't care what you quote or how well you argue your point that religion is most certainly about damnation for those who choose to ignore the rules. Such are hopeless arguments leading to hopelessness for all mankind, unless of course, one removes hypocrisy from the definition of sin. When will people learn that the easiest thing in the world is to find a line of scripture that will put almost anyone, anywhere on a rocket sled to hell? That is not religion, that is ego based self justification.
I can speak about Christianity because I am a Christian. It is my Christian belief that my religion is not about control, but about freedom. This freedom comes from God and the offer of grace to each of us, individually, and that Grace gives each person the knowledge that life is a remarkable gift, a thing to be savored and relished.
Freedom also comes in the knowing that to have this life, one must surrender one's life to the will of God. The conscious self must give way to the inner, spiritual self, thus opening itself to the love of God, it is then that the wonder of the world opens to all who will see, all who will hear. So simple, yet so difficult.
I know, the idea of surrendering to the will of anything is antithetical to human nature. It's actually frightening. But, I have found, that living outside the will of God is no life at all, just a foggy illusion of one. Even worse, surrendering to the will of social circumstances, substance abuse, materialism- to the point where these things actually do control one's life, this is better?
Of course, if one chooses not to surrender, to not find the inner self, then other things will naturally get in the way of that spiritual bliss. Things separate one from the love of God- not dry it up, or make it go away-it is always there- but separate one from it, the way a curtain separates a room. As St. Augustine and Miester Eckhart taught, if there is anything other than the love of God in one's heart, then one is not loving God, and there is room for failure.
"Things" are not just material in nature. Things are also thoughts, behaviors, fears. If one lives with fear in one's heart, then one is not loving God with all one's heart. There is room for fear to take over. There is less room for compassion. This is where things like oppression of women, bigotry, dissipation and violence come into play. There are religious people, who, in spite of their efforts, still live in a state of fear. I say, if someone is afraid of a person enough to look that person in the face and say "God does not love you, you have no place here", then that person is not loving God. That person is trying to be God. That is not religion, that is heresy.
As mere humans we can not know where God will go and not go, who God will love or not love. Whom God will accept or reject. Jesus taught many lessons about the futility of such presumption. But somehow we haven't caught on yet and people still judge based on fear, when we are all called to love.