Feminism and Catholicism: The Church is not Misogynistic, in fact the polar opposite

Thanks to Pro for instigating this debate. Pro has muddled the central contention a bit by failing to simply state that the Roman Catholic Church is a particularly feminist organization, although that would be what's implied by claiming the Church to be the polar opposite of misogynist. Nor does arguing that the Church demonstrates love for women contradict accusations of misogyny. Thomas Jefferson loved some slaves, for example, but that does not absolve him of racism. For guidance, Wikipedia offers the following: "Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Misogyny can be manifested in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, hostility, male supremacist ideas, belittling of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification of women." [1] Building on this definition, if Con can offer evidence that the Catholic Church discriminates against women, Pro"s thesis will be proven false. If Con can show that the Church supports male supremacist ideologies, belittles or objectifies women, then Pro"s thesis will be proven false. There are certainly also some questions of hostility and violence and Pro leaves open the consideration of the Church"s historical record but I think we can look past witch burnings of old to focus on the modern Church for the sake of relevancy. Which is not to say the modern Church does not still embrace some pretty archaic prejudices. DOCTRINE When the Pope was asked in 2014 if he detected an underlying misogyny within the Church, Francis replied, "The fact is that woman was taken from a rib." [2] Although intended as a joke, the Pope"s response well reflects the Church"s traditional outlook on women as an inferior class. Genesis depicts the first woman as a subset of the first man and the instrument of Adam"s fall from grace and God acknowledges Eve"s culpability by punishing all women with two additional curses: the pain of childbirth and the submission of women to the lordship of men. In the New Testament, Paul instructs Timothy that women: "should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner." [3] In the 2nd century Tertullian, the father of Latin Christianity, directly blamed all women for human mortality and suffering: "Do you not realize that Eve is you? You are the devil's gateway, you desecrated that fatal tree; you first betrayed the law of God, you who softened up with your cajoling words the man against whom the devil could not prevail by force. The image of God, the man Adam, you broke him, it was child's play to you. You deserved death, and it was the son of God who had to die!" [4] Augustine questioned the value of any woman in light of Eve"s transmission of original sin: "What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman" I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children" [5] The Church still teaches that Mary"s submission had to be sexless in order to inoculate Jesus from the transmission of the stain of Eve"s disobedience. [6] In Catholic doctrine, women are not merely inferior, but by their inferiority the source of man"s corruption, the cause of all death and suffering. INEQUITY These core doctrines help explain the profound inequities within church institution. The majority of Catholics are women and probably always have been. Catholic women attend church more often and pray more often. There are more women called to religious life than men. Women dominate most Catholic funded educational and health services. Nevertheless, the church hierarchy is dominated by ordained roles and women have been excluded from ordination since about the third century. Of 572 Vatican City passport holders, only one is a woman. Women are not permitted to vote in papal elections. Where the church sets priorities, makes policy, plans budgets, women are absent. Although Francis has begun preaching equal pay for women, the inequity of the church is evident in the disparity of compensation among Catholic religious. A parish priest is usually paid a modest salary, is permitted savings and investment and is typically fed and housed by the church. Nuns, on the other hand, are expected to support themselves beyond their ecclesiastical responsibilities, often as nurses or teachers. Their vow of poverty requires them to turn over compensation to their order and each order is responsible for their own upkeep. POLITICS So it is with little wonder that the Church opposes the ordination of women, opposes birth control and abortion, encourages large families that perpetuate cycles of poverty, opposes marriage equality and LGBT adoption because these are policies initiated by women in leadership roles. When sex abuse scandals threatened the integrity of the church, the male dominated Vatican focused on hiding the perpetrators rather than aiding the victims or reform precisely because they lacked a female perspective on rape. Although the Church considered sex abuse accusations concerning roughly 3,000 priests from 2001-10, only one of those priests received the condemnation of excommunication. During the same period, multiple priests, parish boards, even some whole community organizations were excommunicated for promoting feminist issues. In 2012, the Vatican called for a major investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents roughly 80% of religious women in the US, immediately after that group voiced support for Obamacare. Investigating bishops threatened to suppress the LCWR if it did not reform what bishops perceived as a radical feminist agenda, including calls for female ordination and support of LGBT issues. Fortunately, the investigation was abruptly shut down after Francis became pope. OBJECTIFICATION Indeed, Francis seems to steering the Church away from some of its most misogynist policies and has promised to increase the presence of women in Vatican City. But Francis could hardly be called a feminist. During the same interview with the rib joke, Francis sought to compliment women by calling women "the most beautiful thing God has made." That"s a telling remark. Women are seen, not as fellow souls in a world of suffering, not as partners in faith in search of salvation, not from the inside as just another human in need but from the outside, observed as beautiful, but apart. Until the Vatican acknowledges that its membership, its history, its lifeblood is predominately female and gives empowered expression to that female essence, the Catholic Church will remain as it is, misogynist at heart. To the extent that these few examples demonstrate discrimination against women, male supremacy, belittlement and objectification of women, the Church has been shown to exhibit qualities of misogyny and so Pro"s contention must be refused. I look forward to Pro"s response. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org... [2]http://www.theguardian.com... [3]https://www.biblegateway.com... [4]http://www.academia.edu... [5]http://www.rejectionofpascalswager.net... [6]http://www.vatican.va...