Over millennia, women’s lives have often been defined by religion. The earliest religions are believed to have revered female fertility and to have worshipped goddesses. Later religions brought polytheistic male and female gods and the idea of a male supreme deity. Religions have brought with them proscriptions for female behavior, rules about treating women and views of women that have ranged from empowering to devaluing. Religious beliefs have been behind many of women’s oppressions as well as advances. Beliefs about women’s roles in religious leadership, worship and ideology of the divine have impacted women’s experiences through the present day. [Read more…]