Religious Change

For this post, I am going to try to take a step back and look at what religious groups are doing to change and point out their own issues within their religions. It is true that I have been critical of religions as this is a blog meant to critically analyze them but it is also important to recognize that not all Christians are a homogeneous group, nor are all Muslims or Jews. While I do not understand fully how (and here I am focusing on Christianity because that is what I am most aware of) Christian sects can interpret the Bible differently, when there are passages saying it cannot be interpreted, and still claim divine power connected to it when it is humans openly admitting to controlling what beliefs to follow and such, I still think it is important to acknowledge that some changes have been made to better fit with rights of equality. These churches, such as the United Church, recognize gay marriage and allow women to lead as well as men, do not say that by doing so their right to religion is being impeded. It is definitely worth checking out the United Church website at http://www.united-church.ca/ and I have quoted them on their views of abortion. I am compiling a list of other religious groups which openly come out and say they feel they can be true to their religion yet question their church to better respect equality and other rights.

Catholics for Choice is a group which tries to separate itself from specific teachings of the Vatican, specifically on abortion. I do not know what their view on homosexuality is or on women working in the Church but that is probably worth an investigation.

See Change : "We believe that the Holy See, the government of the Roman Catholic church, should participate in the UN in the same way as the world's other religions do—as a non-governmental organization."

Condoms 4 Life :"Condoms4Life is an unprecedented worldwide public education effort to raise public awareness about the devastating effect of the bishops’ ban on condoms. The campaign was launched on World AIDS Day 2001 with the display of billboards and ads in subways and newspapers saying, “Banning Condoms Kills.”" This group also does not discriminate against homosexuals and says that consensual sex between people not married happens and is not immoral. They add that even to those who feel sex must be shared only between married couples, sexual education and condom use must exist and not be prohibited.

I will keep another list of links for this subject.