# Which religions treat women and men as equals? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2026, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552 "2026-01-11T02:56:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/21 "2026-01-11T04:21:19Z")
Scientology. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/22 "2026-01-11T04:27:26Z")
If you want to keep arguing this point, please make your own thread. And I will be happy to come there and tell you why you are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/23 "2026-01-11T04:34:17Z")
Good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/24 "2026-01-11T04:40:27Z")
Unitarians? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/25 "2026-01-11T05:00:41Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I think I’d have to argue that NO Abrahamic religion can possibly qualify, due to the basic foundation scriptures being profoundly misogynistic. Gee, so > [@Czarcasm](#): > > I wonder if the Episcopal Church might qualify? They had a woman, Katharine Jefferts Schori, serving as presiding bishop from 2006 to 2015. isnt true? The CoE has female and gay bishops and ministers. The Lutheran, the Methodist and several others also have Female Bishops. Reform Judaism has female Rabbis. There are even a couple female Imams. > [@TruCelt](#): > > So I can’t agree with Abrahamic religions being disqualified wholesale. Yep. > [@SmartAleq](#): > > But then you get right back to “No, what’s written down isn’t what we REALLY believe! Now read this book and believe all of it–except don’t but do but don’t but do.” Sure, which is why there are so many Christian denominations, not all believing the same thing. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The incoming Archbishop of Canterbury is a woman: Good point. > [@SmartAleq](#): > > Pretty sure First Timothy is in the New Testament. Sure. Paul. Not all Christian churches are pauline churches. Find a quote by Jesus about that. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/26 "2026-01-11T05:27:59Z")
You don’t understand even the basics of Reform Judaism. That was some seriously ignorant goysplaining ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/27 "2026-01-11T05:30:23Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It is an attempt to change an already existing established religion: No it really isn’t. More goysplaining though. You don’t have the privilege to tell us what we are. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/28 "2026-01-11T05:31:31Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You don’t have the privilege to tell us what we are. Please fight our ignorance. I’ve been hoping a better source would come along. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/29 "2026-01-11T05:38:53Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Right from Genesis, all the Abrahamic scriptures insist that MALE is the default and women were created from man But it also says that God created man and woman in God’s image. > 26 And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.” 27 And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Christianity understands God to be male. Judaism understands God to be the model for both male and female. God is both more masculine than any man any more feminine than any woman, and our souls are all reflections of God’s nature. > [@SmartAleq](#): > > But then you get right back to “No, what’s written down isn’t what we REALLY believe! What’s written down is both repetitive any inconsistent. Literally everyone who cares about the foundational texts of Abrahamic religions picks and chooses. Reform Judaism today is very egalitarian. My reform synagogue is large, and has 4 rabbis, including two women. Our cantor is female. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/30 "2026-01-11T05:40:21Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Christianity understands God to be male. Again, there are some fairly large Christian sects who see God in both the masculine and feminine aspects. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/31 "2026-01-11T05:42:09Z")
Okay. I confess that much of what i know about Christianity i learned from C. S. Lewis, who shocked me by saying that one might conceive of a God who wasn’t male, but than you wouldn’t be Christian. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/32 "2026-01-11T05:43:57Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > but than you wouldn’t be Christian. Well, you wouldn’t be a 1950’s Anglican, anyway . . . ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/33 "2026-01-11T05:44:21Z")
In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul goes on a chapter-long rant about how men remove their hats in church because they serve God but women keep their hats on because they serve men. I see the bible as a translation of a verbal transmission of man’s interpretation of God’s inspiration. Paul is giving his first century interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/34 "2026-01-11T05:48:57Z")
Alright, fine. Y’all wanna do this here? Then we will do this here. But I warn you, you are going to be watching some Dan McClellan videos, and he does not take prisoners. [Women should be silent.](https://youtu.be/5T5os37GHck) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/35 "2026-01-11T05:56:21Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > “No, what’s written down isn’t what we REALLY believe! Now read this book and believe all of it–except don’t but do but don’t but do.” I mean, that’s pretty much half the point of the Talmud. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/36 "2026-01-11T06:00:30Z")
Yes, the Talmud, which in a very real sense is the foundational text of Judaism, records the rabbis arguing about what the Torah means. And they always include multiple arguments. They don’t say, “this is the true meaning”, they say, “rabbi A says it means this but rabbi b says it means that. But rabbi c points out that if you look at this other text, …” ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/37 "2026-01-11T06:11:51Z")
Anyway, i have a friend who grew up Catholic. His religion was very important to him, until it became intolerable when he came out as non-gender conforming and polyamorous. He was exploring other religious options, most of which were pretty loosey-goosey and high effort. I took him to my reform Jewish synagogue for a Sabbath service, not because i thought he’d want to convert to Judaism, but to show him that there are religious options that are liturgical and traditional, but are also egalitarian and queer-friendly. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/38 "2026-01-11T06:45:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > **Unlike Protestantism** , it is not a religion in and of itself. It is an attempt to change an already existing established religion: Might want to read up on the history there…LOL ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/39 "2026-01-11T06:48:02Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Many Christian religions will tell you that Jesus came to save us from the darkness, and the Old Testament is the description of what people believed when they lived in the darkness. It’s really only American Christianity that preaches the Old testament on an equal footing with the New. Wow, this isn’t offensive or anti-Semitic in any way. Is this one of those white supremacist “Celtic” types? ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552/40 "2026-01-11T06:51:45Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > But then you get right back to “No, what’s written down isn’t what we REALLY believe! Now read this book and believe all of it–except don’t but do but don’t but do.” Yes, that’s literally how all religion works. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-religions-treat-women-and-men-as-equals/1026552.md?page=3)