Religion Progressivism

By Elana Leibovitch, Spring 2016

 

This is a blog consisting of five blog entries regarding progressive reforms within different religions. This is a class project for a World Religion class. Each entry touches on a specific movement or event in a certain religion that has already, or has the potential to, change the policies of that religion.

The first entry discusses the transformation of the homosexual community within Judaism and the perspective disparities between different types of Judaism, such as Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. There have been great leaps in this area of Judaism in modern society.

The second entry discusses the reforms within the Vatican and the leader of Roman Catholicism. Pope Francis has already made great efforts toward evolving the minds and government which dictate strong issues such as child abuse and molestation.

The third entry discusses the role of the woman within Islam. Muslim women have always been subordinate to men; however, this is beginning to change for the better in countries like Morocco. The laws have changed in the last ten years that have brought about more independence and rights for Muslim women in marriage.

The fourth entry discusses the progressivism of polygamy within the state of Utah and the religion of Mormonism. Due to the recent changes in marriage equality for homosexuality in the United States, more support has been given towards the equality for all types of marriages, including multiple marriages.

The fifth and final entry discusses an activist group in Jerusalem known as the Women of the Wall. This group, consisting of men and women, have already seen great successes in bringing equality among gender while at the historic site, the Western Wall. The blog presents a quarrel between the ultra-orthodox men and the activist group after the group attempted to smuggle the Torah into the women's area of the Wall, which is forbidden.