I tell my daughters all the time that they are just as good as everyone else and that they can be whoever or whatever they want to be. Isn’t that the mantra of all parents? To want the best for their children? But we all know that the statement is not completely true. It is full of ‘ifs’, contradictions and conditions. You can be what you want to be IF you do this… You are just as good BUT… Eventually our children, the same way as we did, will find out that real life and the way that they would have to navigate it is not always as simple.

Continuing on with my convoluted preamble…

Isn’t it a contradiction that when we try to teach our children to have faith in God, and to trust in his will, we are also teaching them to believe the interpretations religion preaches as to the treatment of women? That a woman must obey the man, that a woman is not as worthy as a man to serve in the church, that a woman must be long suffering. Are these lessons we really want our daughters to learn? When I was growing up, I stopped counting how many times I heard “It’s a woman’s lot”.

What does that mean exactly? Does it mean that we accept the unfairness? Does it mean that we should suffer through the betrayal? Should we then submit to the subjugation and resign ourselves to it? That it is just the way things are. That this is how it’s always been.

Should we pass on that type of thinking to our daughters? I don’t think so.

I’ve lost my religion a long time ago. I lost it because of the nagging feeling that I couldn’t put a definite finger on much less articulate. I just knew that organized religion was not for me even though I grew up going to Sunday school every week. As I grew older, I simply found less and less pleasure in church. When my parents divorced and heard murmurs about my mother going to hell for leaving her husband, I knew that could just not be true. And the God who loved all his children could not possibly want to harm any of them even when they made mistakes. Right?

Even as a child I could sense being manipulated and being subjected to scare tactics. I knew something has to be wrong with that kind of thinking. So when I was old enough I took God with me and left the church of men.

When ex-President Jimmy Carter declared that he’s lost his religion, he voiced one of the concerns that nagged me but couldn’t find the words for. I felt so connected, like someone finally said what I have been thinking. He declared:

Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God.

He continued on to say:

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.

At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

I have always admired the quiet strength and integrity of Jimmy Carter and with his recent move to renounce his lifelong membership in the Southern Baptist Convention, my esteem for him as a human being is further heightened. I can totally relate. He hasn’t given up on his faith in God; you can see that in the causes he espouses. His faith is probably stronger than ever because of this most recent move.

In his statement, he talks about the new group he is involved with called ‘the elders’. Their purpose:

We are calling on all leaders to challenge and change the harmful teachings and practices, no matter how ingrained, which justify discrimination against women. We ask, in particular, that leaders of all religions have the courage to acknowledge and emphasise the positive messages of dignity and equality that all the world’s major faiths share.

He says the same in the video below.

I am not saying that organized religion is wrong or that they are all the same; I won’t go as far to say that religion is the cause of most of the conflicts in the world today either. But I will say that religious fanaticism is a huge factor in the world’s conflicts. I like having my individual and private relationship with God. I think you can be a religious person without the walls of a church.

I think what is important is doing the right thing and treating all people equally with respect and without conditions. Any effort to improve the lot of any group cannot be a sin. I think our ex-president believes this too.

Source: Jimmy Carter Protests Religion’s Treatment of Women

Tags: Jimmy Carter, religion

I think I’m getting as addicted to YouTube as my daughters! lol While they look at funny, silly stuff and music videos, I’m attracted to beautiful graphics and inspirational ones. Well, I like some of the funny ones too like the cute, talkative girl in my previous post.

This video touched me after finding out that the couple playing the piano duet have been married for 62 years. They are in their nineties and they are still playing music together. They laugh and they have fun. What an inspiration to us who sometimes wonder if we’re going to last another year together. See how their hands gently caress each others hip as they switch places. How they glance at each other and laugh. What a state to aspire for!

I was reminded of this quote (the first two lines from the poem Rabbi Ben Ezra) from the poet Robert Browning while watching the video:
“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be” – Robert Browning

It’s the quote that I think about sometimes when things get difficult between me and my husband; when I’ve irritated him or when he’s getting on my last nerves, I think to myself… ‘we’ll be laughing at this when we’re gray and old and it wouldn’t seem like the big deal it is now’. Having faith that we are forever… at least for as long as we both shall live

When I am asked whether girls talk too much my immediate answer would be NO. Of course, I base my answer on me and I don’t talk too much, I don’t think. My husband is the talker in our family and when the girls get to talking I usually say to him, “That’s from the Moore side” and he usually doesn’t argue with that.

There are some people though who will claim that girls are just born talkers. I won’t argue with that either especially when you see the funny video below. It makes a good case for the early onset of talkativeness.

Here’s another update on what’s been going on in our other blogs.

On our review blog, FOUND NOT LOST, we posted about a site we found on how to fold money origami, entered a book giveaway, and found a site to keep guys out of the dog house.

On our food blog, COOKED FROM THE HEART, we had the bunny baos, the black bottomed pie and steak Diane.

 
 
 
 
 
 
IN OUR BACKYARD, we’re just getting the beds primed for planting again. We have, however, just harvested our first crop of greens and managed to sock a couple of bags away in the freezer already! I’m excited. I can’t wait for the tomatoes, beans, zucchinis and herbs to come. We also now have four fruit trees that grew out of the compost. We now have peach, pear and cherry trees! Only on their second year, the peaches already have some fuzzy buds coming out. I can’t wait to see if they will put out some fruit this year.