The christening of the new Sojo interns blog

As per the suggestion in our community meeting last night, I'm starting us off with the current question from the "On Faith" section of the Washington Post:

"Have women fared well or badly in the world's religions down through the ages? Why?"

If you want to check out what people are saying on the Washington Post's website, the link is http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/.

This is particularly interesting, since we have 5 women and 4 men in the group, with varying degrees of feminism throughout - and since the lack of women in leadership roles at Sojourners has been a topic of recent discussion, as it relates to our efforts toward increased "diversity" in the organization. Our discussions don't often move past a statement and some complaints that women do not have as much leverage and voice in our organization (as in many places throughout society). But I think this question moves to a deeper place, examining the roots and history of women's roles and treatment in society as it is manifested in religion, and informs our perspective on women's roles in religion today. Having a sense of where we're coming from helps us to address all the muck (and great stuff, too) that we deal with today and navigate our way healthily and fruitfully into the future.