Sunday, June 10, 2012

On Religious Freedom And Women


When I first read that headline for Sarah Posner's post I couldn't help thinking that religious freedom for women is an oxymoron.  Too many religions tell women that they must not have freedom.

But the topic is not about what religions offer to women.  It's about the inherent conflict between religious freedom and women's rights.  What makes it inherent (for literalists, at least)  are all those writings on us wimminz in the holy books.

Sarah Posner discusses these issues with constitutional scholar Marie Ashe on Bloggingheads:

On my most recent Bloggingheads program, I spoke with constitutional scholar Marie Ashe of Suffolk University Law School, about the history of the American conception of, and Supreme Court jurisprudence on religious freedom and what that means for women. Ashe has argued in two law review articles that the more case law (and statutory law) has expanded the religious liberty of mainstream religion, the less it has expanded legal protections for women.

I haven't had time to watch the program but it should be interesting.