Religious Scholar

Although this blog advocates for all things spiritual and for tolerance among traditions, I have to admit I often have a problem with organized religions. At their best, religions provide a framework in which men and women can explore spirituality in a safe, supportive environment. At their worst, religions are machines for intolerance, breaking down the individual spirit, often to the benefit of religious leaders.

     Religions can provide time-tested pathways to spiritual development and a strong moral compass in a world gone mad. And yet, potentially, there is no more rapacious machine for intolerance and bigotry than the religious organization.

     I love much about the religious contexts that support my own spiritual development (Christianity, classical Yoga) as well as the non-religious philosophy of Daoism, which nourishes my entire life. At the same time, though I elude it as masterfully as I may, religious control weighs over me like a heavy blanket, like that lead bib the dental assistant puts over your chest before she X-rays your teeth. What if that bib were never lifted, only pushed down, harder, onto your heart?

     Looking at the two pathways I love most, my openness to their respective religious agencies is always held in check. In my case, this is largely because of institutionalized intolerance. The Episcopal Church has declared racism a sin. What about sexism? Though I consider myself a Protestant, my own appreciation of Christianity is steeped in the history, scholarship, and traditions of the Roman church. And yet whenever I watch a grand religious ceremony telecast from a hub of Western faith, all I see is men with a few religious women covered from head to toe like objects of shame. I cannot get beyond this impression.

     Watching “The Story of India” on PBS with the eager anticipation of someone who has practiced yoga for nearly 50 years, the impression was much the same. One would not dare to be a woman saddhu (though there are some, I hear). Whether roaming in the wilderness alone or participating fully in public festivals, men rule the religious roost. The occasional female saint or guru does not significantly counter the culture of separation, the implication of male superiority.

     Religion is not politics, is not government. Church leaders rub their chins and sigh, “No, the Church is not a democracy.” And, "Women are not inferior: just different. They have their role." One sees this throughout the world In most of the great religious traditions. And yet the spiritual content of men's and women's lives is equal. Where is that equality in religious institutions?

     To my mind, equality trumps tradition every time.

     There are, of course, other forms of intolerance involving sexuality and attitudes toward other faiths. Can we move beyond these attitudes, or is it part of the control that organized religion exerts on men and women to keep them in line? It is difficult to say. Some religious groups have taken a pro-active stance and become inclusive. Others cannot bear the strain of dissent; they crack, like a broken Communion wafer, and can't be reassembled. Some religious faithful view tolerance as a hammer breaking down their faith, when it is the organization that, through its lack of resiliency, smothers where it means to uplift. In the oldest and most powerful religious organizations, women cannot touch the altar, break the bread, whirl in the most sacred dance.

     This is why women go to the desert, light bunches of sage brush in the moonlight, and dream of wolves. And often, only in their imaginations.