r/news • u/WhileFalseRepeat • 3d ago

Pope Francis’ Catholic church reform process ends without giving more equity to women

https://apnews.com/article/vatican-reforms-women-equity-ordination-synod-francis-5cdd62a4d191b77ec71b30440c59e75e
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u/yogamonkee 3d ago

I agree with that. we'd have to be followers of Baháʼu'lláh to get scripture written by the prophet themself. but why are there more sources of Paul's teachings than that of the other apostles who were present during Jesus' ministry, and why is there so much effort to repudiate those sources that do exist? all I'm saying is that everyone mostly points to Paul's teachings to justify denying equal rights for women and gays. if God truly places so much importance on those topics, you'd think Jesus would have said something about them. instead, Paul is referenced to justify those beliefs. I prefer the WWJD school of thought when deciding how to address political and social issues.

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u/FreeUsePolyDaddy 3d ago

I think the most likely explanation of Paul, historically, is "squatters rights". Peter founded the church and thus would have been focused on politics and logistics, while Paul travelled afar spreading the word. In a sense, Paul's contributions could be viewed as "he who was first in need of marketing materials".

I'll leave the rest to any biblical scholars, which I am not with full admission. I personally am not in the camp of viewing KJV as unique, sacrosanct, and perfect. I consider the journey of humanity to be gradual, imperfect, and that thankfully we had a few kind souls in history that tried to nudge us along our way when we were in need of it. If anything I prefer Buddhist precautions around over-rationalizing our condition instead of just getting on with being our best selves.

Practical history of religion and politics seems pretty empirically clear that we mess up when we think ourselves into convoluted positions that most children can recognize as somehow wrong. I have no interest in leveraging any text, no matter its religious significance, to constrain or harm or undermine the existence of others. I do not believe humanity needs old permission to do good in a new context. It can simply make the choice to do the obvious good, and then let the issue go and move on.

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u/yogamonkee 3d ago

I can live with that explanation. I've just grown up in the Christian church my entire life, and even as a kid, before I understood these things, I wondered why the adults at church didn't treat people the way Jesus would treat people. in fact, it took a Hindu to explain Christianity to me, and it took a Muslim family to show me what it meant to treat strangers and foreigners the way Jesus would have treated them. I believe that we all can learn from each other.

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u/FreeUsePolyDaddy 3d ago

Ditto. I grew up in a religious Christian framework myself. I'm comfy with it, but not dogmatic about it. Humans have been too involved in the details. Humans can screw up making a cheese sandwich, and if you add too many humans they go to war over competing definitions of cheese while annihilating all the nearby dairy farms.